World News and Trends: The tragic decline of European Christianity
Weekly church attendance has taken a sharp decrease in Western Europe.
Peter Berger is director of the Institute of Culture, Religion and World Affairs at Boston University. He wrote in The National Interest that "both the Catholic and Protestant Churches are in deep trouble in Europe. Attendance at services has declined sharply for many years, there is a shortage of clergy because of lagging recruitment, finances are in bad shape and the churches have largely lost their importance in public life. Western and central Europe is the most secularized area in the world" (emphasis added throughout).
British author Niall Ferguson, a history professor at Harvard University, has joined the ranks of those who are very concerned about the state of Western Christianity. His telling article in The Sunday Telegraph is appropriately titled: "Heaven Knows How We'll Rekindle Our Religion, But I Believe We Must."
He states in the text: "According to the Gallup Millennium Survey of Religious Attitudes, barely 20 per cent of Western Europeans attend services at least once a week, compared with 47 per cent of North Americans, and 82 per cent of West Africans. Less than half of Western Europeans say God is a 'very important' part of their lives, as against 83 per cent of Americans and virtually all West Africans."
Ed Vitagliano, news editor of the AFA Journal, a monthly publication of the American Family Association, connects the decline of British Christianity with the accompanying collapse in morality.
He quoted a number of religious authorities, including Roman Catholic Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor who said: "It does seem in our countries in Britain today, especially in England and Wales, that Christianity, as a sort of backdrop to people's lives and moral decisions—and to the government, the social life of the country—has almost been vanquished."
In summary, Niall Ferguson offered his opinion that "if nothing else, a weekly dose of Christian doctrine will help to provide an ethical framework for your life, and I certainly don't know how else you are going to get one."
To understand the essential historical background of what has really happened to Christianity and why, please request or download our free booklet The Church Jesus Built. (Sources: The Sunday Telegraph [London], The National Interest, AFA Journal.)
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: September - October 2005
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Jerold Aust
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
