In the 2011 national census only 33 million people declared themselves as Christians in the UK representing just under 60% of the population. However, this decline is nothing compared to the House of Commons statement on the decline of political membership.
According to the House of Commons library, there has been a large decrease in reported membership of UK political parties over the post-war period. Only about one per cent of the electorate is a member of one of the three main parties. Labour has about 193,000 members, the Conservatives between 130,000 and 170,000 and the Liberal Democrats 49,000. However in the early 1950s, the Conservatives claimed nearly three million members while Labour claimed more than one million members. In other words when we’re having a pint at our local pub, talking about politics and religion, it is interesting to note that religion is holding up fairly well compared to politics.
That decline in interest in the political parties has also been seen in recent low turn-outs at the polls. There is a concern for all in an established democracy when people don’t get out and vote. This apparent apathy stands out even more when you witness, on the news, people in countries which have become new democracies putting their lives on the line just to join a queue to vote.
There also seems to be an apathy in the face of the facts that around 160,000 Christians per year lose their lives in intolerant regimes around the world. This is rarely if ever brought to our attention through mainstream media. To my mind this is at best negligent and at worst totally unprofessional, journalistically.
Fortunately, technology has now given us tools to empower us when mainstream media sometimes lets us down. The beauty of the internet is that it is like having an entire global library in your front room. You can research anything online, and as long as you check the sources you can get a good idea of what is going on in our increasingly shrinking global village. The internet is a great resource for all of us to find out the facts ourselves. It is a tool of real empowerment if we want to put the time and effort into finding out what is going on.
The Christian faith represents about 34% of the global population. Diverse religious faiths, including Muslims, Jews, Hindus and others, increase the proportion of the global population who believe in a ‘higher authority’ to just over 92%. As far as Christianity is concerned, it is growing in Latin America, Africa, Asia and increasingly in the Middle East.
There are also some amazing documentaries on the world wide web which demonstrate the vibrancy of Christianity and the reality of signs, wonders and miracles as declared in the Bible.
We will never get the right answers if we’re not asking the right questions. If we don’t engage with the political process in our democracy, we will be ill-informed when we are asked to be part of making the big decisions in our society. It is the same with issues of faith, God, meaning and the purpose of life. The Christian faith historically challenges us all to ask the ‘big questions’, and millions upon millions across the planet have had the joy of having many of those big questions answered by a faithful God.