Religion in 2019: god is not dead | thearticle

A British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey for 2018 showed an increase in respondents saying they had no religion, up 21 per cent from 1983 to 52 per cent. So we seem, if only as far as this

box-ticking, to be a secular society. Religious correspondents are the first to go when newspaper journalists are cut, which seems odd when events described as “Islamist terrorism” make the

headlines. The last detail of Manchester City’s defensive tactics is required knowledge for an informed public.But the strategy and organisation of the Muslim Brotherhood compared with that

of Da’esh? Sexual abuse by “people of faith” sometimes reaches the front page, as do statements by religious leaders like Chief Rabbi Mirvis, for his outspoken attack on Jeremy Corbyn. But

unlike America, where right-wing evangelicals helped bring Trump to power, we are spared stories of religious support for the political Right. Indifference to, or ignorance of, the work of

people of faith to alleviate the suffering of the poor in Britain, and in the developing world, may have bottomed out.The work of the Muslim development agencies in war zones, _Zakat_,

Muslim philanthropy during Ramadan, the work of street pastors combatting knife crime, Christian groups and individuals of all denominations helping refugees, economic migrants, the homeless

and destitute — all of this good work goes along with religious festivals. The impact is huge, if hidden. The founder of _L’Arche_, Jean Vanier, died in May.His work with — their words —

people with intellectual disabilities, is little-known outside religious circles. One of Vanier’s sayings is more than pertinent for Britain 2019: “Many people are good at talking about what

they are doing, but in fact do little. Others do a lot but don’t talk about it; they are the ones who make a community live.” The contribution of religious ideas to the common good should

not be underestimated. Pope Francis’s second encyclical, _Laudato Si_, (On Care for Our Common Home), published in June 2015, has percolated down throughout the Church and beyond. In April,

Francis met with Greta Thunberg encouraging her to “go ahead”. In June he held a conference in Rome on climate change for government ministers and scientists.In October, a Synod on the

pan-Amazon region showed that he wanted implemented whatever the backlash from the Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro. If 2019 was notable for other than an acceleration of Britain’s

descent into a “vortex of decline” (Will Hutton), it is for the gap between government action on climate change and the growing public anxiety about its widening into a scandalous gulf. 2019

was also the year when anti-Semitism and the two ill-named phobias, Islamophobia and ‘Christianophobia” broke into the public domain.The causes of hostility were different for each

religion. For Christianity, beginning and end of life issues, together with gender and sexuality, received a backlash from the illiberal liberals of the Left. A central aim of Islamist

terrorism is to increase anti-Muslim sentiment in the west, dividing society against itself. This has been partly achieved.Half of those referred to the mentoring programme under the

government’s Prevent de-radicalisation strategy show signs of neo-Nazi influence. Hate-speech directed at religious faiths has led to a worldwide rise in persecution and violence.The

magnitude and extent of persecution of Christians, 245 million suffering to some degree worldwide, was highlighted by a report by the Anglican bishop of Truro, Philip Mounstephen in

November. While the persecution of Muslims, predominantly by other Muslims, has been intensified by war in the Middle East, this focus on the plight of Christians was a first. That Jeremy

Hunt, then Foreign Secretary, commissioned this report on religious freedom is a step forward. Pope Francis has continued to improve relations with the Muslim world and has visited both the

UAE and Morocco, but was shunned by the Orthodox in Bulgaria. He cemented his relationship with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who visited Ebola-stricken areas of the Congo in

November. In another brave démarche they have both indicated their intention to visit war-torn South Sudan.This initiative follows a moving religious retreat to build peace, which they held

for Salva Kiir, South Sudan’s Catholic President, and his rebel former Vice-President, Riek Machar, a Presbyterian. This was held at the _Casa Santa Marta_ hostel where Francis lives in the

Vatican.The Pope’s kissing the feet of the two Congolese leaders, acting out his vision of leadership, was worth many words. Archbishop Welby, a task-oriented, purposeful man, shares the

Pope’s commitment to reconciliation and has the same gift for the spirituality of symbolism. His prostration in Amritsar made as an apology for the 1919 massacre during a visit to India in

October, was another reminder of the special nature of Christian leadership. “The souls of those who were killed or wounded, of the bereaved, cry out to us from these stones and warn us

about power and the misuse of power,” he said. So the profile of religion in 2019 has been, to say the least, complex. A new interest may have been sparked, thanks in some measure to

Archbishop Welby and Pope Francis. We will have to wait until the New Year to tell. Religious journalism may be on its last legs. But despite Nietzsche’s claim, God is not dead.