Average age of Church of England churchgoer is 61.

[Beorn]

The report, compiled by the research and statistics department of the Archbishops’ Council, also found half of those in the pews are pensioners.
Some rural congregations were older than 65 on average, while the youngest Anglicans were found in London, with the ‘standard’ churchgoer aged 54.

It compares with the population as a whole where the average adult age is 48.
This is the first year in which the Church has analysed the ages of its congregations in detail, so no long-term trends can be determined.
However, weekly church attendance continues to fall according to separate figures published on Friday. Around 1.14m people went to a church service at least once a week in 2008, the latest figures show, but average Sunday attendance was down to 960,000 from 978,000 the previous year.

There were also slightly fewer infant baptisms, confirmations, marriages and funerals.
Details of the ages of churchgoers are likely to reinforce fears that congregations will continue to dwindle.
However the number of children and young people at services each week did rise by three per cent last year to 225,000.

The Rev Lynda Barley, the Church of England’s head of research and statistics, acknowledged the report showed “some disappointments”.
But she added: “It is important to see these trends in the context of wider changes in a society where fewer people are willing to join and take part in membership organisations.
“Political parties have seen their memberships fall by around 40 per cent in recent years.
“Even in a General Election year, almost double the number of members of the three main political parties taken together will attend a Church of England parish church on Sunday.”

Source

It is sad to see the old girl go, but it is inevitable.

I wonder what will rise in her stead?

[Jarl]

No surprise. After all its a pagan-laymen country... pity!

[Catuvellaunian]

It is sad to see the old girl go, but it is inevitable.

I wonder what will rise in her stead?

Lets just hope its not islam, though that seems to be the favourite now.

Good ridance I say.

[Loki]

Lets just hope its not islam, though that seems to be the favourite now.

Nope, the native English people will never accept Islam in large numbers. Why? Because Islam is even more dogmatic and old-fashioned than Christianity. They will instead embrace rationalism, atheism, and agnosticism. But memberships of religious organisations? Very unlikely.

Good ridance I say.

Agreed, the CofE is nothing more than a political tool to control the masses.

[Catuvellaunian]

Nope, the native English people will never accept Islam in large numbers. Why? Because Islam is even more dogmatic and old-fashioned than Christianity. They will instead embrace rationalism, atheism, and agnosticism. But memberships of religious organisations? Very unlikely.

Damn right we won't, except for a few weaker minded people (mostly teens from what I've seen). Its the blacks and asians that will adopt it.

[Osweo]

They will instead embrace rationalism, atheism, and agnosticism.

Really?! Only the intellectuals. And you probably already have the vast majority of them in your fold.

The masses will trundle along in vague superstition, contradictory relics of past beliefs and present day fads, just as they almost always have done.

Another section of society will be drawn to many diverse religions, in search of the lost social and spiritual benefits of a monoreligious society. The sharpening of the ethnic question due to the rise of immigration induced dicontent will ensure that attempts to revive old folk religion will do well.

I don't see how Christianity in any form will weather this particular storm, other than to be relegated to a minor cult on a par with the eclectic mix of options inferred in my last paragraph. High Church Christianity, with its ceremony and costumes seems to me too far removed from ordinary life now. It was born in the first place from the trappings of Roman public life, and so had an existing familiarity and prestige to rely on. Low Church fundamentalist Christianity, with its emphasis on bible study and literalism, may suffer due to its unavoidable links with ethnically alien tradition. To the first English converts, 'Palestine' and 'Israel' were words evoking a mystical far away land. To any moden Englishman, those two words evoke only perpetual strife and religious arrogance.

Agreed, the CofE is nothing more than a political tool to control the masses.

Now now, Loki! They do have an important role as curators of architectural and artistic heritage! I'm an avid 'churchgoer', but primarily to look at the ancient sculpture and memorials. Now that I've bought a new house, I'm considering popping into a service at the parish church a few yards down the road, just for curiosity's sake though.

[Nationalitist]

One of the bishops of this church is not teh genetic European anyway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Nazir-Ali

[Beorn]

One of the bishops of this church is not teh genetic European anyway.

Ultimately the DNA of the clergy is not the concern. The concern is the wholesale destruction of the faith and the undermining of Christian values to appease foreigners and their religions.

[Loki]

One of the bishops of this church is not teh genetic European anyway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Nazir-Ali

Not to mention the Archbishop of York (that old bastion of Viking-English heritage).

[Liffrea]

Originally Posted by ácwellan
I wonder what will rise in her stead?

Old Gods in new forms.

The ancient Greek understood the dual nature of the human mind very well rationalism and the subconscious, imagination but not meant in the sense of airy fairy ideas but as a natural process of the human minds exploration of self. Humans need Gods, regardless of what we call them and whether you believe they exist or we invent them is irrelevant to the point, there is a body of evidence supporting the theory that we are inherently spiritual, for my money it is correct.

The Church will continue to decline, no doubt about that, yet the Christian imprint is unlikely to completely die, the Christ archetype was accepted willingly or not and has been infused with other forms of native European spirituality, he is unlikely to completely disappear but the spiritual outlook of European man may well take a different direction. Despite the views of many, if not most Christians, the question was never what could European man do for Christ but what could Christ do for European man? Christianity was an adaptable religion, we’ll see if that remains the case, I believe it has, and will continue to, adapt itself out of any meaningful existence as an organised religion.

I look forward to Odin’s continued Rising, for me a far truer representation of the northern European spiritual outlook.