The former head of the Thinktank Christian Research said recently that church attendance among black communities continues to rise, while mainstream church attendance has hit an all time low in the UK.

Peter Brierley, former head of Christian Research, said that should the trend continue, by 2015 about 25 percent of churchgoers in England will be from non-white communities, according to Christian Today.

The Pentecostal movement in the UK has seen marked growth, and it continues to see increasing numbers of church attendees.

Black Christians keep faith alive in UK.

Meanwhile the mainstream Anglican, Catholic and Church of England are experiencing sharp decline, according to Bishop Llewellyn Graham of the Church of God, according to Black Mental Health UK.

Brierley attributed the growth in numbers of the black community churches to the fact that neighbors invite friends to their church, and the preaching is relevant and delivered with energy, BMH UK said.

Work leaders in black churches take the effort to recognize the needs of people from their communities–whether they are young people, the socially excluded or those with mental health needs, BMH UK reported.

Because black churches meet churchgoers at their point of need, church going gains relevance in the members’ lives.  They identify with the church, and going to service becomes something they genuinely want to do.

By contrast Brierley’s research showed a sharp decline in church attendance across English counties, with only 12 counties showing a six percent church attendance of the local population, and seven counties showing a five and one half percent or less church attendance of the local population, Christian Today said.

Should the current trend continue Brierley projects that all counties across the UK will have a churchgoing population of four and a half percent or less by 2020.

The decline is blamed on less evangelism and the increasing number of deaths among the aged, who comprise much of the population who attend church.

Of particular concern is the finding that 80 percent of those 15 years old or younger are not attending church.  Also, 75 percent of those aged 15-29 years do not attend church.

Brierley said that by 2020 many of the older churchgoers will have passed away.  Fifty years ago, over half of the people living in the UK attended Church on a weekly basis, Christian Today reported.

Despite the decline in church attendance, an estimated 58 percent of the population claims they have a belief in Christianity, whereas atheists and agnostics represent 33 percent of the population.

Forty five percent of adults still attend Christmas services, and 44 percent attend church weddings, baptisms or funerals, and just 31 percent attend church on Easter or Harvest festival.

Brierley’s research also pointed to the challenges posed by the aging clergy within the main denominations.

Bishop Graham said, “Ministers tend to attract members of their age, so to attract young people you need a younger minster,” the BMH UK  reported.

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Christian schools in Mumbai demurred recently a suggestion by the Birhand Mumbai Corporation to introduce Hindu culture into their classes.

Archdiocesan Board of Education General Secretary Gregory Lobo said their 150-odd Christian schools in Mumbai promote respect for all faiths, and there is no need to focus on a particular faith, Christian Today India said.

The BMC also asked missionary schools to increase holidays for Hindu festivals and to remove a ban on students applying mehendi and bindis (decoration marks on the hands and forehead) and bangles, CT India said.

However, Lobo denied that Abe schools have such restrictions and said that students were allowed to wear bindis and bangles.

The ABE is preparing to take legal action against the proposal that is now being considered by the Maharashtra government, CT India said.

The BMC also said Abe schools do not sing the national anthem.  However, Cardinal Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai said, “All our Christian institutions inculcate the values of patriotism and religious harmony and through the apostolate of education, we are serving the country,” AsiaNews.it reported.

The cardinal noted that  some groups are fed by fundamentalist ideologies that create a climate which threatens peace and peaceful coexistence, according to AsiaNews.it.

For this reason Cardinal Gracias said their 2009 activities included seminars for the “Year of peace and harmony” where he spoke about measures to combat extremism and fundamentalism, AsiaNews.it reported.

Most Abe schools are considered prestigious and are known for their academic excellence.  They receive some financial help from the BMC, which is run by a right-wing Hindu coalition comprised of the Shiv Sena party and the Bharatiya Janata Party, BBC reported.

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The fastest death rate of churches in America is happening in the Bible belt, said a southern US pastor at a 3-day convention that was held recently, according to Christian Today (CT).

Churches are dying fastest in the so-called Bible Belt/Credit: klsmith77/sxc.hu

At Advance10: Contextualizing the Gospel in the New South, Pastor Tyler Jones of Vintage21 Church in Raleigh, North Carolina said churches are dying rapidly in the Bible belt. He and several other pastors blamed the churches themselves for the decline, CT reported.

According to Jones, churches don’t understand the gospel and how it applies to people’s lives. They are being taught “quaint moralism over the Gospel.” Jones said, adding “Moralism is the greatest form of self worship. It robs us of our need for God,” CT reported.

Jerome Gay, lead pastor of Vision International Church in Raleigh agreed, saying, “Christianity has been presented as a list of don’ts. Don’t go to the club, don’t join the frat, don’t do this, don’t do that.” As a result, people leave the church, disillusioned, without actually knowing Christ as he is presented in the Bible, CT said.

The conference was held by Advance the Church, and co-sponsored by The Summit Church and Vintage21 Church. They seek to help local churches become more responsive to the changing culture without watering down God’s Word, according to the Christian Post (CP).

CP quoted Pastor David Platt of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama, who said many churches need clarity on the Gospel. “A lot of people who [grew] up in the church need to hear the Gospel as it’s presented biblically,” said Platt.

Other scheduled speakers were Matt Carter of The Austin Stone; Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle; J.D. Grear of The Summit Church in the Raleigh-Durham area; Johnny Hunt, who heads the Southern Baptist Convention; and Tullian Tchividjian, grandson of evangelist Billy Graham and pastor at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla, according to CP.

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The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) failed to find mutual ground at a recently held meeting in Chicago regarding ELCA’s stand on ordaining partnered gays.

ELCA’s Rev. Marcus R. Kunz denied they have abandoned scriptural authority in so doing.

Rather, he said “We seek to be faithful to the evangelical purpose that God intends with the Scriptures” according to Christian Today.

LCMS President Dr. Gerald B. Kieschnick called it a difference in understanding of scriptural authority and interpretation.

Last month the LCMS presented ELCA with the document, “Theological Implications of the 2009 ELCA Decisions” which stated, “A church body‘s acceptance of homosexual activity promotes a false security about behavior and conduct which God has forbidden and from which He longs to redeem us.”

ELCA is the largest Lutheran church body, seconded by the LCMS.  According to ELCA’s website, they are a 20 year old assembly with 4.8 million members and some 10,500 congregations across the US and the Caribbean.

Because of this theological point of disagreement, LCMS expressed the possibility of severance from mutual projects the two groups are engaged in.

ELCA Rev. Mark Hanson however expressed hopes that relationships would not be severed but rather that they could engage in deeper conversation, according to Christian Today.

Christian Today also reported that hundreds of ELCA congregations have already taken steps to leave the denomination, with some forming a new Lutheran body, and others joining LCMS.

ELCA’s Rev. Rebecca Larson complained that the LCMS document gave the false impression that ELCA’s recognition of same gender relationships is the sole position of the whole church.

Larson said that same gender relationships are not central to determining salvation, hence ELCA believes they can live together with different practices, respecting the bound consciences of each other.

LCMS President Dr. Gerald B. Kieschnick/Credit: lcms.org

ELCA’s website cites, for example, how Paul felt it was okay to eat meat that was sacrificed to idols.  Paul also felt that rituals of holy days were issues where salvation was not at stake.

“This social statement draws upon this rich understanding of the role of conscience and calls upon this church, when in disagreement concerning matters around which salvation is not at stake, including human sexuality, to bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2), honor the conscience, and seek the well-being of the neighbor,”  according to ELCA’s website.

In the LCMS document they stated that they will not encourage discord in ELCA, but neither will they turn their backs on ELCA members who choose to leave their denomination to join the LCMS, Christian Today reported.

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Liat Collins wrote in The Jerusalem Post that no other city in the world inspires its own medically recognized syndrome.  She refers to the Jerusalem syndrome, a psychosis where normally sane tourists begin to hear voices and believe they are people in the Bible.

The JTA mentioned an episode of The Simpsons, where Homer Simpson traveled to Israel, and was diagnosed with the Jerusalem syndrome.  Homer, dehydrated, believed he was chosen to bring Jews, Christians and Muslims together in a new religion called Chrisjumas.

JTA quoted Dr. Gregory Katz, a psychiatrist of Jerusalem’s Kfar Shaul Mental Health Center, who said 30-40 patients a year are treated with the Jerusalem syndrome.

Most of them have had a history of mental illness, but a few experience it for the first time, likely triggered by experiencing biblical Jerusalem for the first time.  For many, it is a way to reconcile their biblical impressions of the city with the modern city that Jerusalem is today.

According to JTA, Christians predominantly tend to get the Jerusalem syndrome, specifically Protestant tourists from the United States and Scandinavia.  However, Jews and Israelis have been treated, too.

Commonly, they identify with a character consistent with their faith.  Jews will identify with King David, Christians with Mary Magdalene or John the Baptist.  Jews fantasize about bringing redemption.  Among Israelis, the Jerusalem syndrome is gradual, most commonly afflicting Jews who want to build the Third Temple, JTA said.

Christian Today Australia said the syndrome is believed to affect 100 people annually.  Quoting Mark Tronson, chairman of Well-Being Australia, it is a type of obsession, similar to “overboard enthusiasm” for a sport or hobby.

Which leads to the question:  Is Jerusalem a city that drives people crazy?  Considering that most of those afflicted with the syndrome have a history of mental illness that is not likely.

As for the minority who get the syndrome for the first time, one must note that unlike other tourist sites, which people are drawn to for shopping, or adventure or a love of history, people come to Jerusalem primarily for religious reasons.

In religion you will find passion.  And too much passion can drive a very small minority overboard.  The Jerusalem syndrome therefore could well be a natural outflow of a small population of tourists who are drawn there because of the religious links to the city and whose passion may have gone berserk.

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Political conservative pundit S.E. Cupp’s newest book, “Losing Our Religion:  The Liberal Media’s Attack on Christianity” has further polarized conservative and liberal media, even as its title and subject matter drew claims of irony.

Cupp’s book polarizes conservatives, liberals, raises claims of irony

Newsweek, which reviewed Cupp’s book, extensively quoted her and indicated page numbers; said it was melodramatic, patronizing to her readers, and inspired fear mongering.

Newsweek also denied that they are a mainstream publication, and said they are not attacking Christians or even religious freedom.

Media Matters for America focused on what Cupp wrote about evolution, and said that she does violence to the science of evolution and to the public’s expectations of science journalists and science teachers.

Cupp’s book has also raised a sense of irony that an atheist should write a book that strongly defends Christianity.  Cupp however says that political conservatives like herself would benefit if Christians worked harder to protect their turf, as mainstream liberal media shoots two birds with one stone when they attack Christianity.

Cupp said Christianity is a target so that mainstream media can also attack conservatism.  “If they can effectively paint Christians as dangerous fanatics, it’s just a skip away from painting conservatives as dangerous fanatics,” she said in an interview with Mediaite.

In that same report she said that her being an atheist gave her the needed objectivity to write the book.  “I would hope it gives a little more credibility to the project than having some fundamentalist Christian write about attacks on Christianity,” she said.

Christian Today noted that other studies have also documented Cupp’s viewpoints, including The Media Elite by Lichter, Rothman and Lichter (1986), and Bias by Bernard Goldberg (2001).

Bill Muehlenberg, who authored the Christian Today review wrote, “Western Christians are sleeping through their own execution.They seem oblivious [that] the surrounding culture has declared war on the Christian faith.”

In her book Cupp wrote, according to Newsweek, that:

1. Secular media has turned religious worship into a “subculture” and reacted to presidential candidate Mike Huckabee’s 2007 Christmas commercial by focusing on a “strategically placed” cross in the background.  (She cites The Washington Post and CNN).
2. Major media did not cover Obama’s snub of the National Day of Prayer.
3. Newsweek’s review of the Christian bestseller “Left Behind” said, “Sociologists tell us that the United States is experiencing a religious revival, but if the bestseller lists are any guide, the revival looks more like a collective leaving of the senses.”
4. Reviews of the Christian story “Narnia” were lukewarm despite its being a box office hit.  Reviews for The Golden Compass, which attacks Christianity, were positive although the movie did not do well at the tills.

Cupp also noted that the liberal press downplays Obama’s discomfort with religious America and barely wrote about his covering up of religious imagery in the backdrop when he gave a speech at Georgetown University.

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