Colin D Gordon

One of the UK’s leading TV comedians was recently quoted as saying “I believe in God: I just don’t trust anyone who works for Him”. Although this was (presumably) meant as a joke at the time, there are clear indications that many people in Britain  share this view and are consequently less than enthusiastic about Pope Benedict XVI’s imminent arrival in the country. The tour will begin on Thursday 16^th September with a State Welcome and Reception hosted by the Queen at Holyrood House Palace in Edinburgh. He has a range of engagements in London the next day including a ‘fraternal conversation’ with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams  at Lambeth Palace, followed by (on Saturday 18^th) “courtesy meetings” with the Prime Minister David Cameron , his Deputy Nick Clegg and the Acting Labour Party leader, Harriet Harman. That same evening, the Pope will preside over a “prayer vigil’ in Hyde Park. According to the “Sunday Times” newspaper , tickets for this “key public event” have failed to sell. School children from across London, they say, are therefore being  “roped in” to fill the anticipated empty spaces.

A  survey conducted by the “Theos” organisation has revealed that 79% of Britons have “no personal interest” in the visit and that 77% are opposed to public funds being used to help meet the costs involved, now calculated at around £15 million. On Sunday 19th, the Pope will take a helicopter from Wimbledon Park to Birmingham, hold a Mass for the Beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman (for which, so far, there has also been a “disappointing response” from the large number of pilgrims expected), have lunch and discussions with the Bishops of England, Scotland and Wales before later boarding his flight back to Ciampino Airport in Rome. In an ‘Evening Standard’ column on 6^th September, journalist Sam Leith portrayed the whole scenario as something of a farce and of no commercial, strategic, cultural or scientific value to the UK. The Vatican, he declared, “Is a pretend nation. Treating it like a real one makes us look silly”. As part of a Channel 4 TV programme timed to coincide with the pope’s arrival, the outspoken Irish singer, Sinead O’Connor, (reports the ‘Guardian’) will call for Benedict XVI’s resignation. In her opinion, Catholicism has “ been brought into disrepute by the people running it”.

The British Government has had to mobilize thousands of police to ensure that the scheduled papal UK itinerary proceeds without any disruptions. Two well-known atheist authors – Richard Dawkins and Christopher Dawkins – have proposed that the Pope should be subjected to “citizens arrest” for having (allegedly, while he was still Archbishop Ratzinger) covered up the widespread abuse of children by Catholic clerics in the USA and Europe. Meanwhile, a large “Protest The Pope” march through London has been planned for Saturday 18^th September, though the organisers have assured the Archbishop of Southwark, Peter Smith, that they do not intend to disturb  the outdoor mass which will begin at 6.15pm in Hyde Park.

The latest available statistics indicate that, globally, Christianity still has the largest number of adherents: An estimated 2.1 billion (33% of the world population). This category comprises not only members of the Catholic, Protestant and Eastern Orthodox Churches but also others such as the Pentecostals, Evangelicals, Quakers and Jehovah Witnesses. Second in the ranking is Islam with 1.5 billion followers (33%), then the “Non-Religious” (Humanists, Atheists, Agnostics) at 16% (1.1 billion), Hinduism  at 14% ( 900 million), Chinese “traditional religion’: 6% (394 million), Buddhism : 376 million, and Sikhism: 23 million.  In the UK,.72%  (almost 42 million) of those who completed the 2001 national Census “identified themselves as Christians”, though another nine million (15%) – including 390,000 so-called “Jedi Knights” – were classified as “non-religious”. There were almost 1.6 million Muslims (3%), 559,000 Hindus (1%), 336,000 Sikhs ( 0.6%)  and 267,000  Jewish (0.5%). These figures however, have proved to be somewhat misleading, partly because the demographics have changed substantially in the intervening period, but also because they do not specify the extent to which people actively participate in or practice their declared faith.

A “Religious Trends” document published by “Christian Research” has concluded that Church attendance in Britain is declining so rapidly that “The Church of England, Catholicism and other denominations will soon become financially unviable”. They anticipate that by 2030, the number of Anglican churches in Britain will drop to 10,000, with an average attendance of 35 persons and that by 2050 only 0.9 million UK Christians (among them, just 101,700 Catholics) will turn up for religious services. As “The Guardian” pointed out in an article on 10^th September, though the country retains “cultural ties” with Christianity, belief itself is fading. Bill McIlroy, a member of Brighton’s Humanist & Secular Association, told the newspaper that  “People here look at you a bit strangely if you say you are a regular churchgoer.” The “Daily Telegraph” and “Daily Mail” have been particularly alarmed by  “Christian Research” predictions that by 2035, there will 1.96 million “practising Muslims” (those consistently going to the mosques) in Britain compared to only 1.63 million “worshipping Christians” present at congregations.

 The Church of England broke away from Rome in 1534 when the Vatican refused to grant a marriage annulment to King Henry VIII. The political element apart, the main doctrinal difference between the two Churches has always been in their distinct interpretation of the Communion:  Catholicism teaches that the bread and wine used during mass are “transubstantiated”, whereas Protestants regard them as purely symbolic. Attempts at a reconciliation between Catholics and Protestants over the past few years have been undermined by the Pope’s decision to allow married Anglican converts to become Catholic priests. He is in effect encouraging them to switch allegiance if they are unhappy with the Church of England’s relaxed position on gay rights and women clerics. This hasn’t gone down well with either the Protestant hierarchy or traditionalist Catholics.  Sir Stephen Wall, a former adviser to Tony Blair, commented on the BBC Radio 4 documentary, “The Pope’s British Divisions” (September 9^th), that  “Society as a whole has become more liberal and tolerant while the Catholic Church has become less liberal and more intolerant”. This implicit contradiction was illustrated by the student at St Benedict’s Catholic School in Derby, who told the Radio 4 interviewer that: “The best thing about being a Catholic is that you can pick and choose which bits you like to believe in as long as you worship God”. It would probably be advisable for him not to say that to the Pope when he visits the school later this week.

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