Opinion: it's a secular country

The Huffington Post (UK edition) has commissioned a sociological study of attitudes to religion in the UK.

Bringing the Faith to the Heathen (Mexico)
(c) Adam Jones

It should worry all of us who are committed members of a faith not least because it reinforces other, earlier, surveys.

Amongst the findings::

• "More than half of Britons believe that religion does more harm than good, with less than a quarter believing faith is a force for good, ..."
• "Even 20% of British people who described themselves as being 'very religious' said religion was harmful to society, and a quarter of [them] said atheists were more likely to be moral individuals than religious people."
• "Of the 2,004 people surveyed in the HuffPost/Survation poll, 56% described themselves as Christian, 2.5% were Muslim, 1% were Jewish and the remainder were of another faith or none."

What seems a little more hopeful (at least from my perspective) was the finding that:

• "Young people are actually more likely to have a positive view of religion. Around 30% of 18-24 year old believe religion does more good than harm, compared to just 19% of 55-64 year-olds."

but, of course, this can't tell us which way young people will move as they grow older. It is the age group least likely to be present in church.

All of which leaves religious folk a number of problems, amongst them:

• We are at some point in a long-term trend away from religious sensibility to an increasing secularity. 
• The legacy of Christian buildings, communities, public symbols and stories is clearly more or less irrelevant to the challenge.
• The language of faith is inaudible and/or incomprehensible to a growing majority of people - not just archaic (traditional) language, but any language of faith.

In practice we - Christians - live and hide in our own little encampments. We tend to be much more concerned to defend our own particular and local church than to be expansive in our sharing of faith. We pour energy into internal conflicts (as Christians always have) and sometimes even convince ourselves that our fights matter.   

And none of this should be surprising. We feel beleaguered, discarded, unappreciated, unmourned. Therefore the emotionally-reasonable reaction is to step back into what we know, what we've always done, including our own internal squabbles: it's where we're safe, comfortable and know where we stand. 

It's no use, of course. It's  just hiding under the blanket and pretending that the storm will pass. It won't.

At the very least we have to step out of our shells and risk getting soaked. I think it's time to stop talking (and certainly stop preaching) and to start listening. Just as a beginning.  

Paul Bagshaw

Looking for a new Bishop

From the Diocese of Newcastle website

Vacancy in See Committee

Helping to find the twelfth Bishop of Newcastle

The Vacancy in See Committee is charged with writing a Statement of Need which will be used to help to find the next Bishop of Newcastle. To help to inform the Committee with its work a survey has been created and this provides you with an opportunity to highlight the qualities and skills you would expect to find in the next Bishop of Newcastle.

Use this link to complete the survey: www.surveymonkey.com/s/newbishop

The survey will be closed at midnight on Sunday 7th December 2014.

Some information about the Survey

There are five sections to the survey:

1. Spirituality, Theology and Faith
2. People Skills
3. Leadership
4. A Voice for the North
5. A Practical Bishop

The survey is anonymous but participants are asked to complete some general information about themselves (eg age range, gender, rural/suburban/urban location) before the completed survey can be submitted. The data collected through the survey will be used to help to inform the Committee's work. Please note, the Committee will not enter into communication or dialogue about the questions it has posed and data collected through the survey will be stored securely and deleted after the Committee has completed its work.

The Committee would like to thank all participants for their contributions to the survey and for taking the time to respond to this survey.

The survey will be closed at midnight on Sunday 7th December 2014.

God's Gardeners

St Hilda's gardeners win 1st place 

in the Places of Worship Category 

of North Tyneside in Bloom 2014

Mac Squires, Austin Hordon, Frank Clayforth and Rev Michael Bass
St Hilda's prize winning gardeners

The team (pictured) meets for about an hour and a half every Tuesday morning and over four years has transformed the garden into a prize-winning delight.

After three previous attempts this year’s success is marked with a certificate, a silver salver and garden vouchers. They also won the appreciation of the congregation and many who pass by along the busy Preston North Road, some of whom will stop for a chat.

In 2015 the team plans a block-paved memorial section in front of the tree seat where people come and sit to enjoy a moment of peace.

Bishop Martin's retirment

After 17 years as Bishop of this diocese, Martin Wharton retires at the end of this month. Following his farewell service in Newcastle Cathedral he  gave the City of Newcastle a blessing from Cathedral Square. (Photos from the service.)

Tributes have been given in a number of places, amongst them:

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, in General Synod 

The Journal

from the Chronicle

The Chronicle 

National Wind Watch In 2013 he told The Journal that it was his Christian duty to speak out against turbines, which he felt were turning the rural North East into a “disfigured industrial landscape”. This led to his largest postbag ever from people on both sides of the debate.

Brief Biography (the Journal)

Bishop Martin was born in 1944 in Ulverston in what was then Lancashire, and after attending the local grammar school went to Van Mildert College, Durham, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics, politics and sociology in 1969. 

He then went to Linacre College, Oxford, where he received a bachelor’s degree in theology and a Master of Arts in 1971. A year later he became a curate in Birmingham, before moving to a church in Croydon. Between 1977 and 1983 he was Director of Pastoral Studies at Ripon College Cuddesdon, Oxford, and between 1983 and 1992 he was the Director of Ministry and Training in the Diocese of Bradford and a residentiary canon of Bradford Cathedral. 

In 1992, he became area Bishop of Kingston-upon-Thames until he was appointed the 11th Bishop of Newcastle in 1997.

Bishop Martin in the House of Lords (BBC)

New Bishop
Now the search is beginning for a new bishop - though it may well be over a year before anyone  is appointed. Newcastle is the third Diocese (after Gloucester and Oxford) which will be able to choose a woman diocesan bishop.

The public is being consulted on what qualities they would look for in a bishop.

However the process itself is conducted in conditions of utmost secrecy (Wikipedia).  We wait and pray.

Welcome

On St Hilda's day 19th November  2014, welcome to our new blog.

St Hilda of Whitby

St Hilda's Church is a cheerful, warm and welcoming Church of England Church in North Tyneside, not far from the North Sea Coast.

There's a street view picture here.

Hilda was a local saint (Wikipedia) and we are proud to worship in a church dedicated to her.

Bede's Ecclesiastical History says of her:

Christ's servant, Abbess Hilda, whom all her acquaintances called Mother because of her wonderful devotion and grace, was not only an example of holy life to members of her own community; for she also brought about the salvation and amendment of many living at a distance, who heard the inspiring story of her industry and goodness.

Her life was the fulfilment of a dream which her mother Breguswith has when Hilda was an infant, during the time that her husband Hereric was living in banishment under the protection of the British king Cerdic, where he died of poison.

In this dream she fancied that he was suddenly taken away, and although she searched everywhere she could find no trace of him, 

When all her efforts had failed, she discovered a most valuable jewel under her garments; and as she looked closely, it emitted such a brilliant light that all Britain was lit by its splendour. This dream was fulfilled in her daughter, whose life afforded a shining example not only to herself but to all who wished to live a good life.

Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Trans. Leo Sherley-Price, Revised R.E. Latham, Penguin Books, Revised edn. 1990, pp 245-6.

Breguswith had another daughter, Hereswith. Though she too became a saint she seems to have been almost wholly eclipsed by Hilda.