The loss of religious faith poses as great a threat to England’s churches as the plague and the civil war did centuries ago, an ecclesiastical judge has warned.
Many Church of England places of worship are struggling to stay open as congregations dwindle, according to David Etherington, QC, who granted permission for a 13th-century Suffolk church to be modernised with a “multi-use community hub” with café, despite fears that it will have to be altered “beyond all recognition”.
The proportion of Britons who say that they have a religious faith hit an all-time low of 47 per cent in 2016. When the 16,000 Anglican churches are ordered by size of congregation, the smallest 4,000 have an average of 20 regular worshippers and the smallest 800