In a thoughtful post on the Thinking Anglicans site, Ferdinand von Prondzynski suggests that the Anglican Communion is failing to prepare for the future that could be brought about by long-term demographic trends — a future in which Christianity could conceivably find itself more and more irrelevant:
Recently, some very striking demographic analysis has been undertaken into
Irish population trends. … [I]t has been suggested that by the year 2050 Ireland could have
a population of 20 million (rather than the current 5 million or so), and that
fewer than 6 million of these would then be indigenous Irish. … Indeed, the ‘old’ Irish
would not even make up the biggest population group: that would be the
Chinese.
* * *
Nobody could,
with any confidence, try to predict what the Anglican family of the year 2050
will look like, based on this evidence from the prelates. But there are few
signs that anyone is trying to construct a forward-looking vision of an
intercultural Christian world.My own instinct is to say that western liberalism — at least where it
stresses the dignity of human lifestyles which do not hurt or oppress — is by
now very well rooted in these soils, and will survive the new cultural mix, and
possibly even thrive in it. Our new world is about releasing innovative energy,
and not about trying to shoehorn all life and culture into a narrow selection of
time capsules.* * *
The church may turn out to be relevant to this, or it may turn out to be just
a ghost. The time has come for us to assert the right of Christianity to be a
signpost to the future, and not just a grim reminder of some of the less
pleasant aspects of our past. … It’s time to realise that the place for Christians is not on
the fence.
(Emphasis added.)
Leave a Reply