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BUDDHISTS OUTNUMBER PLYMOUTH BRETHREN!
Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 06:09 pmFrom my favourite source of statistics, the Daily Telegraph, comes the shocking headline "Muslims 'to outnumber traditional churchgoers'." This comes in the wake of the Bishop of Rochester's assertion that there are now non-Muslim no-go areas (take a pause to figure out the double negative). Put the two together, and we face a scenario where large parts of of Britain (say, Yorkshire) are, like Mecca, ruled by Shariah and closed to unbelievers.
But of course, this is the Telegraph, which would perhaps like its readers to be shocked by this prospect, but doesn't really have any evidence for it. What we have is a prediction that by 2020, the number of people going to Mosques will be 683,000, while attendance at Catholic services will have fallen to 679,000. Leaving aside the fact that both of these figures are very low compared to the total population of sixty million (only 38% of whom believe in a god of any kind), since when did "regular churchgoers" equal "regular Catholic churchgoers"? I knew that membership of the Church of England was going down when I left Britain in 1991, but has it been completely wiped out my absence (perhaps by some Papist/Muslim plot)? In any case, it's a bit sneaky to compare figures for a whole religion with figures for a denomination (and one which I assume is still a minority). We might as well get alarmed that there are more Buddhists than Plymouth Brethren.
Following links to related stories reassured me that the Anglican Church does still exist, since Rowan Williams, the wonderfully Satanic-looking Archbishop of Canterbury, has raised hackles by saying that the British legal system should take account of some aspects of Islamic law. Again, this sounds scary, conjuring up a situation where if you steal from Tescos you get a fine and/or an ASBO, but if you steal from the local Pakistani supermarket, you get your hand chopped off. But of course, this isn't what he said at all; what he said was that Islamic courts should have the power to declare people married or divorced. No stonings, no beheadings…in fact not much more than Christian and Jewish religious organisations are already allowed to do.
I still disagree with Dr. Williams, not because I am worried about Britain going down the Malaysian route, but because no religion—Muslim, Christian, Jedi or whatever—should be involved in the legal process. Except perhaps Thelema. That would simplify the law wonderfully, since there would be only one law on the statue books—"Do what thou Wilt shall be the whole of the Law"—with one amendment—"Love is the Law, Love under Will."
But of course, this is the Telegraph, which would perhaps like its readers to be shocked by this prospect, but doesn't really have any evidence for it. What we have is a prediction that by 2020, the number of people going to Mosques will be 683,000, while attendance at Catholic services will have fallen to 679,000. Leaving aside the fact that both of these figures are very low compared to the total population of sixty million (only 38% of whom believe in a god of any kind), since when did "regular churchgoers" equal "regular Catholic churchgoers"? I knew that membership of the Church of England was going down when I left Britain in 1991, but has it been completely wiped out my absence (perhaps by some Papist/Muslim plot)? In any case, it's a bit sneaky to compare figures for a whole religion with figures for a denomination (and one which I assume is still a minority). We might as well get alarmed that there are more Buddhists than Plymouth Brethren.
Following links to related stories reassured me that the Anglican Church does still exist, since Rowan Williams, the wonderfully Satanic-looking Archbishop of Canterbury, has raised hackles by saying that the British legal system should take account of some aspects of Islamic law. Again, this sounds scary, conjuring up a situation where if you steal from Tescos you get a fine and/or an ASBO, but if you steal from the local Pakistani supermarket, you get your hand chopped off. But of course, this isn't what he said at all; what he said was that Islamic courts should have the power to declare people married or divorced. No stonings, no beheadings…in fact not much more than Christian and Jewish religious organisations are already allowed to do.
I still disagree with Dr. Williams, not because I am worried about Britain going down the Malaysian route, but because no religion—Muslim, Christian, Jedi or whatever—should be involved in the legal process. Except perhaps Thelema. That would simplify the law wonderfully, since there would be only one law on the statue books—"Do what thou Wilt shall be the whole of the Law"—with one amendment—"Love is the Law, Love under Will."
