An interesting story here (Hat tip: Free Republic) – it would appear Roman Catholics have overtaken Anglicans as England’s dominant religious group, judged by the latest figures published by London’s Sunday Telegraph:

[Last Saturday night], leading figures gave warning that the Church of England could become a minority faith and that the findings should act as a wake-up call.

The statistics show that attendance at Anglican Sunday services has dropped by 20 per cent since 2000. A survey of 37,000 churches, to be published in the new year, shows the number of people going to Sunday Mass in England last year averaged 861,000, compared with 852,000 Anglicans ­worshipping.

The rise of Catholicism has been bolstered by an influx of immigrants from eastern Europe and Africa, who have packed the pews of Catholic parishes that had previously been dwindling.

Those who have been frequenting this space have undoubtedly seen that, when it comes to religion, my view is that people want substance, direction, a sense of community, and a positive message of hope based upon the historical teachings and traditions of Christianity. Unfortunately, this message has become increasingly obscured in the mainline Protestant churches – particularly those western churches in the Anglican Communion – through years of incessant conflict over the issue of homosexuality. As a result, I’m sure there are many others like me who, tired of the whole homosexuality debate and those progessive activists who have hijacked their denominations for the sole purpose of imposing their beliefs rooted in their sexuality and their own life choices, have begun to explore other Christian alternatives and found the grass to be far greener there.

As the Sunday Telegraph article indicates, the jury is still out on whether this trend is a temporary one or not, but anyone who has cherished the beautiful traditions of Anglicanism can only shake their heads in wonder and a sense of sadness at the sorry state of the Anglican tradition, not only as practiced in the UK, but in the US and Canada as well, and wonder where it will all end. Regardless what happens with the Roman Catholics in England, the Church of England better wake up and start standing from something other than the “feel good” religion of tolerance, diversity, and inclusion if it expects to survive into the 22nd century.