Atheism is down as UK gets spiritual

Atheism is down as UK gets spiritual – says the headline of an article reporting on a recent survey, appearing in The Times newspaper on Friday 28th December 2018.

Click here to open article as a PDF document

Pete Greig, founder and Team Leader of 24-7 Prayer, has just published the following remarks about this article on his Instagram account. (Click here to view on Instagram).

‘Just to be clear what we’re seeing here:
– British atheism —> declining (-2-3% p.a. for 3 yrs)
– British church attendance —> growing
– British people who pray —> growing. .
Are these signs of revival in the UK? Not yet. Atheists (and some regular church-goers) are ‘merely’ becoming nominal believers in ‘a greater spiritual power’, not necessarily in Jesus Christ; they are attending church occasionally, but not regularly; they are turning to prayer, but only sporadically.

So, is this everything we are praying for? Nope! Lets not get over-excited. In the words of the meme, let’s just ‘Keep calm and carry on.’

But is it a start? Fuel for faith? Somewhat encouraging for those who’ve wept, worked and prayed for years, longing to read this kind of report in the mainstream press? You bet!

And could it be a wake-up call for politicians and the media? The beginning of an exciting new season for gospel adventuring? A hint and a whisper that the tide is finally, beginning to turn in this supposedly secular nation? Maybe!’