The Journalist’s Question

Last week a journalist came to church. He was covering the compulsory Easter story. He asked one of our staff - “Do you think people have stopped coming to church because they have internalised their faith?”

It was a strange question to ask as a huge number of people crowded into the Cathedral. Manifestly many people had not internalised their faith in such a fashion as to keep them from coming to church. The Cathedral was full, with people who wanted to sing with others the praises of the risen Lord Jesus. The congregation joined in prayers and listened quietly and attentively to the word of God being read and preached.

It was one of those questions that fits the journalists’ overarching story line. The journalistic community has a standard line on religion – “numbers are declining” and “people have given up on organised religion”. It is an old story coming out of the 1960’s and recycled annually at Easter and Christmas when the sheer weight of numbers attending on a slow news day forces some acknowledgment that religion still exists in our society. Read more