The only rise in church attendance is children dragged along so their parents can get them into a church school

The only apparent statistical blip in the relentless decline in church attendance has been children attending. I was immediately suspicious, but thanks to the Christian think tank Ekklesia for putting those suspicions into words:

"The numbers are boosted by the fact that attendance is required to get children into some church schools.  The increase however was not reflected in the figures for baptism and services of thanksgiving for children which fell 2% and 13% respectively."

So the only "good news" on attendance is a result of social engineering and poor policy making which forces parents - many of whom aren't believers - into pretending to be Christians for a couple of years so they can get their children into a church school because it has better exam results than other schools in the area. If I were a Church of England press officer or Bishop, I wouldn't be proud of that fact, I would be ashamed of the perversity of it all.

Comments

[Tom Freeman]

Ah, you can't beat a captive audience of children. Well, not since corporal punishment was banned, you can't. But you can fill their impressionable little minds with fairytales...

[john connore]

I must agree with tom freeman, I, like Richard Dawkins believe indoctrinating a child into religious dogma, is tantamount to child abuse. The mind is a terrible thing wash