An Obadiah Slope column
A special visit to St. Andrews Cathedral: Obadiah went on something of a pilgrimage to his boyhood, travelling into the city last Sunday because all the cathedral songs were by Bishop Timothy Dudley-Smith, who died in August at the grand old age of 98. His hymns were the songs of Obadiah’s childhood, and the songs (and Bible verses) you learn young go deeper in.
Obadiah really can not sing. He made sure to sit in a side aisle, away from the sizable congregation that morning. But he can almost sing the songs his father taught him six decades ago.
“Tell out my soul
the greatness of the Lord!
Unnumbered blessings,
give my spirit voice,
tender to me
the promise of his word
in God my saviour
shall my heart rejoice.“
So simple and yet profound.
Ross Cobb, the Cathedral Music Director, remembered Dudley-Smith and added one detail that struck Obadiah. The great hymnist – and he was a great hymnist – “was tone deaf. he could not keep a tune…” Well. Just like Obadiah, but unlike Obadiah in his musical ability.
And, appropriately, as the service closed, we sang:
“Lord, for the years, your love has kept and guided,
urged and inspired us, cheered us on our way,
sought us and saved us, pardoned and provided:
Lord of the years, we bring our thanks today.“
So many great verses to choose from in this hymn, but let’s go with this one
“Lord, for our world: when we disown and doubt you,
loveless in strength, and comfortless in pain:
hungry and helpless, lost indeed without you,
Lord of the world, we pray that Christ may reign.”
(And Obadiah really loves that Dudley-Smith hymns have punctuation.)
Underneath the soaring choir and organ, Obadiah could hear, from six decades ago, choirmaster Colin James Sandeman coaxing a tune out of his youngest son’s voicebox. The age of miracles was not past. And then, for a moment, Obadiah was back at Burnside Christian church below the foothills of Adelaide,
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Taking a rise: In the progressive UK mag New Statesman, Madeleine Davies in a piece titled “The rise of cultural Christianity “Why, with the precipitous decline of the Church of England, now with just 1 per cent of the population in. its churches on Sunday, that “Given this backdrop, what does it mean that so many people – 46.2 per cent at the last census in England and Wales – describe themselves as Christian?”
It is hard to write this sort of piece without referring to Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach” poem, which compares the retreat of faith to an outgoing tide.
“The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.
Davies namechecks the poem (referring to the “Sea of faith,” which is also the name of a liberal Christian faction which, um, has retreated). But, Davies’ modern references are the more apposite.
“Perhaps it makes sense that Richard Dawkins, a zoologist by training and committed atheist, should serve up with alacrity a clear-cut taxonomy of Christianity. ‘You can be a Cultural Christian, a Political Christian, a Believing Christian, or any combination of the three,’ he wrote in a recent Substack essay. For some time, he has happily owned the first label, joining Philip Pullman (a self-professed ‘Church of England atheist) and, more recently, Elon Musk in rejecting all religious belief while holding in affection aspects of its cultural legacy, including sacred music.
“Hirsi Ali, Dawkins argues, belongs to the second category… Musk would likely be allocated to the same category. In a recent interview with Peterson, he praised “the principles of Christianity” while linking the decline of religion to anti-natalism.”
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On the other hand: Ian Paul, one of the more thoroughly argued evangelicals in the Church of England, points to a different explanation of why Christianity might be doing better than the established church attendance stats attest. He cites Bible Society research that suggests church attendance is doing better than that.
Last year, he interviewed Dr Rhiannon McAleer, Head of Research and Impact, for the Britsh Bible Society.
“In 2018, we took a nationally representative sample of over 19,000 adults from the YouGov panel and surveyed them about their attitudes to the Bible and Christianity,” McAleer told Paul We also asked them how often they go to a church service outside of a wedding, christening or funeral. 7% said at least weekly, while 9% said at least monthly. We ran the same survey in 2022 and again 7% said at least weekly, while 10% said at least monthly. Other polls we’ve run in the meantime and since have shown similar figures. Of course, in the world of social statistics this isn’t a long period of time to observe, but it’s worth noting it’s nearly half a census cycle.”
For context, these figures are below similar Australian surveys. The Australian Community Survey run by NCLS Research found that “One in five Australians were frequent attenders at religious services in 2021.
“The results across five years show an increase in attendance from 18% in 2016 up to 22% in 2019. In 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, attendance dropped to 16%. However, in 2021, around one in five Australians (21%) reported attending religious services frequently i.e., at least monthly. Among frequent attenders, 13% attended weekly or more often.