Faris Jawad
2005-09-14 12:21:02 UTC
UK Mosque Goers to Double Church Attendance: Study
CAIRO , September 4, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) - The number of Muslims praying
at British mosques will be double the number of church goers by 2040,
according to a study by the British-based association Christian Research.
The study, The Future of The Church, said that there will be nearly twice as
many Muslims at prayer in mosques on Friday as Christians attending Sunday
services, reported the Telegraph on Sunday, September 4.
British government and academic sources said in 2004 that some 930,000
Muslims go to the mosque at least once a week against 916,000 regular
worshipers in the Church of England, the mother church of the Anglican
communion.
Mosques in Britain range from the splendor of Regents Park Mosque, and the
big central mosques in Birmingham and Manchester , to more modest
structures, often converted from other buildings, according to the BBC.
The first mosque in Britain is likely to have been one recorded in 1860 in
Cardiff .
Another early British mosque was established in 1887 in Mount Vernon Street
in Liverpool , and moved to Brougham Terrace in 1889, where the building,
which is now a Registry Office, continued to be used as a mosque until 1908.
Britain 's first purpose-built mosque was built at Woking in Surrey in 1894
with money from the ruler of Bhopal , Shah Jehan.
In 1940 the British government allocated a sum of up to £100,000 to buy a
site for a mosque in London .
In 1944 the Islamic Centre was opened in London on 2.3 acres of land at
Hanover Gate in Regent's Park given by King George VI to the UK Muslim
minority.
In 1977 the Central Mosque, usually referred to as the Regent's Park Mosque,
was opened on the same site.
There is no official estimate of the number of mosques in Britain , home to
around 2.5 million Muslims.
Plummet
The study said that the number of Christians attending Sunday service will
fall by two thirds over the next three decades.
It expected the total membership of all the denominations to fall from 9.4
per cent of the population to under only five per cent by 2040.
The study also anticipates that the poor attendance will force some 18,000
churches to close.
"I hope that these findings concentrate minds in what is becoming a real
crisis," said Peter Brierley, the executive director of Christian Research.
Brierley, who has been collating Church figures for 40 years, said the study
should act as a "wake-up call" to Church leaders.
Long-time Decline
Figures show that the main denominations, from the Church of England, the
Roman Catholics to the Methodist and United Reformed Churches, are suffering
from long-term decline of worshipers.
"The truth is stark," said Bishop of Manchester, Rev Nigel McCulloch, who
has been involved in previous Christian Research reports.
"What these statistics need to do is to galvanize the Church into realizing
that it must communicate the gospel where people are or we will not deserve
to have a Church."
Brierley said the churches had begun taking initiatives to tackle the
falling numbers of church goers.
http://islamonline.net/English/News/2005-09/04/article06.shtml
CAIRO , September 4, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) - The number of Muslims praying
at British mosques will be double the number of church goers by 2040,
according to a study by the British-based association Christian Research.
The study, The Future of The Church, said that there will be nearly twice as
many Muslims at prayer in mosques on Friday as Christians attending Sunday
services, reported the Telegraph on Sunday, September 4.
British government and academic sources said in 2004 that some 930,000
Muslims go to the mosque at least once a week against 916,000 regular
worshipers in the Church of England, the mother church of the Anglican
communion.
Mosques in Britain range from the splendor of Regents Park Mosque, and the
big central mosques in Birmingham and Manchester , to more modest
structures, often converted from other buildings, according to the BBC.
The first mosque in Britain is likely to have been one recorded in 1860 in
Cardiff .
Another early British mosque was established in 1887 in Mount Vernon Street
in Liverpool , and moved to Brougham Terrace in 1889, where the building,
which is now a Registry Office, continued to be used as a mosque until 1908.
Britain 's first purpose-built mosque was built at Woking in Surrey in 1894
with money from the ruler of Bhopal , Shah Jehan.
In 1940 the British government allocated a sum of up to £100,000 to buy a
site for a mosque in London .
In 1944 the Islamic Centre was opened in London on 2.3 acres of land at
Hanover Gate in Regent's Park given by King George VI to the UK Muslim
minority.
In 1977 the Central Mosque, usually referred to as the Regent's Park Mosque,
was opened on the same site.
There is no official estimate of the number of mosques in Britain , home to
around 2.5 million Muslims.
Plummet
The study said that the number of Christians attending Sunday service will
fall by two thirds over the next three decades.
It expected the total membership of all the denominations to fall from 9.4
per cent of the population to under only five per cent by 2040.
The study also anticipates that the poor attendance will force some 18,000
churches to close.
"I hope that these findings concentrate minds in what is becoming a real
crisis," said Peter Brierley, the executive director of Christian Research.
Brierley, who has been collating Church figures for 40 years, said the study
should act as a "wake-up call" to Church leaders.
Long-time Decline
Figures show that the main denominations, from the Church of England, the
Roman Catholics to the Methodist and United Reformed Churches, are suffering
from long-term decline of worshipers.
"The truth is stark," said Bishop of Manchester, Rev Nigel McCulloch, who
has been involved in previous Christian Research reports.
"What these statistics need to do is to galvanize the Church into realizing
that it must communicate the gospel where people are or we will not deserve
to have a Church."
Brierley said the churches had begun taking initiatives to tackle the
falling numbers of church goers.
http://islamonline.net/English/News/2005-09/04/article06.shtml