croftspeaks.bsky.social
Humanist Chaplain. Pragmatist philosopher (Cambridge, Harvard). Frank Knox Fellow. Trans Inclusive Radical Humanist. Green Party UK. Own views. đ
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Prophecy fulfilled.
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Love to hear and see this!
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Huzzah! Go to the Fountain on Locust for good food and great ice cream if youâre so inclined! Forest Park is gorgeous and has a big free museum in it! The City Museum is totally unique and very odd, too.
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Humanist beliefs are not permitted to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Thought for the Day. The BBC had a legal requirement to represent everyone equally â not just religious people. If you agree, please lend your support by signing our petition.
humanists.uk/action/thoug...
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Was just thinking the same thing! Big Walk looks so charming!
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This is why youâre my favourite political commentator. I have to wait until I get back from holiday to play mine. đ
Enjoy!
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Did you get a Switch 2?! đ
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I am forever perplexed by memories of having once spoken on a panel with Yudkowsky. A truly unique experience.
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Do you think anything of his left brain right brain stuff. I feel like itâs dramatically over generalised neurobollocks, and I am shocked by how seriously itâs taken right now.
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Hume based.
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In conclusion, this is a biased writeup of an interesting but limited piece of research. It overstates the evidence in favour of its conclusion and understates conflicting evidence. It doesnât sufficiently consider all the variables and obscures more than it reveals.
Quiet Revival? Not Quite. /fin
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This leads to another problem: people dramatically over-report their church attendance, ESPECIALLY if they come from a culture which highly prioritises church-going. So recent immigrants are both more likely to attend church and more likely to falsely report going. This needs to be considered. /11
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The report seems to imply that because some of the self-reported increase in church attendance comes from white people, it cannot be due to immigration. But of course white people migrate too, and it happens that many many white people have migrated to the UK from much more Christian countries. /10
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But, what if there is indeed an increase in young people self reporting church attendance - why might that be?
One reason that the report mentions but doesnât dig into is immigration. There has been a LOT of immigration over the last decade, especially from countries more Christian than the UK. /9
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A report actually interested in discovering the truth about church attendance in the UK would examine all the evidence, including the evidence that contradicts its desired outcome - but this report just ignores that (better) evidence. /8
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Worse, the report ignores more reliable and more objective data that conflicts directly with its results. The Anglican and Catholic Churches actually count how many people attend directly, and they are recording DIPS in attendance, not growth. Over the same years. This isnât mentioned. /7
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This is mentioned in the report but doesnât get nearly the attention it deserves - in the 3 years since that census these Bible Society figures show Christian identification dramatically DOWN - what sort of Christian revival results in a smaller percentage of people being Christians? /6
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Furthermore, results that count against the ârevivalâ narrative are underplayed. The report found that the percentage of people in the UK identifying as Christian is DOWN from even the 2021 census: the percentage of people who identify as Christian is now 39%, and 29% among 18-34 y/os. /5
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Weâre still talking about a tiny percentage of people attending church *monthly* or more - the UK is a deeply secular country and these results do not challenge that perspective at all. These results, if true, would for many churches mean one or two more young people attending. Some âexplosion.â /4
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Throughout, the evidence is interpreted in the way most flattering to their preferred conclusion: church attendance is âexplodingâ and the church is âtransformedâ, the report says - but even if we take its results at face value they do not warrant such enthusiasm. /3
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First, letâs acknowledge that the Bible Society has a direct interest in spinning the evidence in a way that promotes the idea of a Christian revival. While the survey on which the report is based is a good bit of research, the report itself is not an academic work and is clearly biased. /2