Ageing in a multi-faith Britain

Not only has the UK experienced a decline in religious observance over the last 50 years, it has also witnessed an increase in the diversity of religious, and spiritual, expression. Taken together these phenomena can give the impression that the UK is ceasing to be a Christian country. Within the countryside the medieval churches of small towns and villages demonstrate an ancient Christian heritage, but in the big cities the new religious buildings of Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and other faiths often appear much more alive than the Victorian and early-20thcentury Christian churches built in large numbers to minister to an expanding urban population. Such buildings often look forlorn or shabby. Some have been abandoned. Some have been rehabilitated as temples and mosques of other faiths. But it is new building that provides evidence of the confidence of the incoming faiths. As we were writing this chapter Hindus in London were celebrating the completion of a magnificent temple in Wembley, rivalling the near-by football stadium in quality of presence if not in size. This is as good a sign as any of the changing religious character of the UK.

Nor is the change simply one of increasing numbers of immigrants belonging to the other great faiths of the world. A new creativity is at play, particularly in the younger part of the population, which wants to explore what diverse religions and their related spiritual practices offer in terms of mystery, awe, and uplifting experience of transcendence. New forms of spiritual movements are arising, sometimes related to their faiths of origin, but increasingly detached from them and often presented in eclectic and syncretic forms. They reflect the concerns of the new century: for peace and harmony among the nations and peoples within an increasingly interdependent world, where domination of one group by another is seen as unacceptable also in the realm of faith; for peace and harmony also with the environment, where the ecological system becomes increasingly under threat as a result of human expansion and progress. In this context it is not surprising that eastern spiritualities, which have not shown the same tendency as Judaeo- Christian cultures to dominate and control the natural world, find particular favour.