Understand The Times, International

October 14 - Church of England to Only Open Churches on Christmas and Easter as Nearly 50% of Brits Identify as Atheist

Article: Signs Of The Last Times

																																																																																								
																																																																																																																												The Church of England is reportedly considering plans to keep some historic village churches across the country opened only on holy days such as Christmas and Easter due to population shifts and the ever-growing decline in attendance and church membership.

																																																																																																																																													A major 66-page report by the CofE's Church Buildings Review Group noted that many churches are no longer sustainable, and that about one in four parishes have fewer than 10 regular worshipers. The report proposes turning some parishes into "festival churches" in order to ease the financial burden, suggesting that they will only be used for key dates on the religious calendar, or occasions such as marriage and funerals.

																																																																																																																																																The CofE has had to deal with sharp decline over the past 30 years, as reported in May by NatCen Social Research. The group's Social Attitudes survey found that 40 percent of the British population identified as Anglicans in 1983, but that number is down to only 17 percent in 2014. Presently only 8.5 million Britons identify as Anglicans, the survey said.