The implication is that while organised religion is on the decrease, people (especially the young) are open to authentic faith. This begs the question: What fresh expressions of the church will best reach a generation that are intersted in God, but tired of the old approaches? Here are a few extracts:
In 1966, a TIME cover story pondered the fate of Christianity and asked, is god dead? The magazine wasn't the first to pose the question — theologians have lamented society's secularization for centuries — nor would it be the last. He's still not dead, but these days in Europe, He's not always in the same old places. So it's worth asking: Where has God — and Christian faith — gone?
It may sound strange to say, but in some ways Europe's faith has survived the church. While the Continent may be more secular than ever, God hasn't gone away for everyone. Many Europeans, able to distinguish between the message and its flawed human messengers, still find Him where they always have — in church. And many others who don't attend say they still believe in God and in the importance of religion, especially at life's key moments. Faith is more private, more personal, which means it may be harder to find and often more at odds with Christian orthodoxy. But in some places — among immigrants and youth — it is thriving and even growing.
The same Third Wave survey that shows a lack of interest in religion among half of Europe also shows enduring belief in God and some of faith's trappings. In all but a handful of countries, more than two-thirds of people believe in God. In all except the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, more than 70% of respondents said that a religious service is important at death; the numbers were slightly lower for marriage. This clear "yearning for something beyond" has led to what Exeter University sociologist Grace Davie calls "a funny mixture of what we have in modern Europe, which is still a religious sensibility, but a loss of the tradition and the knowledge base." Your faith may not look like your grandmother's. But "this is not the end of Christianity at all," says theologian Hans Küng. "I have hope."
As Europe has grown less religious, you'd expect that its youth would too, and in several countries — Britain, Spain and the Netherlands — they have. But overall, "an increase in religion among youth is very clear," says French sociologist Yves Lambert. Among Danes, the number of 18-to-29-year-olds who professed belief in God leapt from 30% of youth in 1981 to 49% in 1999. In Italy, the jump was from 75% to 87%. Even in France, which has Europe's highest proportion of atheists, the figure crept from 44% to 47%.
Timing was one issue — the Thomas Mass starts at 6:30 p.m., recognizing that people no longer feel obligated to be in a pew on Sunday morning. Other churches in Europe remember the Sabbath but also make other days holy, holding 30-minute lunchtime services or weekday breakfast Bible studies. "If they had a Thursday-night service, I would be more likely to go," says Alex Olzog, 24, a student from Munich who is an occasional churchgoer. "I want to relax on the weekends."
It's no accident that the minority of churches and movements that are growing emphasize accessibility, not only in timing but also in style.
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