UKC

So, the CoE has gone down the wing-nut route and will presumably accelerate towards utter irrelevance to national life over the next few decades. Fine.

However, they, or rather we, as it is an established church, own a lot of splendid buildings from major cathedrals to small village churches. It would be sad to these either decay or be destroyed by being turned into "worship centres" as a result of the CoEs decline. Is there a case for setting up a body similar to the National Trust for owning and running notable churches so the buildings and grounds survive? If the church wants to hold services in them still, some agreement could be reach in a similar manner the former families of NT properties having some access.

In reply to MG:

I say hand them over to climbers to convert them all into Climbing Centres.

In reply to MG:

I'd convert them all to mosques.

In reply to Pyreneenemec: they used to be pagan sites before Christians came along, they should be handed back to us so we can get on sacrificing virgins, and get back to the good old days of BC.........

In reply to MG: Legalise prostitution and make them all brothels!

In reply to MG: All religion is irrelevant in the modern world.

In reply to MG: If I were the CEO of the church, I'd be looking to make the corporate move from divine worship to satanism.

They problem is, the church has a declining customer base because it's products just aren't 'sexy' enough.
Satanism solves this. Loud music, sex and drugs SELLS.

They all believe in much the same thing after all. They've just backed different winners.

They could keep some of the churches holy rather than unholy and have a partnership deal where converts from Satanism are passed over to the church when they've had enough debauchery.
No business sense, these people.

In reply to cragtaff:

Unfortunately its destructive power is not irrelevant to the modern world, extreme Islam may well be the end of the world that communism was supposed to be, lets hope it gets as irrelevant soon as communism is today.

In reply to yesbutnobutyesbut:

Now you're just taking the idea too far.

Swingers clubs perhaps?

In reply to MG:

The churches should be flattened and the rubble used to stone to death any clergy who has used Chancel Repair Liability laws against an unsuspecting home owner.

In reply to MG:
The ones that have become part of full time concert venues are often really nice. The atmosphere of a church seems well suited to a classical (or otherwise serious / beard-strokey) concert, and there's a sense in which it's still something that transcends the mundane and material, just in a secular way.

I wouldn't be too quick to write off the CofE, though...

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

Censer swingers clubs maybe?

In reply to MG:

Convert them into safe shelters for oppressed women.

In reply to Ken Lewis:

Or shelters for oppressed men.

Otherwise known as 'pubs'

In reply to MG:

What's going to happen to the churches?

Not much in the short term. In the longer term many will gradually become unaffordable. Some will be mothballed, boarded up and allowed to decline slowly in hope of better days to come or a wealthy patron. Some will be sold on as homes, offices, gyms art centers and bars. Some will survive as multi-denominational churches and community centers. Some will thrive as tourist attractions, wedding venues and lottery-grant. Some may well go tho the National Trust or English Heritage. Some will fall prey to vandalism, fire, flood, metal theft and structural problems.

Basically much the same as has been happening for years.
jk

In reply to Ramblin dave:
I've at some bangin' nights at Trinity Centre in Bristol. Transcendental, mun.

In reply to MG:

The house I live in in Derbyshire is built on the site of an old chapel. I have no problem with that, because the location is marked very precisely by a cross on the OS map, which helps visitors find the place. Also,the key to the map identifies the cross with a "holy place", which I can also live with.

In reply to MG:
Is there a case for setting up a body similar to the National Trust for owning and running notable churches so the buildings and grounds survive?

There kinda already is one. The Churches conservation trust is a non religious organization that looks after old, normally de-consecrated, churches that have not been sold to be converted to a different use.

They use volunteers to maintain the churches and you can hire out the buildings for art exhibits, meetings, parties, that sort of stuff. Their are still some services run in then (local ex CoE church is hired by the Russian Orthodox concregation to run mass).

Had a really good murder mystery night in one a while back.

Pete

In reply to cragtaff:

But knowledge isn't!!! Churches are perfect for lectures, so turn them into lecture theatres where the community can be given lessons in things important, like how to recycle and minimising energy losses and how to use public transport better, etc...

They used to be community centres and they still can, but what is taught there should be changed...

In reply to jonnie3430:

Yes. I would be particularly in favour of putting the emphasis on philosophical discussion groups, discussing such things as ethics, justice, metaphysics and the philosophy of science.

In reply to Pete Fish:

Reverend Green with the ecclesiastical candlestick in the church hall?

In reply to MG:
One of my favourite places in Norwich was a church that had been converted into a cultural centre. Sometimes it was used for concerts or theatre performances, at other times it was used for an art gallery. Worked really well considering that most medieval churches are works of art in their own right.

That being said, I don't think the link with Christianity can be severed entirely. After all, it would be odd for (say) a bank to be converted into a religious temple. There will be a religious association for hundreds of years whatever happens to the church.

Also worth bearing in mind, for those who say that Christianity is finished in this country: people who go to church aren't going to stop going just because women can't be bishops. It's a backward step, but I predict the CofE will last at least another century in its current form.