Buffy Summers cops the blame

[Kahnee]

Talk about being out of step with current cultural references...

 

Christian churches in England have lost at least 50,000 women from their congregation every year since 1989, a sociologist said today.

Dr Kristin Aune, from the University of Derby, said many young women were put off going to church because they linked it with traditional values.

She also said TV icons such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who promote female empowerment, discouraged women from attending church.

Dr Aune said: "In short, women are abandoning the church.

"Because of its focus on female empowerment, young women are attracted by Wicca, popularised by the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

"Young women tend to express egalitarian values and dislike the traditionalism and hierarchies they imagine are integral to the church.

"Women's ordination, as priests and now bishops, has dominated debate and headlines. But while looking at women in the pulpit, we have taken our eyes off the pews, where a shift with more consequences for the church's survival is underway."

Dr Aune believes many women find it difficult to attend church as they juggle their working lives with their families.

She also thinks senior clergy remaining silent about sex is driving women away as they feel the church requires them to deny their sexual desires.

Dr Aune added: "Gone are the days when the mother was at home during the day and had time to visit the church's coffee mornings and mother and toddler groups.

"With the pressures women face, churches must adapt to make themselves more accessible. One such church in London launched a Saturday breakfast club and it proved a success with women who were out at work during the week."

Dr Aune said the numbers of women lost to the church come from the English Church Census, which she used in her research for her new book entitled Women and Religion in the West, of which she is a co-author.

Dr Aune said the 2005 census used data from all Christian denominations, including Roman Catholicism, the Church of England, Baptist churches and independent churches.

[Zoob]

This post is not viewable to guests.

You can sign in to your account at the login page here

If you do not have an account then you can register here

[Kahnee]

This post is not viewable to guests.

You can sign in to your account at the login page here

If you do not have an account then you can register here

[stressederic]

This post is not viewable to guests.

You can sign in to your account at the login page here

If you do not have an account then you can register here

[Zoob]

This post is not viewable to guests.

You can sign in to your account at the login page here

If you do not have an account then you can register here

[Gilps]

This post is not viewable to guests.

You can sign in to your account at the login page here

If you do not have an account then you can register here

Edited August 22, 2008 by Gilps