December 12, 2004
CHILDREN OF MEN:
Britons flock back to church - as tourists: Just 7 percent of the population attend services regularly. But visits to churches are up sharply. (Mark Rice-Oxley, 12/08/04, The Christian Science Monitor)
Bob Ayres can't resist a good cathedral. He's done all the biggies - Canterbury, St. Paul's, Salisbury, Wells - and ticked off dozens of others.But Mr. Ayres is no churchgoer. "I'm a bit of a heathen really," the Londoner chuckles. "I don't go to church. I just like visiting them for the architecture."
It's the same for his brother Keith. "My wife goes to church but I don't," he admits after nosing around the splendid interiors of St. Bride's church in London. "In all the churches I've visited, I've found an atmosphere of peace and serenity," he adds.
The Ayres typify a slightly incongruous trend in Britain: In a country where regular worship is in decline, and faith has moved to the margins, church tourism is becoming hugely popular.
Official figures show that almost nine million people visited 35 places of Christian worship last year. Visits to all churches are estimated at more than 20 million. That compares to barely 4 million regular Christian worshippers.
It's a start. Posted by Orrin Judd at December 12, 2004 3:13 PM
Reminds me of the 'cathedral' about 3 or 4 blocks from Tiananmen Square, which had (5 years ago) a high fence around it, and was open to the public for about 3 or 4 hours on Sunday afternoons. The day I was there, most visitors were Western.
Posted by: jim hamlen at December 12, 2004 3:28 PMIt's like visiting any other antiquity from a bygone age, like the Coliseum or Stonehenge.
Posted by: Bart at December 13, 2004 6:51 AMI noticed when I visited London that the churches were organized for tourism, with rope lines and guided tours. Same in Quebec City.
It doesn't do much for the worship services to have flash bulbs going off, though.
Posted by: pj at December 13, 2004 11:42 AMWhile in college, I went to Montreal w/the college choir. We toured St. Joseph's Cathedral. I took a picture and then heard an elderly woman mumble "tourist" under her breath. I took no more pictures. It was a place of worship 1st and a tourist site 2nd. That expereince is one of the reasons that people taking pictures during worship services is a burr in my britches.
Posted by: Dave W. at December 13, 2004 9:01 PM