religion

The links between organised religion and rural England have always intrigued me – along a continuum from there being more religious buildings and more active Anglicans/Methodists in rural England per head to there being far lower representation of other religions in rural England.

This article tells how a joint study by economists at the University of East Anglia and the University of St Andrews looked into the effect that life expectancy has on whether – and when – people adopt a faith.

“In countries with low life expectancies people tend to embrace faith earlier in their lives, while people in the developed world often wait until thoughts of an afterlife become more relevant.

“Religious organisations should be prepared to accept and attract a ‘greying church’ with membership skewed towards the older generation,” said Dr Elissaios Papyrakis, one of the report’s authors.”

This makes me reflect on whether the higher proportion of older people in rural England accounts at least partly for its higher incidence of practicing worshipers. What are your views?