"I'm spiritual but I'm not religious" is now a commonplace among people in Britain, the majority of whose population live their lives without reference to organised religion. In my role as an Anglican priest, I meet significant numbers of people who are on the cusp of leaving the church or on the cusp of wondering whether there's anything in it - people who are very unsure about the role faith or religious practice should or does have in contemporary society. I met a woman recently who works in the NHS who said that she found it a lot easier to say to work colleagues that she was gay than a Christian, as it was hard to be associated with the church in this generation.

 

“我有精神信仰，但我不信宗教”，这是英国民众当下的口头禅，大部分英国民众都不参加有组织的宗教活动。作为英国国教牧师，我遇到过相当一部分英国民众正游离于远离教会的边缘或正在思考宗教到底有些什么内容 -- 他们怀疑宗教活动或者宗教信仰在当代社会到底有什么作用，或者应该起一个什么样的作用。我最近碰到个在NHS工作的女性，她说与其跟同事说自己信教，还不如说自己是个同性恋来的好理解，因为这一代人很难跟教会产生共鸣。