By Michael Ashcraft –
After the loss of ideals during WWI, after Biblical criticism and evolution unleashed doubt, after atheists pulverized the Bible and promoted the utopia of rationalism, Western Europe qualified to be called “Post Christian.”
Europe is now Post Post Christian.
A new study from the UK shows church attendance rose 50% over the last six years. Bible sales exploded 87% from 2019 to 2024.
The church is now more diverse, younger and more masculine, according to the UK’s Bible Society report titled “The Quiet Revival.”
The newest statistics show a reversal of decades of decline that cratered in 2018 when a majority reported no religious affiliation, a category called “nones.”
But the explosion of unbelief reversed very quickly. Right on its heels, people started going back to church.
“People are looking for meaning right now. People have came through the back end of all sorts of disasters,” says Marc Pawson, lead pastor of Palm Church in Glasgow, Scotland. “People
are diving deep into that, particularly the demographic, the age group 18 to 24s. Everyone’s now looking for a bit of meaning, a bit of perspective.”
In 2018, a paltry 4% of 18- to 24-year-olds attended church with some kind of regularity. As of 2024, a full 16% were in church – a stunning jump that confounds the naysaying atheists who predicted the complete demise of Christianity in their generation.
Only people aged 45-64 continued the decades old decline in church attendance. Every other age group showed marked increases. If we average all the ages groups, there was 4% increase of church attendance.
In regards to other breakdowns, men are going to church more than women (13% compared to 10%). Ethnic minorities are surging into pews; one in five people (19 per cent) coming from an ethnic minority. Close to half of young black people aged 18–34 (47 per cent) are now attending church at least monthly, the study found.
“We are at the center of a significant cultural shift regarding matters of faith and religion,” says Sam Richardson, chief executive of Uk-based Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. “Atheism, once considered by modern society to be the view of most rational adults, no longer seems to carry the same weight or appeal. Young people—Gen Z in particular—are statistically far less likely to identify as atheists than their parents.”
The Westminster Diocese alone will be receiving 500 new adults into church through baptism this Easter – a 25% increase over last year.
Encouragingly, the church attendance jump is being reported in other nations of Western Europe.
France’s Catholic Church reports 10,384 new adults members as of Easter – a 45% jump from 2024.
Baptisms have also nearly doubled in recent years in Belgium.
What’s driving the return to church is anybody’s guess. Some point to the crisis of isolation and mental health that Covid brought. Others point to the influx of radical Muslims who want to force sharia law on Europe.
“This is about the soul of the continent,” says Mayhar Tousi of Tousi TV news. “The backlash has started, the counterculture revolution is here.”
Still others identify the cause of revival as a reaction against progressive politics and the insanity of transgender men in girls sports and girl bathrooms, among other things.
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