Christianity Surviving On Fumes

 
It wasn't that long ago that my friend and blog partner here was bemoaning the dwindling crowd at his Church and the statistics bore it out that less than 1% of us Brits attend Church with any regularity although this did pick up as non-Brits attended but as we know, while the Irish and Scottish are a bit more God bothering, the English are not very religious.  
My friends services (and collection plate) are not the only thing which are hit as baptisms, marriages and funerals are all down but in the last Census 46% of English called themselves Christian but obviously not practicing ones.
I have asked the younger generation why they are losing their faith or never had it to start with and the answers seem to range from it is an outdated concept and that they do not want to be part of anything which is hostile to women and gay people which is a credit to them.
Graham Tomlin, the Anglican bishop who is the director of the Centre for Cultural Witness at Lambeth Palace, suggests that the Church has always welcomed people 'for all kinds of different reasons' today has seen a rise in people who share the values of the Christian faith but are not religious, or 'Cultural Christians' as in the mould of Winston Churchill who said he supported the Church from outside while Clement Attlee said that he believed in the ethics of Christianity but not the 'mumbo-jumbo'.
A mantra i have heard is that Britain was a real Christian country up until 1950 when you had a minority not with a strong faith, but with some faith but the number with any faith at all is fast dwindling but can Christianity survive the loss of belief in their biblical story?
Tomlin believes that  the Church can live off the fumes of Christianity but it will need to change as the only Churches who are growing are the ones where you are more likely to encounter a gospel choir or religious band rather than staid prayers and ancient hymns.
So the future of Christianity in England seems to be non Church goers who don't believe in God but agree with the moral story of Christianity unless the Church can convert these people into the sort who want to find out how these ethics came about.
As someone who enjoys all the religious holidays such as Christmas and Easter i guess that could put me in the Cultural Christian side of the fence only i don't believe that my ethics or morals come from religion especially as religion has been the greatest cause of wars and deaths since human beings first considered the idea of a creator but each to their own and at least as long as the fumes last, my friend will have a job even if the crowd is thinning out each year.