The church should concentrate on being right, rather than being popular - Bill Carmichael

At this point it is worth adding an important caveat here - this number represents just six per cent of active clergy, so a degree of caution is needed when interpreting the figures. But nevertheless the survey indicates there may be some dramatic changes in attitudes happening in a very short space of time.

According to the results there is a desire among a majority of clergy for big changes in the teaching on sex, sexuality, marriage and the role of women.

There were also indications of high stress levels among Church of England priests, and widespread pessimism that attempts to arrest the decline in church attendance will fail and will eventually lead to “extinction”.

For example 53 per cent of those who responded wanted to marry gay couples, with 37 per cent opposing this move - almost an exact reversal of results from as recently as 2014.

A majority - 63 per cent - wanted the church to drop its opposition to pre-marital sex, and 65 per cent to drop opposition to gay sex.

More than two thirds - 67 per cent - believe efforts to halt the decline in church attendance will fail, and 33 per cent have considered quitting the ministry over the last five years, and 40 per cent felt overworked and overstretched.

On the key question of whether Britain is still a Christian country almost three quarters answered in the negative. Just 24.2 per cent answered yes; 64 per cent said yes, but only historically, not currently, and 9.2 percent said no.

I am sure some people will respond to these figures with a big ‘so what’? The UK is an increasingly secular society with Christianity marginalised as a social force.

The 2021 census, for example, showed the proportion of people in England and Wales who identified themselves as Christian dropped below half for the first time at just 46.2 per cent. Church attendance has declined for the last 70 years and currently represents less than two per cent of the population.

In its editorial comment on the survey the Times was adamant that the solution for the C of E was for it to modernise and abandon the old ways of the past. It must “embrace social change and accept its doctrines lag behind the liberal instincts of most of the British people”.

I am not convinced by this argument. There is nothing more embarrassing than the middle aged dad who decides “to get down with the kids” in an attempt to stay relevant.

Similarly, the achingly trendy vicar who enthusiastically adopts every passing fashionable cause is more likely to attract ridicule and contempt, rather than respect.

If Christianity is to mean anything it must involve an attempt to uncover fundamental truths about the human condition and our relationship with God, rather than chasing every here-today-gone-tomorrow fad.

In short, the church should concentrate on being right, rather than being popular.

As the Bishop of Leeds, the Right Reverend Nick Baines, said: “Repentance means being open to changing our minds in order that society should encounter both love and justice. And this means sometimes going against the flow of popular culture.”

In my opinion the Christian church, and religion generally, is still an important force for good, and a focus of positive community action.

Go into any city, town and village across the country and look at who is running the food banks, who is volunteering for guardian angels schemes to keep young revellers safe on Saturday nights, who is visiting the sick and the elderly, who is donating to charity, and who is running clubs for disadvantaged children.

I will guarantee you that Christians, and other people of faith, are massively over represented in all these areas, volunteering their time and talents for the love of God.

In the 2021 census the largest growth was in people who said they followed no religion, which has tripled since 2001 to 37.5 per cent.

But there is a heavy price to pay for this increasing secularisation - an atomised, more selfish society where the poor and vulnerable are cut adrift and isolated from the love and support of their communities.