Dormant Senses

A spokesbeing for the Church of what C S Lewis piquantly called "Christianity and water" observes that "Rumours of the demise of Christmas as a Christian celebration are baseless". Goody; perhaps we'll hear less whining about it from now on. The rumours are baseless because "the dormant desire to recapture a sense of the wonder of the Nativity draws people from across communities towards churches across the country". The degree of respect in which the priestly caste holds its dupes has rarely been more apparent. People are not drawn to the celebrations by faith, by respect for tradition, by a feeling for the beauty of the services, much less by an active desire to recapture a sense of wonder. What pulls them in is a dormant desire; they flock to the churches, apparently, without conscious motivation, lured perhaps by vague memories of the Nativity plays in which they participated as toddlers, like flesh-eating zombies doddering towards a shopping mall where Jesus waits with his rifle of redemption. Or something.

Anyway, what a flock it is: the usual church attendance figures at weekends are 1.2 million, or two per cent of the population, but now that the dormant desires have worked their holy magic "more than 2.8 million people", or a staggering 4.7 per cent, are expected to turn up. Attendance at the country's grand cathedrals over Christmas has risen by thirty-seven per cent; doubtless a symptom of Christian respect for the virtues of poverty and humility.