Thank you mikey.
I think you would agree that there are varying factors involved here.
Anywhere in the Christian world where life is hard, brutal and short - England eight hundred years ago, Africa now - will see a thriving Christian community.
Here in the civilsed West, regradless of its problems, the need to connect with a 'God' to make people feel better becomes increasingly superflous, and the decline is evident as years go by.
The Catholic church refuses to allow its priests to marry, or to have women priests, and as a result, its seminaries are declining because modern youth is not interested in an unatural life like that.
Part of me takes a degree of satisfaction in watching the church destroy itself with its outdated doctrines and its utter and unassailably arrogant belief that its teachings are the only way for people to live decent lives.
The church's place in the modern world continues to diminish, and instead of a proactive response, addressing the reasons why people's lives do not include a belief in God, they simply continue in their own blind ancient out-of-touch way and like all dionsaurs, they no longer fit, and they will be extinct before much longer.