The crisis facing Britain’s Christian churches is linked directly to the crisis of British identity now being addressed by the Government.

Oaths of allegiance and citizenship ceremonies are under consideration. But one thing lacking from so many conversations about “Britishness” is any reference to a link between religious and ethnic identity.

In contrast to the decline of Christianity in Britain, Islam and Hinduism are thriving here. One reason is that for Muslims and Hindus, wherever they come from, their religion is inextricably linked with their sense of identity.

Even though the last Prime Minister was devout and converted to Roman Catholicism soon after he left office, and the present one is a son of the manse, the Government remains strongly secular. This is an inevitable result of the liberalising trends of the last century, and one not necessarily to be lamented.

But the consequences, good and bad, need to be faced.

As the Religious Trends Survey shows, an ageing generation of churchgoers is about to die out and there could be, within a generation, a God-shaped hole at the heart of our society. It is a hole in the shape of the old fashioned, liberal Anglican God and it is a hole that is at the heart of the present debate about British identity.

When the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, suggested that an element of Sharia would inevitably have to be incorporated into British law, he sparked a storm of protest. But perhaps the situation highlighted in this report was merely the reality he was facing up to.

The decline forecast for the Church of England is so severe that its position as the established church of the nation with the Queen as Supreme Governor can surely no longer be tenable. First to go will have to be the 26 bishops in the House of Lords. Then the Act of Settlement, which inhibits Royals from marrying or becoming Catholics, must go. Autumn Kelly, engaged to the Queen’s grandson Peter Phillips, had to relinquish her Catholicism because of it - a shameful demand for an enlightened Western state to make of one of its future citizens.

Parliamentarians have always balked at disestablishment because of the time involved and the complexity. The Prime Minister a few days ago pulled back from reform of the Act of Settlement, largely because of the implications for Commonwealth nations.

This recognises that there is still a residual Christian identity in Britain. Few were more surprised than the bishops of the Church of England when the Government’s 2001 census established that seven in ten people considered themselves Christian. Of the Anglican Communion’s oft-touted tally of 70 million members worldwide, more than 20 million are the baptised members of the Church of England living in Britain.

But with church attendance hovering around the statistically critical 5 per cent mark, that figure becomes increasingly meaningless. Most of the Anglican Communion’s active members are in Africa and Asia.

It is likely that an ever-shrinking number of Britain’s baptised will have their own children “done” - unless, of course, they are strapped for cash for a private education and live close to a good church school.

Yet, as the report notes, the decline in attendance coincides with a surge of interest in religion, reflected in the growing numbers of children opting for religious studies at GCSE and A level. There are also increasing numbers of students at theological and Bible colleges.

Somehow, the churches, despite innumerable studies, reports, synod and assembly debates, are failing to get these people into church.

The churches argue that “fresh expressions” are taking over, with young people meeting in pubs, halls and houses, though their numbers are small.

A generation hence, no doubt, young people will wonder what the fuss was all about. But today, with thousands of churches facing closure, there is something unbearably sad about the plight of Christianity in this country. It feels as if the soul of Britain is dying.

Divine decline

Churches 2005

48,328 - including 18,503 Anglican, 4,585 Catholic and 6,062 Methodist

Churches 2050 (projection)

27,473 - including 4,014 Anglican, 3,359 Catholic and 2,037 Methodist

Ministers 2005

35,289 - including 10,041 Anglican, 6,239 Catholic and 2,464 Presbyterian

Ministers 2050 (projection)

26,067 - including 3,717 Anglican, 1,424 Catholic and 656 Presbyterian