Berkley Center

On Cowley Road, a street that runs by my residence, one of the most prominent buildings is a Methodist church. Its dark stone and towering presence command the attention of people walking by. Methodist churches hold special significance in Oxford: the denomination’s founder, John Wesley, was an Oxford graduate.

When walking through Oxford, one is filled with the strange sensation that the city somehow exists outside of time, or that perhaps it cannot decide in which era to live. The stone structures of many of Oxford’'s most famous colleges have been standing for hundreds of years. Their architecture recalls a distant era when gargoyles were deployed not just to divert water from a building, but to defend it from spirits; when building a college without a chapel was unthinkable; when the primary goal of education was not the pursuit of knowledge, but the training of an ecclesiastical class.

Over the centuries, we wisely abandoned many of the more oppressive, ignorant trappings of that age, but the continued dominance of these buildings over the city'’s most popular streets is a reminder that the past is always present. They are beautiful to look upon, but they seem almost out of place. They are begrudgingly acknowledged as historically significant, usually with the implied sentiment that at last the academy has moved beyond its religious past—if not in its architecture, than certainly in its curricula. And as a final reminder of their incongruity with the city'’s bustling modern life, they are often situated just a stone'’s throw from something like a Border’s bookstore or a Starbucks.

This is the best way to summarize the religious sensibilities of modern England. English society, compared to American society, is decidedly secular, but the evidence of a heavily Christian past is everywhere. Even the names of Oxford’'s constituent colleges reflect this history: there is Magdalen College, Corpus Christi College, Trinity College, Christ Church College. There are nine colleges named after saints. And on Christmas Day, students often call the Porter’'s Lodge at Jesus College to sing “"Happy Birthday.”"

But the diminishing influence of Christianity in English culture sticks out just as much as the stately church. Walking down Cowley Road from the Methodist church, one encounters two adult entertainment stores within just a few blocks (one is situated nearly across the street from the church).

The growing diversity of English belief is also apparent: though it is not housed in a majestic structure, but rather a simple storefront, there is a small mosque just a moment’s walk further down Cowley Road. (Islam is the second-largest practiced religion in England.) Still, only about 3 percent of England’'s population is Muslim, and given the current controversy in England over Muslim assimilation, it is unlikely that Islam will spark any widespread religious revival in this country.

Even at Oxford, caught somewhere between tradition and modernity, The Oxford Student—a newspaper published by the Students' Union—struggles to find a unique reason to justify the continued existence of chapels on campus. “To many modern students the religious role of the chapel is negligible,” it writes. “For many they are simply meeting spaces, performance halls, or even just a reminder that Oxford is an ancient institution.” The article points out that, in the view of many students, this should be the extent of religion'’s role in society:– an anachronistic establishment with a legacy consisting of nothing more than streets full of beautiful buildings. And if nothing else, the buildings still dominate their surroundings. Among the adult entertainment shops, pizza chains, busy students, and heavy traffic of Cowley street, the Methodist church’'s sign quotes a traditional hymn that may reveal more about the church than the sign’'s creator intended: “Change and decay / in all around I see. / O God who changes not, / Abide with me.”