The fuss over “silent discos” held at Canterbury Cathedral has brought some interesting social trends into the highlight.
It is commonly perceived to be older generations who value tradition and the traditional history of Christianity in England, while younger people challenge such beliefs and infrequently reject the religion along the best way. But it seems this divide is outdated.
While the decision to host an alcohol-fuelled “silent disco” in English Christianity’s most vital site has been robustly defended by the Anglican powerful, a small but committed group of younger people have launched a spirited opposition to what they see as an inappropriate use of sacred space.
On the one hand, the Dean of the Cathedral, David Monteith, said in an announcement that the event could be “appropriate and respectful” and that “cathedrals have all the time been a part of community life in a way much wider than their prime focus as centres of Christian worship and mission.”
Other distinguished Anglicans robustly got here to his defence. The Bishop of Worcester, John Inge, said on X (formerly often called Twitter): “Let’s fill cathedrals with music. When I ministered at Ely Cathedral we organised a ‘Rave within the Nave’ which was very noisy – and joyful. There was loud praise of the Lord in addition to just noise.”
He approvingly cited a vicar who believes silent discos are a way of encouraging younger individuals who won’t normally attend church to reflect on God.
However they appear to have been surprised by the resulting backlash on
social media, demonstrated by nearly 2k likes on one report from Catholic journalist Edward Pentin, with most comments staunchly against using a cathedral as a nightclub.
Some within the Church of England hierarchy were dismissive of individuals upset about these events. Matt Batten, a director of communications in a Welsh Anglican Diocese, said on X: “I’ve been to see horror movies from the silent film era with live music in famous churches and cathedrals but nobody kicked off like this … the snobbery inside church culture is ridiculous!”
Fascinatingly nevertheless, a few of the opposition to those events is coming not from the standard wing of the CofE or those often accused of such “snobbery” – though complaints have definitely come from those quarters too – but from what’s often called “Gen Z”.
The event drew a rain-soaked prayer vigil that included two young atheists who disagreed with the disco. The protest’s organiser, Cajetan Skowronski, has launched a petition to stop an extended schedule of upcoming discos in other sacred buildings within the UK.
He told Catholic Unscripted that Canterbury Cathedral had previously been shielded from pagan Vikings by Christians who were martyred for his or her efforts: “It’s just so bitterly ironic that a recent type of desecration has been thought up by the present Anglican custodians of the cathedral.
“Sacred means to be set apart for God, particularly on this case set apart for the worship of God. That’s what the cathedral and the cathedral grounds are for. They’ve been consecrated for that.”
This belief is more accepted within the Catholic Church, because the recent controversy over a raunchy Sabrina Carpenter pop video filmed in a New York Catholic church showed. Even influential US Bishop Robert Barron, best known through his “Word on Fire” ministry, has given his view on the Canterbury case.
Typically moderate and even-handed, Bishop Robert used his Lenten reflection to criticise turning the traditional site of St Thomas Becket’s murder right into a “bawdy dance hall.” Instead, he said, cathedrals are “meant to attract us out of ourselves into the contemplation of the next world.”
It even prompted some Protestants to comment that these ancient buildings should return to the Catholic church. “At this point, despite being a baptised Anglican, I feel it’s best to give the buildings back to Rome. You are unfit custodians,” said journalist Mary Harrington on X in response to the silent disco news.
The younger age of a few of the protesters seems to reflect an interesting trend in society of younger people craving for tradition and older expressions of the religion. Journalist Esmé Partridge wrote for Unherd: “The boomer riot against Christianity and attempts to modernise the church are themselves becoming outdated… young people have had enough of the profane; now, an increasing number of are looking for the sacred.”
Catherine Warr, a young historian, said on XÂ in response to Bishop Inge’s comment supporting “raves”: “You don’t speak for my generation of Christians, and from my very own experience, Gen Z Christians are a few of the most traditional and conservative when put next to Millennials; your reign is over, dude. People desire real faith, meaning, and tradition in a meaningless world.”
According to Peter Harris, the explanation for that is sociological: younger generations rebel against older sensibilities. The “boomer” generation that rebelled against Christianity and tradition in their very own day might enjoy activities like cathedral discos, but today’s young adults don’t: “Whereas cavorting in a cathedral to Eminem is Generation X’s subversion of alternative, for Generation Z it’s to hunt and honour the sacred,” he argues.
These changes might be just the natural pendulum swing of generational tension. But the extent of the secularisation of England and the West on the whole has been unknown for millennia. Are younger people observing the results of all but completely ejecting Christianity from the general public sphere, and craving for what has been lost?
