The reunification of Germany has had an adverse affect on the churches, according to a survey in Der Spiegal magazine. The poll suggests that atheists and agnostics now outnumber practising believers for the first time. Half of the citizens of the former West Germany claim a Christian faith, but only one in five former East Germans do so. That takes the national average to below 50 per cent. Some 36 per cent of believers said they believed in the devil.
German churches face growing financial pressures.
Puzzle Over Tidal Wave Picture at New Frontiers Participants at New Frontiers International, held in Brighton, are still puzzling about a phenomenon that kept reappearing throughout the conference held at the beginning of the year. The picture of a wave reappeared in main meetings, seminars, and private conversations. It isn't moving forward, it's growing in height. As it does this there comes a point at which it can no longer go higher. It has to break in total fullness on the shore.