London
he Telegraph says that for the first time in the history of the Church of England, baptized Anglicans are a minority in the country.
Citing research done at the University of Sheffield, the newspaper says the number of infants born in England and baptised into the Church of England dropped to 21 per cent in 1999.
David Voas, a demographer at the university and author of the study, predicted that the number of Anglican will continue to decline at a rate of a million every five years years as older people die and fewer of the young are baptised.
A spokesman for the Church of England challenged the research. “Baptism introduces people into the Christian family and not into any particular denomination and so it is difficult to calculate how many end up as Anglicans,” he said.