I'm collecting anecdotes that indicate the demise of Christendom and the emergence of a culture in which the story, language and symbols of Christianity are becoming unknown.
Three of these are included in Post-Christendom and Church after Christendom:
1. In a London school a teenager with no church connections hears the Christmas story for the first time. His teacher tells it well and he is fascinated by this amazing story. Risking his friends’ mockery, after the lesson he thanks her for the story. One thing had disturbed him, so he asks: ‘Why did they give the baby a swear-word for his name?’
2. One Sunday in Oxford a man visits a church building to collect something for his partner who works during the week in a creative-arts project the church runs. He arrives as the morning congregation is leaving and recognises the minister, whom he knows. Surprised, he asks: ‘What are all these people doing here? I didn’t know churches were open on Sundays!’
3. A teenager was fascinated by the ‘magic square’ on Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona, in which many numerical combinations add up to 33. ‘Why 33?’ she asked. ‘Because Jesus died at that age.’ ‘That was young – what did he die of?’ Walking into the cathedral she continued, ‘Who’s that woman and why does she always have a baby?’
I've heard several more since those books were written. Who else has any?