The Religious Crisis of the 1960s

The 1960s were years of decisive change in the religious history of the Western world, including Western Europe, North America, and Australasia. The early and middle Sixties were a time of innovation and reform, symbolized above all by Vatican II, when interest in religion was high. But by 1967 it was clear that much of this interest was moving away from the Christian churches, and that both Catholic and Protestant churches were in crisis. Many of the younger generation were turning either to revolutionary politics or to Eastern religion. Larger numbers of people were affected by the social changes resulting from increasing affluence. Catholic reformers faced growing resistance from the Vatican. Many countries were seeing a rapid drop in church-going, and the religious options were widening dramatically.

Hugh McLeod is Professor of Church History at the University of Birmingham.