Most Godless City?

Following The Argus report on Friday 16/10, Archie responded  with a letter to the editor, which led to a more representative article on Saturday 17/10. See the letter below: 

Dear Sir,

I am disappointed that your article "Most Godless city in Britain" (16 Oct) suggested that the phrase was mine and expressed my views. It was not my phrase and does not express my views, as I made clear to your reporter when I spoke to him before the article was published. On the contrary, there is plenty of God-awareness in Brighton and a large number of churches of all denominations doing  excellent work.

I am enormously excited to be here in Brighton and recognize that I have much to learn from a city which is full of creativity, vibrancy and life - which to my mind reflects a God who himself is creative, vibrant and living.  Sam, my wife, and I and our four small children, are loving living in Brighton!  

My reference to Brighton being dubbed ‘Godless’ was in connection with the census figures which showed that churchgoing in the city is below the national average. Naturally, I would like churchgoing across Brighton and Hove to increase because I have met so many great church leaders of all denominations across the city whose churches clearly have so much to offer in terms of building community, worshipping God freely and helping people in areas of social need. That is the kind of church I long for St Peter's to continue to be also, and I feel tremendously privileged and humbled (and a little daunted!) to have been invited by the Bishop of Chichester to come and play a part in it.  

In the second week I was here, last month, the body of a young woman, "Mel", was found on the steps of St Peter's.  She had taken a drugs overdose.  My heart is for the church to help people like Mel.  I don't know whether that constitutes "transforming Brighton", but it would simply be taking our place alongside all the other agencies and churches already doing great stuff and getting involved in whatever we can to help.  

I have been bowled over by the warmth of the welcome we have received from local residents, businesses, charities, social services, the police and the council - and the amount of goodwill there is towards St Peter's. Who knows if we can manage to open up St Peter's fully once again as a properly lit, heated, renovated, accessible, welcoming building for the benefit of the community?  I don't know - it needs a lot of money and a lot of practical support.  But what I do know is that I am excited about trying and that there are countless people across the city - some of them churchgoing, many of them not - who share that same vision for St Peter's, and I am enormously grateful for their early and continued support.       

your faithfully

Rev Archie Coates