Influence of church 'diluted', says Primate

Churches in Ireland can no longer rely on simple strength of numbers to put forward their point of view, according the primate of the Church of Ireland, Archbishop Alan Harper.

Instead, the power and quality of the argument of their case and strength of analysis would be the litmus test, he added in this week's edition of the Church of Ireland Gazette.

The Archbishop said: "We can no longer rely on having a place as of right in terms of public affairs, or the influence that the church used to exert simply by being the churches.

"We have now to command that, as a result of delivery and providing a critique of society that others can take with a degree of respect.... persuading people by the power and quality of our argument and the genuine strength of our analysis, rather than merely by weight of numbers."

The primate made his comments during a wide-ranging interview with the Rev Earl Storey, director of the Hard Gospel Project.

Founded by the church following the Drumcree crisis, the project seeks to address the issues of sectarianism and community divisions, and to find ways of creating a shared future in Ireland today.

Archbishop spoke out about the challenges of living with new neighbours resulting from what he called: "the social changes of the Celtic Tiger and historic inward migration".

He called for "an honest but generous conversation" within the Church of Ireland about how its institutions were serving both its members and those outside.