On God, Larkin and churches

Why are we still so fascinated by the places we practice religion?

In Philip Larkin’s 1954 poem ‘Church Going’, the narrator walks into a deserted English country church, and observes that it isn’t up to very much. Larkin writes that there is “a tense, musty, unignorable silence/Brewed God knows how long”, feels a sense of “awkward reverence” and, on the way out, “Reflect the place was not worth stopping for.” It is on…