Celtic Christianity today often refers to a modern revival of what is believed to be a more spiritually free form of Christianity abandoned after the Synod of Whitby enforced Roman Catholicism as the standard form of Christianity in the British Isles.
Celtic Christianity is presently undergoing something of a revival: in the North of England at the Community of St Aidan and St Hilda on Lindesfarne, and in Scotland at the Iona Community. It presently embraces both Charismatic and Evangelical Christians, as well as some neo-pagan elements. Celtic Christianity has become increasingly popular in the United States, and an annual conference on the subject is held every year.
Its main features are:
- Love of nature
- Lack of dogmatism
- Friendship to and tolerance for other religions.
Many historians use the phrase Celtic Christianity to describe Christianity as it was first received and practiced by the Celts. For a long time Christians there were independent of the Roman Pope, and their worship more closely resembled Eastern Orthodoxy.