Larkin refers to the church that he has visited in the final stanza of this poem as a "serious house" because he, although he is an atheist, recognises the solemnity of the church and its serious aspect. It is important to realise that this poem talks about the way that churches will always have a role for humans, even when organised religion has "passed away," as Larkin muses about earlier on in the poem. Whatever the future of Christianity, however, Larkin believes that churches will always have a role, precisely because churches are "serious houses" on a "serious earth." We often surprise ourselves with a "hunger to be more serious," and churches are the perfect places to satisfy that hunger, as in them "all our compulsions meet." Larkin comments that this aspect of churches "can never be obsolete." There is something that transcends human experience that can be found in churches, he argues, that will always serve a role for the human species. This is why the church is described as being "serious."