British public increasingly secular and less religious in general
Regis Magnae
Posts: 6,810 Forum Member
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http://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2012/09/its-official--britain-is-a-nation-of-secularists
I'm not surprised by any of this, the general trend or the particular demographics.
I am curious to see what the result would be if the same questions where tabled to MPs. A lot of them do express religious sentiment or have many connections to Christian organisations to fund/conduct their research (Dorries and Perry for example).
The actual poll:
http://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/md6rf2qvws/Reputation%20UK%20Report_21-Aug-2012_F.pdf
Page 21.
Of the Yougov-Cambridge poll carried out among 2,027 adults, an overwhelming 81% of respondents agreed with the statement "Religious practice is a private matter and should be separated from the political and economic life of my country". Only 6% disagreed.
When asked "Do you regard yourself as belonging to any particular religion?" 53% said no while 42% said yes.
76% said that religious leaders should not influence how people vote in elections (6% thought they should)
71% said that religious leaders should have no influence over the decisions of the government (8% said they should)
65% said that Britain would not be a better place if more religious leaders held public office. (7% said it would)
...
The 29th edition of the British Social Attitudes Survey, which was published on Monday, confirms these trends. It has been analysed by the BBC which concluded along the following lines:
In the thirty years since the British Social Attitudes survey was first produced, religious affiliation amongst people in Britain has dropped from 68% (in 1983) to 53% (in 2011).
85% of people aged 66 plus say they were brought up in a religion, compared to 60% of 18-25 year olds. And the gap is even greater when people are asked if they are religious now. 77% of people aged 66+ say they are religious compared to 35% of people aged 18-25.
The likelihood of young people aged 16-25 being religious varies widely by ethnicity. White British are the least likely to be religious (24% of White British of this age group describe themselves as religious), while Bangladeshis are the most likely (at 97%). In descending percentage: 95% Pakistani, 89% Black African and 87% Indian, and 58% Black Caribbean.
Young people were asked whether religion made a difference to their lives. Muslims were the most likely group to think so (68% of them). In contrast, self-defined Catholics were the least likely to, (only 12%).
I'm not surprised by any of this, the general trend or the particular demographics.
I am curious to see what the result would be if the same questions where tabled to MPs. A lot of them do express religious sentiment or have many connections to Christian organisations to fund/conduct their research (Dorries and Perry for example).
The actual poll:
http://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/md6rf2qvws/Reputation%20UK%20Report_21-Aug-2012_F.pdf
Page 21.
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Comments
Long may the downward trend continue.
I was at a humanist funeral this year as well. I thought it was moving and told his life story.
We know his wife well and the person who led the service had spend hours with her.
42% ??
Blimey. That's a lot.
All weddings at the Register Office would qualify to be humanist.
Shouldn't your thread have been named:
2,027 of British Public Increasingly Secular And Less Religious In General
These, and other like-minded polls, are not representative of the 62+ million inhabitants of this United Kingdom.
And the following quotes given in the OP are plainly wrong and, again, not representative of the religious affiliations of our people:
"When asked "Do you regard yourself as belonging to any particular religion?" 53% said no while 42% said yes."
and, especially:
"In the thirty years since the British Social Attitudes survey was first produced, religious affiliation amongst people in Britain has dropped from 68% (in 1983) to 53% (in 2011)."
because:
2001 Census Results: Religion
Eng/Wales
Christian - 71.75%
Muslim - 2.97%
Jewish - 0.50%
Buddhist - 0.28%
Hindu - 1.06%
Sikh - 0.63%
Other - 0.29%
None - 14.81%
No answer - 7.71%
Scotland
Christian - 65.09%
Muslim - 0.84%
Jewish - 0.13%
Buddhist - 0.13%
Hindu - 0.11%
Sikh - 0.13%
Other - 0.53%
None - 27.55%
No answer - 5.49%
Northern Ireland
Catholic - 40.26%
Protestant - 45.57%
Other - 0.30%
Non stated - 13.88%
(The highest number of Christians by English region is found here in the north-east of England at 80.1% :cool:)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/uk/03/census_2001/html/religion.stm
Yes, I know, this is a 2001 census, and we are waiting for the 2011 results... but I do not foresee a dramatic drop in those above figures. In fact, with the migration from other European Union countries to the UK etc. I expect a slight rise in the percentage of religious adherents.
I agree with Eric Pickles: we are a profoundly religious and Christian nation; and long may it continue.
What so Hindus would say they were Christian?
The boarded up churches and those converted to sell carpets in my local area tell me otherwise and when I went to school (during the 2001 census) no one was practising any religion from I gathered.
So says the atheist/secularist/humanist mantra on a practically daily basis.
Let's imagine that the tide suddenly turned, and the good people of the UK stated in the 2011 Census that they were 71% non-religious. No, let's imagine further: that they are 71% atheist. :eek:
Now, if the so-called minority religious group came around and said: "The problem with census figures is that people put themselves down as [atheist], even if they are nothing of the sort..."
Can you imagine the laughter, the mocking and the derision at such an outrageous statement from the atheist/secular/humanist brigade? It would be even worse than the laughter and the mocking and the derision that is going on right now. (see DS anti-religious threads/ the www. for evidence.)
I grew up in a non-religious family but when it came to the census the Christian box was always ticked. I suspect we were not alone.
I don't think there's much to argue about when saying that there are an awful lot of non-practicing / religiously inactive people who will still call themselves Christian when asked, purely because of where they were born - call it tradition if you like.
It makes no difference to me what religion you follow - you're all wrong ;-)
I think we would take one look at all the empty churches and still laugh at you.
Ahh, so you go to Church? Interesting :cool:
A cultural Christian, do you mean - like Richard Dawkins?
They are nice buildings, need to find some uses for them.
I go to museums. I don't live in them.
I go to Churches infrequently because they house artistic works and have beautiful stain glass windows that only really work from one side. Doesn't mean I have to be religious to visit.
There are plenty of uses for them. I expect you haven't really been to every Church up and down the land, on a weekly basis, when Christians are gathering for worship, for example?
I know of two Diocese barely keeping up with their bills if that helps at all.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johndmcdonald/553998423/
So profoundly Christian that only a tiny minority will care enough to go to church today like pretty much every other Sunday.
Religion in the United Kingdom: Diversity, Trends and Decline
nethwen why so insistent on ignoring reality? If you don’t believe yougov findings then how about the Church of England’s?
1.1.m attending the Church of our ‘State' religion on a weekly basis. That is something less than 1 in every 50 people. What is particularly telling is that the CofE are heralding their own latest abysmal attendance figures as an achievement.
http://www.churchofengland.org/media-centre/news/2012/01/provisional-attendance-figures-for-2010-released-%E2%80%93-marriages-up-four-per-cent,-national-%E2%80%98mapping%E2%80%99-identifies-at-least-1,000-fresh-expressions-of-church.aspx