I am known to be a bit doom’n’gloom but while the graph shows a decline in Christianity (it may actually be an increase in honesty!) maybe things aren’t as bad as we imagine?
I add an article from the BBC News website with a link below.
What do you think?
Census: How religious is the UK?
A publicity drive has started for the census, now just five weeks away, but the survey is being criticised for its question on religion. So is it even possible to accurately measure how religious the UK is?
According to the Gospel of Luke, it was a Roman census that sent Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, where she gave birth to Jesus Christ.
And more than 2,000 years later, the same kind of counting exercise is being used to gauge the religious make-up of the UK.
According to the last census 10 years ago, more than two-thirds of people in Britain regarded themselves as Christian – 72% in England and Wales, and 65% in Scotland.
More than 1.5 million in England and Wales, more than 3% of the population, said they were Muslim and nearly eight million ticked “no religion”. There were also 390,000 self-proclaimed Jedi.
Is it a leading question?
“It fairly allows you to answer it because you can say ‘no religion’ but if you wanted to make it as neutral as possible, you might ask ‘Which of these would you describe yourself as?’ says Stephan Shakespeare of YouGov.
“It does have a slight assumption, although not a strong one, but these wordings do make a difference.”
But five weeks before the next census day, Sunday 27 March, some groups are questioning whether the religious numbers are at all accurate, and could ever be.
They prefer to use the British Social Attitudes survey, carried out annually by the National Centre for Social Research, which paints a picture of a less-religious country, with 51% describing themselves as non-religious and 43% as Christian.
The religious question in the census was first introduced in 2001, as a voluntary option. In some other countries such as France, state questions about race, ethnicity or religion are not permitted.
But in the UK, the vast majority of people answered it despite not having to, although the reappearance of the same question in the forthcoming census has prompted complaints.
Question 20 in England and Wales will say: “What is your religion?” In Scotland, question 13 will ask: “What religion, religious denomination or body do you belong to?”
The British Humanist Association (BHA) believes they are leading questions that actively encourage people to tick a religious answer, thereby inflating the numbers, especially among Christians because many people hold a weak affiliation.
If you were baptised but had not been to church since then, you might be inclined to say you were still Christian, says Naomi Phillips, the head of public affairs at the BHA. She says the actual number of secular people is probably double the number the census recorded.
“Many people tick Christian but wouldn’t consider themselves to be religious if you asked them otherwise. And this is used to justify maintaining faith schools and used by local authorities to make their planning decisions to allocate resources to public services.
“It means more budgets go to Christian groups and the needs of non-religious groups are not taken into account.”
The BHA begins a poster campaign next week on buses and at railway stations that urges people who are non-religious to “for God’s sake, say so”.
Ms Phillips says it would be preferable not to have the question, because it’s hard to get an accurate picture.
“It’s very difficult to measure. There are so many different things to measure – by belief, practice, whether you believe in God, whether you attend places of worship, whether you pray.”
The census question pre-supposes you have a religion, she says, and a two-part question like they have in Northern Ireland would be fairer, which differentiates between your faith at birth and your faith now.
The humanists are not alone in wanting the question changed. The Foundation for Holistic Spirituality (F4HS) wants it easier for those people who have a spiritual but non-religious tendency to answer the question.
But the Office for National Statistics, which collects the data, says the question is one of a number that allows people to fully express their identity in the way they consider most appropriate.
“The religion question measures the number of people who self-identify an affiliation with a religion, irrespective of the extent of their religious belief or practice,” says a spokesman.
It’s a question that is worded in the most sensitive way possible, says historian and broadcaster Nick Barratt, especially with the subtle change of emphasis introduced in the new census – respondents are now faced with “no religion” as the top option to tick, rather than “none”.
“This [change] makes it more secular, and easier for people to identify with the question and where they are coming from. There’s the question of faith and belief as opposed to religion. It allows other beliefs to get in. If you said ‘none’, it is like you have no belief or faith, but ‘no religion’ means you may have.”
He expects this change could mean fewer Christians this time, but it’s an important question, he says, because it shows how richly diverse some communities are.
It also has a practical purpose, says the ONS. The results are used to improve understanding of communities, it says, and to provide public services, monitor discrimination and develop policy to best cater for people’s religious backgrounds.
But what is the true picture? Whichever survey is accurate, it’s clear that many people in Britain still feel an affinity with Christianity, even if they haven’t attended church in many years.
Average Sunday attendance in the Church of England was 960,000 in 2008, a figure which has been falling for a number of years. A survey by Christian charity Tearfund suggested it was one in 10.
Yet nearly 40 million people in England and Wales, 72%, identified themselves as Christian. Other surveys suggest the majority of people pray and believe in God, even if they don’t regularly go to church.
Christianity should not be measured simply in terms of Sunday worshippers, which are falling in number, says a Church of England spokesman, because the numbers of people going at other times remains high.
“The 72% figure seems to be constant and not decreasing. What’s interesting for us is the social mobility and social change. People might not go on a Sunday to church any more but might go on a Saturday or Thursday or they might go less often. It’s a change in how much time they have available.
“We have made worship available online, in the morning and in the evening. There’s probably more people engaging with the church than ever before.”
Christianity is a religion that people identify with, he adds, regardless of their level of church-going.
But it’s impossible to quantify the numbers, says pollster Stephan Shakespeare, founder of YouGov.
“It’s very hard to make an absolute measurement. You have to get an ideal definition about what being a Christian means or what being religious means. But what is useful is to ask the same question as last time and see the change.”
So even if a question is slightly flawed, it’s better to stick with it.
A Christian’s view
The question does seem to imply that you have a religion already, says Anne Atkins, author and contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day.
“But that’s ameliorated by the very first option being ‘none’, so it’s not something I’d get very exercised about.
“The 72% figure for Christians is higher than I initially expected. If I had shut my eyes and considered how many people in my street are Christians, I probably wouldn’t have realised it was more than half.
“But if I had actually asked them in person then perhaps it would have been. Who am I to say if someone is Christian or not?”
Holier than thou
- Outside London, the counties with the highest proportion of Christians were Durham, Merseyside and Cumbria, all with 82% or more
- The districts with the highest proportions of Christians were all in the North West: St Helens, Wigan and Copeland (Cumbria) each with 86% or more
- The number of people who stated Jedi was 390,000
Source: 2001 census
See the actual article below. The comments on the BBC website are closed so you can comment here instead.
Related Articles
- How religious is the UK? (bbc.co.uk)
Very interesting series of posts, Bull! I am a very keen observer of the scene in UK.
I think there is a better grasp amongst the population of what they actually believe, and if they claim to believe in anything. So it probably better reflects reality than in previous surveys.
I think we had the same with ABS surveys in recent years. Previously it was accepted and reflected in surveys that everyone believed something, so there wasn’t a question which allowed for this, but now people can declare themselves to be don’t knows or non-beleievers, and we get a more accurate reflection of current trends.
I also think that many people have put down their beliefs according to how they were ‘christened’ or baptised as infants, yet, in reality, haven’t given much thought to religion at all.
Still, it is interesting to note that there is still a large demographic which purports to believe basic Christian principles for living, even if they do not attend churches. It tells us that the churches need to better engage with the community.
Many contemporary churches came to this conclusion years ago, hence the motivation to become ‘relevant’, which in itself is a correct notion, as long as the gospel is not watered down, but which is receiving an undue amount of criticism recently.
However, if we are not relevant to our age, we will become redundant.
The gospel never changes. The way we promote and publish it must.
The Gospel mustn’t change. It’s still the same gift from God. The wrapping must change, to make people want to unwrap the gift.
However, the criticism of making the church relevant is not unwarranted. The problem is that instead of making the wrapping attractive, the gift has been ‘watered down’.
No fault divorce … the Pastor on his fifth wife … gay clergy (in civil partnerships) … ministers going to jail for defrauding church members (and after serving such a sentance, going back on the gravy train!)
No mention of repentance, no mention of the need for Christ’s atoning death for our sins.
Which, of course, leads to the denial of the Substitutionary Atonement by well known UK Evangelicals in print.
I can argue with FL about this, that and the other … but we both recognise the likeness of Christ being brought out inside each of us. We are brothers in Christ.
Deny core doctrines and eventually you get to a place which is no longer Christian.
I would like a better survey, btw. Most people who claim christianity have no sunday school experience, no church experience and have never read a bible. They have no idea who Jesus is beyond a very basic knowledge of the Baby in a Manger. Easter isn’t the time of the Crucifixion, Death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus. It’s teh time of chocolate eggs and Easter bunnies. (the symbols of the Pagan Fertility Goddess Oestre)
Much more than re-engagement with the community is necessary … but that engagement is the foundation step … my Church is desperately trying to do just that, as are many in South Wales. Pray for us.
That is pretty interesting statistically.
There are probably amongst the non-churchgoers a number of Christians like myself, who do take their faith very seriously, but meet in ways that aren’t officially regarded as church.
And I think we have to take note of the reasons that people have stopped attending church, and stay away.
Being dismissive of their concerns is short-sighted, whether we or they are right or wrong about everything. We all have to take some portion of the blame for where we are.
We’re still suffering from the detours in true Church structure introduced in Constantine’s time, and have some way to go, if we ever achieve it, before we can come near to being on God’s track again.
I am encouraged by the statement that Christ will present to Himself a chaste Bride, perfected and holy, so there is the potential that, sometime in this journey towards the second coming, the Church will get it right, and will once again be attractive to those called to enter in.
One Church, One Body, One Spirit.
What is it with with megachurch happy clappy mouseketeers and Constantine?
“We’re still suffering from the detours in true Church structure introduced in Constantine’s time, and have some way to go, if we ever achieve it, before we can come near to being on God’s track again.”
That is the biggest load of Jehova’s Witness nonsensical ****….what are you talking about?
Hi ELD … I edited the reference to excrement from your post … just cleaning the blog … a scrub and flush as it were. 😉
And yet the Lord continues to build His church………..
I am encouraged by the responses to the thread.
Thank you!
Great link, Teddy.