{"id":302,"date":"2012-09-17T20:14:11","date_gmt":"2012-09-17T20:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.skepticblogs.com\/tippling\/?p=302"},"modified":"2015-12-18T14:17:08","modified_gmt":"2015-12-18T14:17:08","slug":"46-of-britons-say-they-are-non-religious-largest-single-category-of-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/2012\/09\/17\/46-of-britons-say-they-are-non-religious-largest-single-category-of-identity\/","title":{"rendered":"46% of Britons say they are non-religious: largest single category of identity"},"content":{"rendered":"

This fascinating piece of research has been reported by the British Humanist Association<\/a>, which I have reproduced here. What is clear is that it would be incorrect to call Britain a Christian or even a religious nation. What will be really interesting is when the official census statistics from the last census are finally analysed and published.<\/p>\n

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Results of the 29th British Social Attitudes Survey (BSA) have been released today, with 45.7% of respondents claiming that they do not belong to a religion.\u00a0 The results also show that levels of religious practice remain static at a low level, with only 14.3% claiming to attend religious services once a week or more.\u00a0 A large number of people have left the religion which they were brought up in.\u00a0 Compared with the results of the first BSA in 1983, this year\u2019s results show that religious identity in Britain has been in decline over the past three decades.<\/p>\n

In answer to the question \u2018Do you regard yourself as belonging to any particular religion?\u2019 45.7% of respondents to the 29th BSA said that they did not.\u00a0 The religion with which the largest number of individuals identify is \u2018Church of England\u2019 at 21.1%.\u00a0 8.7% of respondents identfied as \u2018Roman Catholic\u2019, and 10.1% identified as \u2018Christian\u2019 but did not give a specific denomination.\u00a0 3.4% of respondents identified as \u2018Muslim\u2019, 2.2% as \u2018Hindu\u2019, 0.8% as \u2018Jewish\u2019, 0.4% described as \u2018Sikh\u2019, and 0.2% as \u2018Buddhist\u2019.<\/p>\n

In 1983, when the first BSA was conducted, only about one in three (31%) claimed not to belong to a religion.\u00a0 The data on religious practice in this year\u2019s BSA also shows that the number of people who attend religious services on a regular basis has remained almost static.\u00a0 In answer to the question \u2018Apart from such special occasions as weddings, funerals and baptisms, how often nowadays do you attend services or meetings connected with your religion?\u2019, only 14.3% said that they attend once a week or more.\u00a0 In last year\u2019s BSA, 14% said that they attend religious services at least weekly.<\/p>\n

The question on religious upbringing shows many respondents have left the religion which they were brought up in.\u00a0 45.7% of respondents claim not to have a religion now, but only 18.3% of respondents said that they were brought up in a family which did not have a religion.\u00a0 The non-religious group therefore includes a large number of people who had a religious upbringing but decided to leave their faith.<\/p>\n

Pavan Dhaliwal, BHA Head of Public Affairs, commented \u2018Religious identities in Britain have been in decline over the past few decades and religious practice has remained static at a low level.\u00a0 These figures should be borne in mind when the upcoming results of the 2011 Census results are released, as the Census results routinely exaggerate the number of religious believers in the population.\u00a0 Certain government ministers have recently taken a more aggressive stance regarding the role of religion in public life, and have claimed that Britain is still a Christian country.\u00a0 We urge the government to take note of these new survey results, and to recognise the fact that almost half of the British population are in fact non-religious.\u2019<\/p>\n

Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n

For further comment or information contact Pavan Dhaliwal, Head of Public Affairs at\u00a0pavan@humanism.org.uk<\/a>\u00a0or on 0773 843 5059.<\/p>\n

The 29th British Social Attitudes Survey:\u00a0http:\/\/bsa-29.natcen.ac.uk\/<\/a><\/p>\n

See the questions which were asked as part of the 29th\u00a0BSA (includes data on religious belief):http:\/\/bsa-29.natcen.ac.uk\/see-the-questions.aspx<\/a><\/p>\n

The 28th\u00a0British Social Attitudes Survey:\u00a0http:\/\/www.natcen.ac.uk\/study\/british-social-attitudes-28th-report<\/a><\/p>\n

The BHA\u2019s page on statistics and surveys on religious belief:http:\/\/www.humanism.org.uk\/campaigns\/religion-and-belief-surveys-statistics<\/a><\/p>\n

The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf of ethically concerned, non-religious people in the UK. It is the largest organisation in the UK campaigning for an end to religious privilege and to discrimination based on religion or belief, and for a secular state.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This fascinating piece of research has been reported by the British Humanist Association, which I have reproduced here. What is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[39,42,98],"class_list":["post-302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-demographics-of-religion","tag-atheism","tag-british-humanist-association","tag-religion-in-britain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}