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Religion in the United Kingdom
UK religious data: 1992-2002
Sponsored link.
Religious data:
1992 data:
Membership in Christian denominations: Data shows that only
14.4% of the UK population belonged to a Christian denomination. The vast majority
of Christian church members were affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, the
Church of England, or the Presbyterian Church:
| Denomination |
Number of members (million) |
| Roman Catholic |
2.044 |
| Church of England |
1.808 |
| Presbyterian |
1.242 |
| Methodist |
0.459 |
| Independent |
0.357 |
| Eastern Orthodox |
0.276 |
| Baptist |
0.231 |
| Pentecostal |
0.170 |
| Other |
0.131 |
1995 to 1997 data:
The Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan
periodically conducts the World Values Survey. It polls a statistically valid sample of adults from a total of 60 nations. In their
their 1995-1997 survey, the found that:
 | 16% of the British adult population consider religion to be very important in their lives.
This compares with: |
| 53% in the U.S., |
| 14% in France, and |
| 13% in Germany. 1 |
2001 data:
Adherents to various religions: On 2003-FEB-14, TimesOnline published the results from the
2001-APR-29 decennial government census. 3 For the first time since 1851, the census included a
question on religion. 4 It was the only optional question on the census. Over 92% of the
population answered it. The results indicate that Britain remains a Christian country in 2001, at least in
terms of religious affiliation. Out of a total population of 58.79 million:
5
| Religion |
Number (in millions) |
% of total population |
| Christianity |
42.079 |
71.6% |
| No religion (Incl. Jedi) |
9.10 |
15.5 |
| Refused to answer |
4.29 |
7.3 |
| Islam |
1.59 |
2.7 |
| Hinduism |
0.559 |
1.0 |
| Sikhism |
0.336 |
0.6 |
| Judaism |
0.267 |
0.5 |
| Buddhism |
0.152 |
0.3 |
| Other |
0.179 |
0.3 |
| Total population |
58.789 |
100.0% |
Reaction to the Times Online article:
| "Jedism" appears to be the fourth most popular religion in
the UK, with 390,000 adults (0.66% of the population) identifying
themselves as followers of this religion. This refers to the spirituality expressed by the characters in
Star Wars. These are the "May the force be with you"
folks. Very few subjects who marked this religion during the poll are
actually Jedi. They probably intended their vote to be a statement about
their opinion of religion, religious polls, or the government census. A
hoax E-mail circulated around the Internet stating that if 10,000 people
put "Jedi" on the census form, it will become "a fully recognized and
legal religion." 6 The Office of National
Statistics...assigned the response "Jedi Knight" a numeric
code to simplify the process of tabulating census results, as is
typically done when many people answer a question by writing in a
response not offered as a choice on the census form. Since the
government does not recognize Jedism as an actual religion, the Jedis
were finally lumped together under the "no religion" category.
7 |
| Graham Zellick, vice chancellor of the University of London, opposed the religious question, and urged that
people refuse to answer the question. He said: "It is improper to use
the unique power of the State to ascertain information so that these
bodies can carry out their own functions. It is wholly inconsistent with
our traditions of freedom and personal privacy to ask a question about a
person's religious beliefs." 4 |
| The Right Rev Keith Sutton, the Bishop of
Lichfield, said: "These figures prove as a lie claims that England is
no longer a Christian country. Clergy in my diocese baptize some 23 per
cent of all babies before they are one year old. The Christian faith is
still relevant to many, many people....But welcome as they are, the
statistics are a wake-up call to all of us in Christian leadership.
While the Christian faith remains relevant to the vast majority of
society, the Church is clearly no longer seen as important."
|
| Iqbal Sacranie, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain,
said: "Up to now, Muslims have been statistically invisible, and thus
easily marginalized. The census output is a strong signal to central and
local government, social services and employers in particular that the
needs of all sections of Britain’s multicultural society must be fairly
and equitably addressed." |
| Professors Barry Kosmin and Stanley Waterman, of the Institute
for Jewish Policy Research, suggested that the total of Jews had
been undercounted. "Nationally, 15.5 per cent of the population
stated that they had no religion and 7.3 per cent did not answer the
question. In other words, almost a quarter of the population did not
provide a specific religious preference...This alone suggests that the
number of Jews is undercounted. This was not unexpected and, in fact,
there are grounds for suggesting that Jews may be more reluctant than
others to answer a voluntary question on religion in the census. For
historical reasons, many older Jews of Central and Eastern European
background are reluctant to cooperate with government-sponsored counts
of Jews." |
| The followers of some religions are reluctant to admit their
identification. Vexen Crabtree wrote that: "...at a London Satanists
gathering I polled all the members present about what they had put on the
2001 April National Census, and half of them said they had put 'no
religion'." This is a significant under-representation." Wiccans and
other Neopagans are probably under-represented as well. 8 |
Degree of commitment:
During the 2001 poll, 72% identified themselves as "Christian."
This does not necessarily indicate that they are committed Christians. Vexen
Crabtree collected some statistics from a variety of sources which indicate
that many of these folks are Christian in name only:
| The Office of National Statistics found in the 2001 census
that: "...half of all adults aged 18 and over who belonged to a religion
have never attended a religious service." |
| Uk.news.yahoo.com reported in 2000 that "[Church attendance in 1999
was] 7.5% on an average Sunday, [down] from 10% in 1989 and 12% in 1979." |
| A New Scientist Poll in 2002-Autumn showed that "55% of
British public do not believe in a higher being." 9 |
Sponsored link:
2002 data:
The Pew Research Center conducted a recent series of studies called "The Pew
Global Attitudes Project." They is measuring the "impact of
globalization, modernization, rapid technological and cultural change and the
Sept. 11 terrorist events on the values and attitudes of more than 38,000 people
in 44 countries..." A poll released on 2002-DEC-19 revealed whether
people around the world consider religion to be personally important. 2
Results showed that the percentage of the public who considered religion
important ranged from a high of 97% in Senegal to a low of 11% in both France and the Czech
Republic, among the 41
countries sampled. They found that the percentage was:
The disparity between the World Values Survey's 16% and the Pew
Global Attitude Project's 33% may be an accurate representation of a real
increase in interest over a four or five year interval, from about 1997 to 2002.
However it is more likely due to a difference in the specific question asked. On
matters of religion, people tend to give the answer that is expected of them,
rather than the truth. So, results often differ because of the setting, the
nature of the questioning, the specific question asked, and even the order of
the questions.
References used:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above
essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
- Diane Swanbrow, "Study of worldwide rates of religiosity, church attendance," University of Michigan news release at:
http://www.umich.edu/
- Ruth Gledhill & Richard Ford, "Christianity remains dominant religion," Times Online, 2003-FEB-14, at:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
- Richard Allen Greene, "Poll Position: As Britain conducts its census, religion question ruffles feathers," JewsWeek.com, 2001, at:
http://www.jewsweek.com/politics/
- "Census 2001 - Religion in Britain," National Statistics, at:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk
- "Jedi e-mail revealed as hoax," BBC News, 2001-APR-11, at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
- "Census Knight," Urban Legends Reference Pages, at:
http://www.snopes.com/religion/
- Vexen Crabtree, "Numbers of world religions tend to be exaggerated," Bane of Monotheism, 2003-FEB-18, at:
http://www.vexen.co.uk/
- Vexen Crabtree, "Religion in Britain," Bane of Monotheism, 2000-APR-26, at:
http://www.vexen.co.uk/
- "Among Wealthy Nations, U.S. stands alone in its embrace of religion," 2002-DEC-19, The Pew Research Center for the People and the
Press, at: http://people-press.org/
Copyright © 2003 to 2008 by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance
Originally written: 2003-FEB-19
Latest update: 2008-MAY-09
Author: B.A. Robinson
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