Posted on 07/12/2019 8:26:49 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The proportion of Brits who identify as Christian has reached its lowest point in over three decades of polling, as more than half of respondents said they no longer affiliate with a religion, a new study suggests.
The National Centre for Social Research, which claims to be Britain’s largest independent social research agency, released its 36th annual British Social Attitudes report this week based on a survey of 3,879 people.
The report confirmed the continued trend seen in the U.K. and the United States of people not affiliating with any religion as 52% of respondents to the survey said they do not belong to any religion.
“Of these, most were simply not brought up with a religion, with a smaller minority having lost a childhood faith,” the report states. “Those who do not regard themselves as belonging to a religion are increasingly secular, that is, likely to say they are ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ unreligious.”
The study finds that only 38% of the respondents identify as Christian, a far cry from the 66% of respondents in the organization’s 1998 survey who identified as Christian and a 2-percentage-point drop from 2017.
In 2008, 50% of respondents identified as Christian.
The proportion of respondents who identified as belonging to the Church of England or its sister churches, the report states, fell 40% in 1983 to 12% in 2018.
As for people ages 18 through 24, just 1% identify as Anglican compared to the 33% of people older than 75.
At the same time, the proportion of the population that declares themselves to be Muslims (5%) and nondenominational Christians has risen. The percentage of respondents who said they were nondenominational Christians increased from 3% of the population in 1998 to 13% in 2018.
The finding shows that the proportion of nondenominational Christians in the United Kingdom is now “equivalent to” the proportion that identifies with the Church of England, the report explained.
“The exact nature of this group is unclear: some of those people will be active members of independent nondenominational churches — indeed a third (34%) of them attend services at least monthly,” the report states. “Some may feel alienated from institutionalised religion. Others may be making a claim not so much about religious faith as ethnic identity.”
The report also found that the proportion of Brits who consider themselves to be Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist or Baptist totals 10%, down from 20% in 1998.
The report was written by University College London social science professor David Voas and University of Aberdeen professor Steve Bruce. They pinpoint the decline in church membership in the U.K. to have begun somewhere around 1851.
“In 1900 church membership was around 25 percent; it is now less than 10 percent,” the report reads. “In 1900 more than half the age-relevant population attended Sunday schools; now it is less than 4 percent.”
In 1998, the British Social Attitudes found that 11% of people with no religion were brought up in some sort of religious tradition. But in 2018, the report states, that figure rose to 23%.
The new study also found that 66% of respondents “never attend religious services, apart from special occasions such as weddings, funerals and baptisms.”
While there has been a noticeable decrease in the number of people who say they attend religious services on a monthly basis, the report notes that the proportion of people who report attending services weekly has remained stable at 11%.
The study also found that about two-thirds of respondents believe that religion brings more conflict than peace. Twenty-one percent of respondents said they have “no confidence at all” in churches and religious organizations and less than half (46%) said that have “some or more” confidence in such organizations.
“Wider research suggests that Britain is becoming more secular not because adults are losing their religion or inclination to practice but because old people with an attachment to the Church of England and other Christian denominations are gradually being replaced in the population by unaffiliated younger people,” the report reasons.
“To put it another way, religious decline in Britain is generational; people tend to be less religious than their parents, and on average their children are even less religious than they are.”
While fewer people in the U.K. are identifying with a religion, 26 percent say they don’t believe in God. By comparison, just 10% said the same in 1998. The proportion of people who say they “believe in God now and always have” has dropped from 48% in 1998 to 35% in 2018.
While the study shows the continued trend away from religion in the U.K., it also found that the proportion of respondents who consider same-sex relationships to be “not wrong at all” dropped from 68% in 2017 to 66% in 2018.
Even though 2-percentage-points might not seem like much, it represents the first time there has been a decline in that figure since the question was first asked by the polling organization in 1987, according to Reuters.
“Over the last three years attitudes seem to have been stabilizing,” research director Nilufer Rahim told Reuters. “What we might be seeing is that attitudes are plateauing now — we might be reaching a point at which attitudes might not liberalize in the same way as they have done since the early 1980s.”
The report noted that the “process of liberalisation” was “slowing down.”
“While we have a new and radically transformed set of social norms in the field of sexual relations and gender, we also have a significant minority who feel differently about these issues,” the report reads, according to The Independent. “And that minority may become increasingly focused on ensuring that socially conservative views and voices are reflected in public discussion of gender and relationships.”
And the country is turning into a sh*thole. Coincidence?
The other 62% identify as Muslim.
Britain will be under Sharia law if less than fifty years
With Christianity to oppose it the Muslims will have their way
They'll belong to a "religion" when Islam imposes itself on the UK.. and they will.
RE: The other 62% identify as Muslim.
Actually, if you look at the report here:
http://www.bsa.natcen.ac.uk/media/39293/1_bsa36_religion.pdf
Only 6% identify as Muslim. 52% identify as having NO RELIGION
I give it 20 years. Muslims breed and multiply like rabbits, while white euros barely reproduce at all.
A further milestone on the road to dissolution. The muzzards are not fools for being optimistic about the future.
It’s a Biblical principle that when people abandon God in favor of unbelief, idolatry, and immorality, they lose their freedom. That seems to be playing out across the Western world, faster in some places than others.
Like the census where illegal aliens won’t report their citizenship, I’d reckon a whole lot of Muslims didn’t even respond.
I would think at least 10% are Islamic.
“...narrow is the gate....”
And another 38% are moslems...
Yep
(on both counts)
The western world is on a downward spiral.
Gee, wonder who would be facilitating/expediting it's demise?
Western world better get "woke" soon, or it will be "broke" soon.
I’ve disclosed before that I grew up in the UK, came here in 1987.
None of these numbers resemble my memory - it’s worse than this. Given, I have only one persons experience, but I was one of a few in my entire school that went to Church. I was very surprised when I came to the USA - it was notably different.
In general, openly stating that you’re a Christian would only attract insults, laughter, and ridicule. I was there a year ago, nothing seems to have changed.
I remember my grandparents saying they were “C of E” (Church of England) - but weren’t religious at all, never attended Church. It’s my understanding that this was fairly typical at the time. People in a survey might say they identify with Christianity in some sense but do not openly declare they’re Christian.
They turned from Christ a long time ago, the Churches are emptying, filled with almost only retired people.
What filled the void? Multi-cultural Marxism. The “wisdom” to import all kinds of cultures and religions, as equals, was the result.
Ooopsie. Until they realize the only thing standing between them and an Islamic beheading is Christianity, things will only get worse. Atheists have no answer to Islam. The goal of Islam is Sharia. Sharia is toxic to individual liberty. Until they can reconcile this understanding they will remain lost and continue to give up their freedoms. They’ve been so secular for so long the masses have zero understanding of this.
They’re starting to wake up to the problems but don’t have a clue what the answer is. Some at least are pointing to the example of Mohammed vs. Christ, seeing how they’re polar opposites. Good...but not enough. Many still believe what the BBC tells them. They’re constantly reinforced with consistent messaging about “Islam is peace” and criticism is “racist”. The Islamic rape gang trials being conducted in secret is by design, the average Brit has no idea of the scale of the problem and the “reporting restrictions” is the tool to keep it that way. The MSM is willfully compliant and have no intent on covering them. A combination of a government not allowing a free press (for the people) and a press that doesn’t care.
The only person that spoke up was Tommy Robinson, which is why they arrested him, made up the law and “facts” last week, and sent him back to prison yesterday. He exposed that the State was allowing these rapists to be out on bail without anyone having a clue, right up until sentencing.
It’s all insane.
Sun has set on the Union jack. They just don’t want to admit it.
And half of the 38% are probably lying to the pollster.
RE: So most of them will eventually end up being Muslim.
For perspective, in 2008, only 2% of the population identified as Muslim. Now, 6% of the population identify as Muslim. Islam is growing fast in Britain while Christianity is declining.
Many are (CINO’s) Christians In Name Only, and atheistic materialists in practice.
Not to worry, chaps. There is a religion ready and waiting to take over the UK. And they will not be MINO’s!
No mystery why the government has turned fascist. The people don’t care.
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