Religion in The United
Kingdom is about the development of religion in the
United
Kingdom
since its formation in 1707. The Treaty of Union that led to the formation of
the United Kingdom of Great Britain
(which became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland
in 1801 when Great Britain signed an Act of Union
with Ireland) ensured that there would be a protestant succession as well as a link between
church and state that
still remains.
According to the
2001 UK
census,
Christianity remains the
major religion, followed by
Islam,
Hinduism,
Sikhism,
Judaism and
Buddhism in
terms of number of adherents. Though each
country that
makes up the UK has a long
tradition of
Christianity that
pre-dates the UK itself, in practice all have relatively low levels
of religious observance and today are
secular societies.
England and Wales
Christianity is the main
religion in
England with the
Church of
England the
Established Church.
It is the
Mother Church of the worldwide
Anglican Communion (except the
Scottish Episcopal Church which
has separate origins and is a
Sister Church rather than a
Daughter Church) and the oldest among the communion's
thirty-eight independent national churches.
It retains
representation in the UK Parliament
with the churches 26 bishops
sitting in the House of
Lords
as Lords Spiritual,
and the British monarch is a member
of the church (required under Article 2 of the Treaty of Union) as
well as its Supreme
Governor. The Church of England also retains the right
to draft legislative measures (related to religious administration)
through the General Synod that can then be passed into law by
Parliament. Christianity is also the main
religion in Wales. In the 1920s, the
Church in Wales became independent
from the Church of England and became 'disestablished' but remains
in the Anglican Communion.
Catholic diocesan hierarchies were
re-established in England and Wales in
1850 following an influx of Irish Catholics fleeing the
Great Irish Famine. Today the
Roman Catholic Church
in England and Wales is the second largest Christian church
across England and Wales with around five million members, mainly
in England. The Church has five
provinces:
Birmingham, Cardiff, Liverpool, Southwark and Westminster. There
are 22
dioceses which are divided into
parishes. In addition to these, there are two
dioceses covering England and Wales for specific groups which are
the
Bishopric of the Forces
and the
Apostolic
Exarchate for Ukrainians. The
Catholic
Bishops in England and Wales come together in
the Catholic
Bishops' Conference of
England and Wales. Currently the
Archbishop of Westminster,
Vincent Nichols, is the ex officio
President of the Conference.
Pentecostal churches are continuing
to grow and, in terms of church attendance, are now third after the
Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church in England. Other
Christian groups include
Salvation
Army,
United Reformed
Church,
Plymouth Brethren,
Baptist Union,
Baptist Union of Wales,
Methodists,
Congregationalists and
house churches.
Scotland
The
presbyterian Church of
Scotland
is recognised by the Church of Scotland Act 1921 as
the national church of Scotland
. It
is not subject to state control. The British monarch is an ordinary
member and is required to swear an oath to "defend the security" of
the church upon his or her accession.
The
Roman Catholic
Church in Scotland is Scotland's second largest Christian
church, representing a sixth of the population. Catholic diocesan
hierarchies were
restored in Scotland
in 1878. In the
2001 census about 16%
of the
population of Scotland
described themselves as being Roman Catholic. Currently, they
constitute 17% of Scotland, with 850,000 members. Journalist Andrew
Collier notes that Scot Catholics no longer see themselves as a
tribal minority, "but as a confident and influential part of the
country's demographic mix." This Catholic self-esteem has had a
dramatic political side effect, with Catholics starting to find
common ground with the
Scottish Nationalist Party.
Scotland has two provinces - Glasgow and St Andrews and Edinburgh -
and eight dioceses, and the Archbishops and bishops come together
in the
Bishops'
Conference of Scotland. Currently, the
Archbishop of St.
Andrews and Edinburgh,
Cardinal Keith O'Brien, is President
of the Conference.
The Scottish Episcopal Church, which is part of the Anglican
Communion, dates from the final establishment of Presbyterianism in
Scotland in 1690, when it split from the Church of Scotland and is
not a 'daughter church' of the Church of England. Further splits in
the Church of Scotland, especially in the nineteenth century, led
to the creation of various other Presbyterian churches in Scotland,
including the
Free Church of
Scotland. In 1900 the vast majority of the Free Church of
Scotland united with the
United Presbyterian
Church of Scotland to form the
United Free Church of
Scotland, which re-united with the Church of Scotland in 1929.
The remaining members of the former Free Church founded a new
Free Church of Scotland,
which they claimed to be the legitimate Free Church in 1900.
Northern Ireland
The main religious groups in Northern Ireland are
Christian, and are organised on an
all-Ireland basis. Though Protestants and Anglicans are in the
overall majority, the
Roman
Catholic Church in Ireland is the largest single church. The
Presbyterian Church in
Ireland, closely linked to the Church of Scotland in terms of
theology and history, is the second largest church followed by the
Church of Ireland (Anglican) which was disestablished in the
nineteenth century. The
2001 UK census showed 40.3%
Roman Catholic, 20.7% Presbyterian Church, with the Church of
Ireland having 15.3% and the Methodist Church 3.5%. 13.8% gave no
religion, and other religions were 0.3%.
Christianity
National churches
Roman Catholicism
The
Roman Catholic Church has
separate national churches for England and Wales, Scotland and
Ireland and there is no single hierarchy for Roman Catholicism in
the United Kingdom (though there is a single
apostolic nuncio to the United Kingdom,
presently Archbishop
Faustino
Sainz Muñoz).
Pentecostal
There are three main denomination of Pentecostal churches;
The is also a growing number of independent,
charismatic churches that encourage
Pentecostal practices as part of their worship.
Methodist
The
Methodist movement traces its origin
to the
evangelical awakening
in the 18th century. It was started as a movement within the Church
of England by a group of men including
John
Wesley, an Anglican clergyman, and his younger brother
Charles, but developed as a separate
denomination after John Wesley's death. Traditionally, Methodism
proved particularly popular in Wales with the
Welsh Methodist revival in the 18th
century and the
1904-1905 Welsh
Revival.
Schism within the original
Methodist church, and independent
revival, led to the formation of a number of
separate denominations calling themselves Methodist. The largest of
these were the
Primitive Methodist
Church, the
Bible Christian
Church and the United Methodist Church (not connected with the
American denomination of the same name, but a union of three
smaller denominations). The original church became known as the
Wesleyan Methodist Church to distinguish it from these bodies.
The three
major streams of British Methodism united in 1932 to form the current Methodist Church of Great
Britain, which includes congregations in the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man
, Malta
and Gibraltar
as part of the church. It is the fourth
largest
Christian
denomination in the UK with around 270,000 members and 6,000
churches though it has only around 3,000 members in 50
congregations in Scotland. In Northern Ireland, where Methodism is
also the fourth largest denomination, the church is organised
within the
Methodist Church
in Ireland. The
Wesleyan
Reform Union and the
Independent Methodist
Connexion still remain separate from the Methodist Church of
Great Britain.
In the 1960s, the Methodist Church of Great Britain made ecumenical
overtures to the Church of England, aimed at church unity.
Formally, these failed when they were rejected by the Church of
England's General Synod in 1972. However, conversations and
co-operation continued, leading on 1 November 2003 to the signing
of a covenant between the two churches. The
Methodist Church in Ireland is
the fourth largest denomination in Northern Ireland. In 2002 The
Methodist Church in Ireland signed a covenant for greater
cooperation and potential ultimate unity with the Church of
Ireland.
Baptist
Eastern Orthodox Churches
There are various
Russian
Orthodox groups in the UK. In 1962,
Metropolitan Anthony of
Sourozh founded and was for many years bishop, archbishop then
metropolitan bishop of the
diocese of the
Russian Orthodox Diocese of
Sourozh, the Russian Orthodox Moscow Patriarchate's diocese for
Great Britain and Ireland. It is the most numerous Russian Orthodox
group in the UK. There are also the
Russian Orthodox Church
Outside Russia churches as well as some churches and
communities belonging to the
Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in
Western Europe's
Episcopal Cicariate in the UK.
Most
Greek Orthodox Church
parishes fall under the jurisdiction of the
Archdiocese of
Thyateira and Great Britain, based in London and led by the
Archbishop,
His Eminence Gregorios. Created in 1932, it is the diocese of the
Ecumenical
Patriarch of Constantinople that covers England, Wales,
Scotland and Ireland as well as Malta. A Greek Orthodox community
already existed at the time the UK was formed, worshipping in the
Imperial Russian Embassy in London. However, it was another 130
years until an autonomous community was set up in Finsbury Park in
London, in 1837. The first new church was built in 1850, on London
Street in the City. In 1882, St Sophia Cathedral was constructed in
London, in order to cope with the growing influx of Orthodox
immigrants to the UK.
By the outbreak of World War I, there were large Orthodox
communities in London, Manchester
, Cardiff
and
Liverpool, each focused on its own church. World War II and its aftermath also saw a large
expansion amongst the Orthodox Communities.
Today, there are
seven
churches bearing the title of Cathedral in London as well as in
Birmingham
(the Dormition of the Mother of God and St
Andrew
) and Leicester
. In addition to these, there are eighty-one
churches and other places where worship is regularly offered,
twenty-five places (including University Chaplaincies) where the
Divine Liturgy is celebrated on a less regular basis, four chapels
(including that of the Archdiocese), and two monasteries. As is
traditional within the Orthodox Church, the bishops have a
considerable degree of
autonomy within the
Archdiocese.
The Greek
Orthodox Church of St Nicholas
in Toxteth
, Liverpool, was built in 1870. It is an enlarged
version of St Theodore's church in
Constantinople
and is a Grade II Listed
building. The Greek Orthodox Church of
Antioch also have the St. George's Cathedral
in London and a total of sixteen parishes
throughout the UK.
There is also the
Serbian
Orthodox Church and the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church in
London, as well as the
Belarusian
Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Manchester.
All
Coptic Orthodox parishes fall
under the jurisdiction of the
Pope of the
Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.
The Coptic Orthodox
Church in the United Kingdom is divided into three main
parishes: Ireland, Scotland and North
England; the Midlands
and its affiliated areas; and South Wales
. In addition, there is one Patriarchal
Exarchate at Stevenage
, Hertfordshire
. Most British converts belong to the
British Orthodox Church,
which is canonically part of the Coptic Orthodox Church. There is
also the
Eritrean
Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo
Church in London. There is also the
Armenian Apostolic Church in
London.
Other Christian denominations
Presbyterian is a family of
Christian denominations within the
Reformed branch of
Protestant Western Christianity.
A form of Calvinism, Presbyterianism evolved primarily in
Scotland before the Act of
Union in 1707. Most of the few Presbyteries found in
England can trace a Scottish connection. The
Free Presbyterian Church of
Scotland was formed in 1893 and claims to be the spiritual
descendant of the Scottish Reformation. The
Free Church of Scotland, which
claims to tbe the legitimate Free Church in Scotland was founded in
1900. In England Presbyterianism was founded in secret in 1572. The
Evangelical
Presbyterian Church in England and Wales was founded in the
late 1980s and declared themselves to be a Presbytery in 1996. They
currently have ten churches. The
Presbyterian Church in
Ireland is the largest Protestant denomination and second
largest church in Northern Ireland. The
Free Presbyterian Church of
Ulster was founded on 17 March 1951 by the cleric and
politician,
Ian Paisley. It has about 60
churches in Northern Ireland. The
Presbyterian Church of Wales
seceded from the Church of England in 1811 and formally formed
itself into a separate body in 1823.
The Non-subscribing
Presbyterian Church of Ireland has 31 congregations in Northern
Ireland, with the first Presbytery being formed in Antrim
in 1725.
There are about 600
Congregational
churches in the UK. In England there are three main groups, the
Congregational Federation,
the
Evangelical
Fellowship of Congregational Churches, and about 100
Congregational churches that are loosely federated with other
congregations in the
Fellowship of
Independent Evangelical Churches, or are unaffiliated. In
Scotland the churches are mostly member of the Congregational
Federation and in Wales which traditionally has a larger number of
Congregationalists, most are members of the Union of Welsh
Independents.
The
Britain Yearly Meeting is
the umbrella body for the
Religious Society of Friends
(Quakers) in England, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Isles and the
Isle of Man. There are
25,000 worshippers
with about 400 local meetings. Northern Ireland comes under the
umbrella of the
Ireland Yearly
Meeting.
The
United Reformed Church
(URC) is the result of a union between the Presbyterian Church of
England and the Congregational Church in England and Wales in 1972
and subsequent unions with the Re-formed Association of Churches of
Christ in 1981 and the Congregational Union of Scotland in 2000.
The URC has about 1,900 congregations.
The
Salvation Army was founded in the
East End of
London
in 1865.
The
General
Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches is the
umbrella organisation for
Unitarian,
Free Christian and other liberal religious
congregations in the UK. The
Unitarian Christian
Association was formed in 1991.
Other denominations
Among other denominations are:
There are several
Nordic
churches in London which provide
Lutheran Christian worship.
Saints
Traditionally,
saints have often been
venerated locally, nationally and
internationally. This is often reflected in
British toponymy. However, following the
Reformation, the cult of saints has been observed to a much lesser
degree than historically.
Patron saints:
Many municipalities and regions preserve traditions of their own
saints. See, for example,
Cornish
Saints and
Saint Swithun.
Wales is particularly noted for naming places after either local or
well-known saints - all places beginning in
Llan e.g.
Llanbedr - St Peter
(Pedr); Llanfihangel - St Michael
(Mihangel); Llanarmon - St Garmon. Because of the
relatively small number of saints' names used, places names are
often suffixed by their locality e.g. Llanfihangel Glyn Myfyr,
Llanfihangel-y-Creuddyn, Llanfihangel-y-Pennant.
Other faiths
Consideration of religious diversity led
Charles, Prince of Wales (the
Heir Apparent) to say in 1994 "I
personally would rather see it [his future role] as 'Defender of
Faith', not 'the Faith'." , the press was reporting that he will
embrace
multiculturalism when he
becomes King by dropping 'the' from the historic title "Defender of
the Faith".
The main faiths after christianity include:
Islam
Though Islam was not legalised until the
Trinitarian Act in 1812, Muslims were
present prior to this as Muslims were already living in
England and
Scotland when
the UK was formed.
Islam, today, is the
second largest religion in all four countries of the UK with recent
estimates suggesting a combined total of as high as 2.4 million
Muslims, The vast majority of Muslims in the UK live in England and Wales: of 1,591,000 Muslims
recorded at the 2001 Census, 1,536,015 were living in England
and Wales
, where they
form 3% of the population; 42,557 were living in Scotland, forming 0.84% of the population; and 1,943 were
living in Northern
Ireland
.
Most
Muslim immigrants to the UK came from former colonies, such as Bangladesh
, India
and Pakistan
, with the remainder coming from Muslim-dominated
areas such as Southwest Asia,
Somalia
, Malaysia
, and Indonesia
. During the 18th century,
lascars (sailors) who worked for the
British East India Company settled in
port towns with local wives. These numbered only 4,037 in 1891 but
51,616 on the eve of
World War I.
Naval
cooks also came, many from what is now the Sylhet
Division
of Bangladesh, including Sake Dean
Mahomet, a captain in the British East India Company.
After
1900, Yemeni
sailors
began to permanently settle in the United Kingdom.
From the
1950s onwards, the growing Muslim population developing in many
towns and cities led to a number of Mosques being established,
including the notable mosques of Manchester
Central Mosque
, East London Mosque
, London
Markaz
and London Central Mosque
.
The
Muslim Council of
Britain is an umbrella organisation for many local, regional
and specialist Islamic organisations in the UK.
Hinduism
Hinduism was the religion of 558,342 people in the United Kingdom
according to the 2001 UK
census. However, the
total was estimated as high as 1.5 Million in 2007.
Although most British
Hindus live in England, with half living in London
alone,
small communities also exist in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Judaism
The
Jewish Naturalisation
Act, enacted in 1753, permitted the naturalisation of foreign
Jews, but was repealed the next year.
The first graduate
from the University of Glasgow
who was openly-known to be Jewish was in
1787. Unlike their English contemporaries, Scottish students
were not required to take a religious oath.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, British society was considered more
tolerant of Jews than most other European nations. In 1841
Isaac Lyon Goldsmid was made
baronet, the first Jew to receive a hereditary
title. The first Jewish
Lord Mayor of the City of
London, Sir David Salomons, was elected in 1855, followed by
the 1858 emancipation of the Jews.
On 26 July 1858, Lionel de Rothschild was finally
allowed to sit in the British House of Commons
when the law restricting the oath of office to
Christians was changed. Benjamin Disraeli, a baptised, teenage
convert to Christianity of Jewish parentage, was already an MP at
this time and rose to become Prime Minister in 1874.
In 1884 Nathan Mayer
Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild became the first Jewish member
of the British House of
Lords; again Disraeli was already a member.
However,
a report in August 2007 by University of Manchester
historian Dr Yaakov Wise stated that 75% of all
births in the Jewish community were to ultra-orthodox, Haredi parents, and that the increase of
ultra-orthodox Jewry allied with the declining overall Jewish
population has led to a significant rise in the proportion of
British Jews who are ultra-orthodox. The figures were based
on census data and also on the regular monitoring of Jewish births
by academics in both Manchester and Leeds.
Sikhism
Sikhism was recorded as the religion of 336,179 people in the
United Kingdom at the time of the 2001 Census.
While England is home to the majority of Sikhs in the UK, small
communities also exist in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The first recorded Sikh settler in the UK was Maharaja
Duleep Singh, dethroned and exiled in 1849 at
the age of 14, after the
Anglo-Sikh
wars.
The first Sikh Gurdwara (temple) was established in 1911, in
Putney
,
London. The first wave of Sikh migration came in the 1950s,
mostly of men from the Punjab seeking work in industries such as
foundries and textiles. These new arrivals mostly settled in
London, Birmingham and West Yorkshire. Thousands of Sikhs from East
Africa followed.
Buddhism
The
earliest Buddhist influence on Britain came through its imperial
connections with South East Asia,
and as a result the early connections were with the Theravada traditions of Burma
, Thailand
, and Sri
Lanka
. The tradition of study resulted in the
foundation of the
Pali Text
Society, which undertook the task of translating the
Pali Canon of Buddhist texts into English.
Buddhism as a path of practice was pioneered by the Theosophists,
Madame Blavatsky and
Colonel Olcott, and in 1880 they became the
first Westerners to receive the refuges and precepts, the ceremony
by which one traditionally becomes a Buddhist.
In 1924 London’s
Buddhist Society
was founded, and in 1926 the Theravadin
London Buddhist Vihara. The rate of
growth was slow but steady through the century, and the 1950s saw
the development of interest in
Zen
Buddhism.
In 1967 Kagyu Samyé Ling Monastery and Tibetan
Centre
, now the largest Tibetan Buddhist centre in Western Europe,
was founded in Scotland. The first home-grown Buddhist
movement was also founded in 1967, the
Friends of the Western
Buddhist Order (FWBO). There are many
Sōka Gakkai Buddhist groups in the
UK.
Neopaganism
An estimated 250,000 (0.4%) to 1 million (around 2%) Britons adhere
to various forms of
Neopaganism,
including
Celtic Neopaganism,
Heathenism and
Wicca.
Bahá'í Faith
The
Bahá'í Faith in the
United Kingdom has a historical connection with the earliest phases
of the Bahá'í Faith starting in 1845 and reflects on the evolving
character of the religion and the countries of the British Isles
like England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland culminating in
the present United Kingdom and relates to the development of
communities of the religion in far flung nations around the world.
It is estimated that between 1951 and 1993, Bahá'ís from the United
Kingdom settled in 138 countries. There are about 5000 Bahá'ís of
the UK.
Monasticism
Anglican, Catholic and Orthodox monastic communities exist as well
as religious communities of Hindus and Buddhists.
Religious leaders
Notable places of worship
The varied religious and ethnic history of the United Kingdom and
the countries that formed it has left a wide range of religious
buildings -
churches,
cathedrals,
chapels,
chapels of ease,
synagogues,
mosques and
temples. Besides its spiritual importance,
the religious architecture includes buildings of importance to the
tourism industry and local pride.
As a result of the Reformation, the
ancient cathedrals remained in the possession of the
then-established churches, while most Roman Catholic churches date
from Victorian times or are of more recent construction (curiously,
in Liverpool the ultra-modern design Roman
Catholic cathedral
was actually completed before the more traditional
design of the Anglican
cathedral
, whose construction took most of the twentieth
century). Notable places of worship include:
England
Scotland
Wales
Northern Ireland
Religion and education
England and Wales
In England and Wales, a significant number of state funded schools
are
faith schools with the vast
majority Christian (mainly either of Church of England or Roman
Catholic) though there are also Jewish, Muslim and Sikh faith
schools. Faith schools follow the same
national
curriculum as state schools, though with the added ethos of the
host religion. Until 1944 there was no requirement for state
schools to provide religious education or worship, although most
did so. The
Education Act 1944
introduced a requirement for a daily act of collective worship and
for religious education but did not define what was allowable under
these terms. The act contained provisions to allow parents to
withdraw their children from these activities and for teachers to
refuse to participate. The
Education Reform Act 1988
introduced a further requirement that the majority of collective
worship be "wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character" . In
recent years schools have increasingly failed to comply with the
collective worship rules - in 2004 David Bell, the Chief Inspector
of Schools said that "at present more than three-quarters of
schools fail to meet this requirement." Religious studies is still
an obligatory subject in the curriculum, but tends to aim at
providing an understanding of the main faiths of the world rather
than at instilling a strictly Christian viewpoint.
Scotland
In Scotland, the majority of schools are non-denominational but
separate Roman Catholic schools, with an element of control by the
Roman Catholic Church, are provided within the state system.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland has a highly segregated education system. 95% of
pupils attend either maintained (Catholic) schools or controlled
schools, which are open to children of all faiths and none, though
in practice most pupils are from the Protestant community.
Religion and politics
The strength of
Nonconformism among
workers in the newly-industrialised towns of the Industrial
Revolution gave rise, in large measure, to the development of
Christian socialism in the
United Kingdom. The
Labour Party
arose from a nonconformist background, whereas the Church of
England has sometimes been nicknamed "
the Conservative Party at
prayer".
Lionel de Rothschild was the first Jew to take a seat in the House
of Commons (1858) and in 1884 Baron Rothschild became the first
Jewish member of the House of Lords.
Dadabhai Naoroji, a
Parsi, was an MP 1892-1895.
Piara Khabra, a Sikh, was elected to the House
of Commons in 1992.
Mohammad Sarwar
was the first Muslim MP (elected 1997).
Henry Stanley, 3rd
Baron Stanley of Alderley, a
convert to Islam, was the first
Muslim member of the House of Lords (from 1869). The first Muslim
appointed to the House of Lords was
Nazir Ahmed, Baron Ahmed in 1998;
the first female Muslim so appointed, also in 1998, was
Pola Uddin, Baroness Uddin.
The
direct influence of the Anglican
Communion has been on the decline for many years, but the
Church of England retains
representation in Parliament
through 26 Lords
Spiritual, who sit in the House of Lords along with the secular Lords Temporal. The Church also has
the right to draft legislative measures (usually related to
religious administration), through the
General Synod, that can be passed into law,
but not amended by Parliament.
The churches of the Anglican Communion in
Ireland
and Wales were
disestablished in the 19th
and 20th centuries.
The Prime Minister, regardless of personal beliefs, plays a key
role in the
appointment of Church
of England bishops, although in July 2007
Gordon Brown proposed reforms of the Prime
Minister's ability to affect Church of England appointments.
Two 'Christian' parties - the
Christian Party and the
Christian Peoples Alliance,
fielded joint candidates at the
2009
European Parliament elections and increased their share of the
vote to come eighth, with 249,493 votes (1.6 percent of total votes
cast), and in London, where the CPA has three councillors, the
Christian parties picked up 51,336 votes (2.9 percent of the vote),
up slightly from the 45,038 gained in 2004.
Religion and the media
The
BBC programme
Songs of Praise is aired on a Sunday evening
and has an average weekly audience of 2.5 million.
Midnight mass and other such events are
usually aired. As a public broadcaster the
BBC
produces such programming partly because of remit obligations.
Accordingly,
BBC Three and
BBC Four air occasional programming from
atheist or
Muslim
perspectives.
Other channels offer documentaries on, or from the perspective of,
non-belief. A significant example is
Richard Dawkins' two-part
Channel 4 documentary,
The Root of all Evil?.
The British media often portrays a cultural scepticism towards
religion. British comedy in particular has a history of satire and
parody on the subject, the most iconic example probably being
Monty Python film
Life of Brian.
Religious mockery, or
open disbelief in any religion, is not regarded as a taboo in the
British media, as it could be considered to be in the other
nations, for example the USA
.
Secularism, tolerance and anti-religious discrimination
A synagogue and mosque side by side in
London.
Ecumenical rapprochement has gradually
developed between Christian denominations but religious tensions
still exist.
(See, for example, The Satanic Verses , and
Sectarianism in Glasgow and
Northern
Ireland.)
In the early 21st century proposals to update the
blasphemy law in the United
Kingdom were discussed. The
Racial and Religious Hatred
Act 2006 made it an offence in England and Wales to incite
hatred against a person on the grounds of their religion. The
common law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel were finally
abolished with the coming into effect of the
Criminal Justice and
Immigration Act 2008 on 8 July 2008.
There being no strict
separation of church and
state in the United Kingdom, public officials may in general
display religious symbols in the course of their duties - for
example,
turbans.
Chaplains are provided in the armed forces (see
Royal Army Chaplains'
Department) and in prisons.
There is evidence of
Anti-Christian
sentiment,
Islamophobia and, albeit
far more limited,
Anti-Semitism in the
United Kingdom. In 2009,
The Daily
Mail reported that local artists in Havering were invited to
submit pictures to brighten up a local hospital but specifically
banned from submitting pictures of churches. The newspaper failed
to mention that religious imagery in general, not merely Christian,
was discouraged.
Although
School uniform codes are
generally drawn up flexibly enough to accommodate compulsory items
of religious dress, some schools have banned wearing the crucifix,
arguing that wearing a crucifix is not a requirement of
Christianity, and that necklaces themselves are banned as well, not
just crucifixes.
Some polls have shown that public opinion in the United Kingdom
generally tends towards a suspicion or outright disapproval of
radical or evangelical religiosity, though moderate groups and
individuals are rarely subject to injurious treatment.
Statistics
Several different sets of figures exist which aim to categorise the
religious affiliations, beliefs and practices of UK residents.
Differences in the wording and context of the questions can give
substantially different results. The
2001 census found that 76.8% of
the UK population had a religion, with Christianity being the most
prevalent (71.6% of respondents described their religion as such),
while the
British Social
Attitudes Survey survey produced by the
National Centre for Social
Research in the same year reported that 58% considered
themselves to "belong to" a religion.
An
Ipsos MORI poll in 2003 reported that
43% considered themselves to be "a member of an organised religion"
(18% were "a practising member of an organised religion") An
ICM survey in 2006 found that only 33%
considered themselves to be "a religious person", with 43% saying
they never attended religious services.
A
Eurobarometer opinion poll in 2005
reported that 38% "believed there is a
God",
40% believe there is "some sort of spirit or life force" and 20%
said "I'don't believe there is any sort of spirit, God or life
force". A survey in 2007 suggested that 42% of adults resident in
the UK prayed, with one in six praying on a daily basis.
The EU-funded European Social Survey to be published in April 2009
has found that only 12% of British people belong to a church.
Religions other than Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and
Judaism have established a presence in the UK, both through
immigration and by
attracting converts, including the
Bahá'í Faith,
Rastafarianism and
Neopaganism. There are also organisations which
promote
rationalism,
humanism,
atheism and
secularism. The UK has a large and
growing non-religious population with 13,626,000 (23.2% of the UK
population) either claiming
no religion
or not answering the question on religion at the 2001 census.
The 2001 census contained voluntary questions on religious
affiliation. In Scotland and Northern Ireland the census also
contained questions on the religion in which a person had been
brought up. As a result of comparisons with survey data The
Office for National
Statistics concluded that the census results for England and
Wales were more comparable to the results for religion of
upbringing in Scotland and Northern Ireland than for current
religious affiliation. At the time the Census was carried out,
there was an Internet campaign that encouraged people to record
their religion as
Jedi or "
Jedi Knight". The number of people
who stated Jedi was 390,000 (0.7 per cent of the population).
A survey
in 2002 found Christmas attendance at Anglican churches in England
varied between 10.19% of the population in the diocese of
Hereford
, down to just 2.16% in Manchester. Church attendance at
Christmas in some dioceses was up to three times
the average for the rest of the year.Overall church attendance at
Christmas has been steadily increasing in recent years; a 2005 poll
found that 43% expected to attend a church service over the
Christmas period, in comparison with 39% and 33% for corresponding
polls taken in 2003 and 2001 respectively.In a 2004 YouGov poll, 44
per cent of UK citizens responded affirmatively to the question "Do
you believe in God?".
In the
UK
overall, a Guardian/ICM poll
in 2006 found that 33% describe themselves as "a religious person"
while 82% see religion as a cause of division and tension between
people.
Society in the United Kingdom is markedly more
secular than in the past and the number of
churchgoers fell over the last half of the 20th century. According
to the British Humanist Association 36% of the population is
humanist, and may, by the same token, be considered outright
atheist. The
National Secular
Society is among bodies aiming to reduce the influence of
religion. According to the 2001 census, however, 71.6% of
population declared themselves to be Christian, a further 2.7% as
Muslim and 1% as Hindu. Only 15.5% said they had "no religion" and
7.3% did not reply to the question. The problem with interpreting
these results is that they do not reveal the intensity of religious
belief or non-belief. See also
Status of
religious freedom in the United Kingdom.
The
Tearfund Survey in 2007 found 53% of
people in the UK identifying themselves as Christian and only 7% as
practising Christians. 10% attend church weekly and two-thirds had
not gone to church in the past year. The Tearfund Survey also found
that two thirds of UK adults (66%) or 32.2 million people have no
connection with The Church at present (nor with another religion).
These people are evenly divided between those who have been in the
past but have since left (16 million) and those who have never been
in their lives (16.2 million).
A December 2007 report by
Christian
Research showed that Roman Catholicism had become the
best-attended services of Christian denominations in England, with
average attendance at Sunday Mass of 861,000, compared to 852,000
attending Anglican services. Attendance at Anglican services had
declined by 20% between 2000 and 2006, while attendance at Catholic
services, boosted by large-scale immigration from Poland and
Lithuania, had declined by only 13%.
In Scotland
attendance at Church of
Scotland services declined by 19% and attendance at Catholic
services fell by 25%.
A Tearfund survey on prayer found in 2007 that 42% of adults in the
UK
pray (outside church or religious
services).
Time series showing the religion that people consider themselves to
belong to.
British Social
Attitudes Surveys have shown the proportion of those in Great
Britain who consider they "belong to" Christianity to have fallen
from 66% in 1983 to 48% in 2006.
The disparity between the 2001 census data and the above polls has
been put down to both the decline in religious adherence in the UK
since 2001 and a phenomenon of cultural religiosity, whereby many
who do not believe in gods still identify with a religion because
of its role in their upbringing or its importance to their
family.
Religions in United Kingdom, 2001
| Religion/Denomination |
Current religion
|
Percent
%
|
| Christian |
42,079,000 |
71.6 |
| No religion |
9,104,000 |
15.5 |
| Muslim |
1,591,000 |
2.7 |
| Hindu |
559,000 |
1.0 |
| Sikh |
336,000 |
0.6 |
| Jewish |
267,000 |
0.5 |
| Buddhist |
152,000 |
0.3 |
| Other Religion |
179,000 |
0.3 |
| All religions |
45,163,000 |
76.8 |
| Not Answered |
4,289,000 |
7.3 |
No religion +
Not Answered |
13,626,000 |
23.2 |
| Base |
58,789,000 |
100 |
Source:
UK 2001 Census.
Denominations in Great Britain
Source:
BSA Survey
2007.
Religions by ethnic group
| Ethnic group |
Christian |
Buddhist |
Hindu |
Jewish |
Muslim |
Sikh |
Other |
No religion |
Not stated |
| White British |
75.94% |
0.11% |
0.01% |
0.48% |
0.14% |
0.01% |
0.24% |
15.45% |
7.62% |
| White Irish |
85.42% |
0.19% |
0.02% |
0.18% |
0.14% |
0.02% |
0.26% |
6.35% |
7.42% |
| Other White |
62.67% |
0.33% |
0.09% |
2.39% |
8.61% |
0.04% |
0.57% |
15.91% |
9.38% |
| Mixed |
52.46% |
0.70% |
0.87% |
0.47% |
9.72% |
0.42% |
0.58% |
23.25% |
11.54% |
| Indian |
4.89% |
0.18% |
45.00% |
0.06% |
12.70% |
29.06% |
1.75% |
1.73% |
4.63% |
| Pakistani |
1.09% |
0.03% |
0.08% |
0.05% |
92.01% |
0.05% |
0.04% |
0.50% |
6.16% |
| Bangladeshi |
0.50% |
0.06% |
0.60% |
0.05% |
92.48% |
0.04% |
0.01% |
0.43% |
5.83% |
| Other Asian |
13.42% |
4.85% |
26.76% |
0.30% |
37.31% |
6.22% |
0.93% |
3.44% |
6.79% |
| Black
Caribbean |
73.76% |
0.17% |
0.29% |
0.10% |
0.79% |
0.02% |
0.59% |
11.23% |
13.04% |
| Black
African |
68.87% |
0.07% |
0.21% |
0.05% |
20.04% |
0.09% |
0.21% |
2.31% |
8.14% |
| Other Black |
66.61% |
0.20% |
0.36% |
0.13% |
5.97% |
0.07% |
0.65% |
12.09% |
13.93% |
| Chinese |
21.56% |
15.12% |
0.07% |
0.05% |
0.33% |
0.03% |
0.49% |
52.60% |
9.75% |
| Other |
32.98% |
15.49% |
1.32% |
1.05% |
25.68% |
1.02% |
0.90% |
14.08% |
7.48% |
Source:
UK 2001 Census
See also
References
- Welcome parliament.uk, accessed 4 August, 2009
- 'Fringe' Church winning the believers
Timesonline, 19 December 2006
- [1]
- Andrew Collier, "Scotland's confident Catholics," THE TABLET,
10 January 2009, 16
- THE BAPTIST FAMILY baptist.org.uk, accessed 4
May 2009
- United Kingdom. LDS Newsroom. Retrieved
2008-12-13.
- "
- Islam in the UK - population figures
- http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/muslims-rise-while-christians-fall-in-britain_100149769.html
- Muslims in Europe: Country guide bbc.co.uk, accessed
16 January 2009
- KS07 Religion: Key Statistics for urban areas,
results by population size of urban area
- ANALYSIS OF RELIGION IN THE 2001 CENSUS: Summary
Report, Scottish Executive
- Northern Ireland Census 2001 Key
Statistics
- UK 2001 census
- Hindu school is first to make vegetarianism a
condition of entry | Schools special reports |
EducationGuardian.co.uk
- Minority religions mainly in London. National
Statistics. Accessed 5 Jun 2006.
- 2001 Census, Office of National Statistics
- Jenny Percival. Pagan prisoners allowed twig wands in cells.
Scotland on Sunday. 11 May 2008. Retrieved: 14
February 2009. Citation: "There are estimated to
be one million Pagans in Britain – around 300 of whom are in
prison. There are about 30,000 in Scotland."
- U.K. Bahá'í Heritage Site - The Bahá'í Faith in the
United Kingdom - A Brief History
- In the United Kingdom, Bahá'ís promote a dialogue on
diversity One Country, Volume 16, Issue 2 /
July-September 2004
- Education Reform Act 1988 - Chapter I -The
Curriculum - pt 6 Retrieved on 15 October 2007
- Eric J Evans
- Report, from the Church Times
- CPA Party People cpaparty.org.uk, accessed 12 July
2009
- Christians aim to build on vote BBC News, 8
June 2009
- BBC Songs of Praise accessed 01/01/08
- The hospital that banned paintings of churches
dailymail.co.uk, 5 May 2009
- Teen Banned From Wearing Crucifix Sky News, 6
December 2005
- http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/8761
- 40% of adults pray, says survey BBC News, 11 November
2007
- Dawkins sets up kids’ camp to groom atheists
timesonline.co.uk, June 28, 2009
- Religion: 2001 Census National Statistics
website.
- (see "Religion (table 3)")
- Proportion of the UK population who consider themselves
humanist
- the listing of parishes on this website is disputed:
Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in
Western Europe#Parishes and Communities of the Vicariate
External links
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