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Religious belonging and religious demography

Census and survey data on Christianity

Religious adherence can be difficult to pin down in a secular society, and there are considerable problems with the validity of responses on this topic. Widely varying estimates emerge from (...)

Religious adherence can be difficult to pin down in a secular society, and there are considerable problems with the validity of responses on this topic. Widely varying estimates emerge from different questions (about beliefs, attendance, membership, formal initiation, family background, upbringing, self-identification, etc.) asked in different ways and in different contexts. According to recent British Social Attitudes surveys, for example, only 43 percent of respondents from England and Wales choose a Christian denomination when asked if they regard themselves as belonging to any religious group. By contrast, 59.3 percent of adults classified themselves as Christian in the 2011 census. This shows a considerable decline from the 2001 census, when the figure was nearly 74 percent, but there is still a marked difference between the census and survey data. In attempting to explain this difference, a number of factors are probably relevant:

 The census question was phrased with a positive presumption (’What is your religion?’); questions that do not seem to imply that the respondent will necessarily have a religion receive many more negative responses.

 The census religion question immediately followed those on ethnicity and language and seemed to be simply a supplementary question on the same topic.

 Having the single category ’Christian’ could imply that the classification is cultural rather than religious; people may be inclined to choose that label as a way of defining what they are not (e.g. Muslim or Hindu).

 Census forms are typically completed by a senior person in the household; younger people in Britain are less likely than older ones to claim religious affiliation and might not have given the answers provided on their behalf.

It is noteworthy that in Scotland the gap between the 2001 Scottish Social Attitudes survey and the census results for the Christian group was much smaller (62 vs. 65 percent). It seems likely that this difference can be explained by a lower level of anxiety about national identity (in Scotland the question preceded rather than followed that on ethnicity, which in any case is less likely to be an issue), combined with the denominational specificity of the answer categories (which reinforced the religious character of the question).
It is also worth noting that responses to questions about religious affiliation are not particularly stable. Many people in Britain have had some connection to religion in the past (by virtue of having been christened, for example) but are not currently churchgoers. They may provide their denomination of origin in some surveys and describe themselves as having no religion in others.

For further information, see "Secularism in the United Kingdom" by Anthony Bradney (Keele University) on the website ORELA.

D 11 September 2012    ADavid Voas

Islam

Islam is now the largest non-Christian religion in the UK as a result of immigration (mainly between the 1950s and 1970s) from the Indian subcontinent, Africa, and the Caribbean, and more (...)

Islam is now the largest non-Christian religion in the UK as a result of immigration (mainly between the 1950s and 1970s) from the Indian subcontinent, Africa, and the Caribbean, and more recently from the Balkans, the Near East, and other areas. The 2011 census found close to 2.7 million Muslims in England and Wales (4.8% of the population). There have been Muslims (for example from Yemen) living in Britain since well before the Second World War, but it is the presence of large numbers of people whose ethnic origins are in Pakistan and Bangladesh that makes the group so important today.

Nearly half of all Muslims in Britain were born in the UK. As one would expect, Pakistan and Bangladesh feature prominently on the list of countries of birth. What may be surprising is that more Muslims in Britain were born in Africa than in Bangladesh. This one continent, however, supplies three quite distinct groups: ethnic Asians from East and southern Africa, Arabic-speaking North Africans, and blacks mainly from West Africa. Other major places of origin include the Middle East and the Balkans.

Because the areas from which Muslims derive extend from East Asia to the West Indies, there is substantial ethnic diversity in the Muslim population. Close to three-quarters are Asian (nearly all from the Indian subcontinent), but just under 12 percent of Muslims in England and Wales are white and 7 percent are black. The rest are in the ’mixed’ and ’other’ categories.

D 11 September 2012    ADavid Voas

Hinduism

In the 2011 census, Hindu’s make up 1.5% of the population in England and Wales.
Although 97 percent of Hindus in the UK are of Indian origin, a mere 30 percent were born in India. The numbers (...)

In the 2011 census, Hindu’s make up 1.5% of the population in England and Wales.
Although 97 percent of Hindus in the UK are of Indian origin, a mere 30 percent were born in India. The numbers born in the UK and south Asia are nearly identical, but these two sources still account for just three-quarters of the total. While most of the remainder came from East Africa, thousands had their birthplaces in lands as distant as North America, the Caribbean, and Oceania.

D 11 September 2012    ADavid Voas

The non-religious population

Many Britons no longer regard themselves as belonging to any religion. Most people do not participate in formal religious practice, with the exception of special ceremonies such as weddings and (...)

Many Britons no longer regard themselves as belonging to any religion. Most people do not participate in formal religious practice, with the exception of special ceremonies such as weddings and funerals. In the 2011 British Social Attitudes survey, 46.1% reported having no religion, and this percentage is higher among the youngest respondents.

The people who chose ’No religion’ on the census (25.1% in 2011 and 14.8% in 2001) can probably be regarded as fairly definitely non-religious, as opposed to merely noncommittal. Explicit ’no religion’ responses were nearly twice as high in Scotland as in England and Wales, for reasons outlined above.
It is noteworthy that of the one million people born in south Asia, only one percent described themselves as having no religion (and from Pakistan and Bangladesh, the figure was less than one half of a percent).
Of the not quite 50,000 residents born in China, fewer than 30 percent specified a religious affiliation, as against almost 78 percent for the general population. In the sociological debate over whether (to simplify) religion is rooted in upbringing or choice, this result would clearly support the former; religious liberty and pluralism in Britain have not attracted the majority to any institutional affiliation.

It is also interesting to note that the ‘no religion’ proportion among the American-born is actually higher than for British natives, despite the considerably higher level of religious practice in the US. While one is tempted to suggest that the 144,000 Americans are disproportionately liberal/secular refugees, the more likely explanation is that they are especially likely to be students and young professionals, groups that are among the least religious. Indeed, the figures for Oceania (heavily weighted with young Australians and New Zealanders) show ’no religion’ at 30 percent, twice the overall level.

D 11 September 2012    ADavid Voas

Judaism

The Jewish population in Great Britain has been gradually declining, and now stands somewhat below 300,000, or 0.5% of the total population. British Jewry is aging, with fewer children and more (...)

The Jewish population in Great Britain has been gradually declining, and now stands somewhat below 300,000, or 0.5% of the total population. British Jewry is aging, with fewer children and more persons over age 65. Concern about the future numbers of school-age children, and a sizable, looming welfare responsibility for the aged are real issues for the community as a result of these demographic trends.

D 17 December 2012    ABrenda E. Brasher AMichael J. Weil

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