YouGov Poll: 60% of folk say they are not spiritual
British Religion in Numbers (BRIN) have an interesting post looking at a survey that asked whether folk had ever consulted a psychic or medium. Surprisingly – at least to me – 75% had consulted a psychic or medium. Of course, there’s a plethora of reasons why someone might consult a psychic, including: ‘just for fun’. And the folk that believe psychics have a genuine ability is very low at 14%.
However, of greater interest to me were the stats looking at how spiritual folk judged themselves; with three-fifths saying they were not at all spiritual.
Does anyone else find this surprisingly low?
I suppose it all depends on how folk define ‘spirituality’, but in the face of the recent ONS poll that found 69% of folk claim to be Christian; this seems contradictory.
Do folk imagine that they can be Christian and yet not spiritual?
Perhaps folk are thinking that as they’re not religious, they’re not spiritual.
It really does surprise me though. We’re always being told of the rise of New Ageism and Eastern spirituality within our culture and yet so many are non-spiritual. Even watching TV and films they seem to be infused with aspects of spirituality; unless of course I’m seeing this when in fact it’s not there.
I don’t know, I’ve got no answers. Any explanations welcome.
Tags: Religion Society
October 9th, 2011 at 9:04 am
This is a classic “what questions you ask and the order you ask them” type of survey. It was sent up brilliantly on Yes Minister. You ask a question and then the second leads on from the first. Here, spiritual is related to psychics and mediums and not directly to God etc. Therefore the second question is a “dodgy” one – there is an in-built bias.
October 9th, 2011 at 9:06 am
I like that will, that makes a lot of sense.
October 10th, 2011 at 8:18 am
Could it also be that for many people, the label ‘Christian’ is one they adopt for cultural reasons, and it has little to do with actual belief?
October 10th, 2011 at 9:47 pm
I dont believe the 69% Christian figure. Last census had 2 million only being active Christians. 7 million were avowed atheists. This seems more correct.
People call themselves ‘Christian’ because it has a past vague feeling for them, not that it means anything. AS said above ‘Christian’ has a cultural heritage for some people, it means nothing to them in any religious sense.
Religion is irrelevant to the vast majority of people, and so are pointless terms like ‘spirituality (unless you are anew age dripp hippy. Or a happy clappy…)
October 11th, 2011 at 8:28 am
I share your surprise webmaster on the apparent 60% who indicated they were not spiritual, particularly when taken against the figure for those who ticked the ‘Christian’ box; which includes ‘cultural’ Christians (72% in 2001 UK Census).
As an atheist I often find myself engaged in conversation with people about religion. A very common response is that they are not sure about God but they do believe there is something. Wouldn’t that be viewed as spiritual? I guess I must be mixing with a very unrepresentative sample of the UK population.