Religiosity to decline further in Britain while liberal attitudes increase
Religiosity is set to decline further in Britain while liberal attitudes are expected to increase, the latest British Social Attitudes Report has predicted.
The report by the National Centre for Social Research paints a picture of weak affiliation to the church and Christianity in Britain.
Of the 3,000 Britons surveyed, 50% said they have no religion at all – up 19% from the first report in 1983.
The number of people identifying themselves as Christians has also dropped from 50% in 2008 to 42% today.
There is no change on the last survey in the numbers who affiliate themselves with the Church of England (20%).
Although the Church of England remains the largest grouping among those claiming a faith, it has also seen the most acute decline since 1983, down from 40%.
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The report predicts that the decline in religiosity in Britain will continue long into the future.
“Britain is becoming less religious, with the numbers who affiliate with a religion or attend religious services experiencing a long-term decline,” it said.
“And this trend seems set to continue; not only as older, more religious generations are replaced by younger, less religious ones, but also as the younger generations increasingly opt not to bring up their children in a religion – a factor shown to strongly link with religious affiliation and attendance later in life.”
It said that as religious affiliation decreases, Britain can expect to see a continued increase in liberal attitudes on social issues such as abortion, homosexuality, same-sex marriage and euthanasia “as the influence of considerations grounded in religion declines”.
The report added that there may be an “increased reluctance … for matters of faith to enter the social and public spheres at all”.
It said: “The recently expressed sentiment of the current coalition government to ‘do’ and ‘get’ God therefore may not sit well with, and could alienate, certain sections of the population.”
Tags: Christianity, Religion Society
December 7th, 2011 at 7:22 pm
All very dubious. Yes nominal churchianity has been decreasing for years, ever since the establishment decided that it was inconvenient during the 60′s. But during the same period there has been a massive revival in Christianity, and churches filled that were empty.
I suspect the report is merely eyewash.
December 7th, 2011 at 9:30 pm
So what are those liberal attitudes based on and how deep are the ideological foundations of said attitudes.
A large percentage of the U.K. population are most probably apolitical on such “liberal” issues and are merely echoing the noise of conditioning when prompted for an opinion.
December 8th, 2011 at 10:58 am
This report is not surprising. The evidence is overwhelming. Look at the trend graphs over many years from many different sources and you’ll see they all tell the same story.
Perhaps the biggest loss to the Churches is the many ‘social attendees’ who would once have attended because it was ‘the done thing’ for people to do, and those who did not attend were frowned on. I certainly witnessed that in my parents’ generation.
People have realised that the fabric of society is not going to fall apart as a result of decreasing religiosity. To take a first hand example, in the mainstream charity for which I volunteer, only 2 out of the many volunteers profess to be religious. The rest of us are guided by our Humanism.
And in ‘civilised’ countries such as the UK, the threat of imminent violence against the individual continues to decline, as does the risk of premature death from disease or natural disaster or accident, despite what sensationalist journalism would have us believe. Again this decline is supported by reputable statistics. So many less people live constantly in fear of the unknown disaster which might be around the next corner. They feel that they have some independent control over their lives, and they understand the reasons why things happen to them, and that there are now alternatives to prayer for such desirable ends as healing the sick.
To me the challenge now is how we help shape this more liberal caring society so that people understand their responsibilities and duties towards each other without the artificial constraints imposed by religions. If we have views on abortion or homosexuality or whatever, we should understand them in the light of Humanist values. Philosophy (not R.E., but including a study of Religions) should be a part of the core curriculum in schools
Personally I am delighted by the more liberal attitude to all the social issues mentioned above. But one witnesses the desperation of those who oppose this liberalisation in their increasingly strident and extremist actions. Perhaps this is inevitable, but it appears uncomfortably like a cornered animal lashing out, and I can’t can’t see much good coming from it.
Religion will always be with us. It fulfils a very strong need in many people, and society is none the worse for it, so long as its adherents do not seek to impose their will on the majority by force or by unwarranted mental blackmail.
Like many Humanists I have nothing against the continuance of religion at all. The only thing I take exception to is being dictated to on moral and ethical issues which are solely derived from religious interpretation, and which are now considered by many to be outdated or illogical.