Only 7% view being Christian as important for being British
The 2013 ‘State of the Nation’ study has just been released and can be found here in PDF format.
Interestingly, only 7% cited “Being Christian” as important for being British. This finding flies in the face of the argument that the 59% of Brits who self-identified as Christian for the census, did so for cultural British identity reasons.
Respect for people’s right to free speech, even if you don’t agree with them 50%
Respect for the law 46%
Speaking English 41%
Treating men and women equally 38%
Respect for all ethnic backgrounds 29%
Respect for all faiths 26%
Being born here 26%
Voting in elections 21%
Being Christian 7%
Being white 6%
Other 1%
Nothing 3%
Don’t know 5%
Worryingly, it would appear that the media portrayal of ‘benefit scrounging scum’ is taking root in the British psyche, as 47% believe tension between tax payers and welfare claimants causes the most division in British society as a whole today:
Tension between immigrants and people born in Britain 57%
Tension between tax payers and welfare claimants 47%
Tension between rich and poor 35%
Tension between different ethnicities 33%
Tension between tax payers and tax avoiders 32%
Tension between different religions 26%
Tension between different political views 15%
Tension between different regions such as north and south 12%
Tension between old and young 7%
Tension between men and women 3%
Other 2%
Tensions in ‘local area’ threw up similar results.
There’s a mine of information but it’s interesting to note that the NHS is the number one reason for pride in being British and a whopping 72% agreed with the statement:
The NHS is a symbol of what is great about Britain and we must do everything we can to maintain it
Of all the anniversaries, the NHS 65th makes folk proudest to be British.
46% feel Britain is on ‘the wrong track’ which was the top response.
I’ll let you hop over for more and a big hat-tip to BRIN.
Tags: Christianity, Media, Politics, Religion Society
January 19th, 2013 at 10:42 am
I remember in the 80s people talking about an underclass that was being created as the government accepted that there were some people who would never work and they should be written off. This really does seem to have happened and the people designated in this way seems to be expanding.
My life expectancy is 12 years more than someone living a few streets away from me because I live ina rather posh part of Edinburgh which is right next to one of the places portrayed in the film Trainspotting.