eChurch Blog

British Religion in Numbers have published some interesting statistics relating to religion and belief in higher education.

It must be noted that there is a strong caveat around the typicality of the sampling, consequently, figures and percentages should not be extrapolated.

STAFF

47% identified themselves as Christians, 37% as of no religion, 5% as spiritual, 3% as Muslims, and 9% as of other faiths or beliefs

43% said that religion was in the foreground of their life, 23% in the background, and 32% that it did not feature in their life

One-half had no recollection of how, if at all, their institutions monitored staff religion or belief

20% indicated that they would be uncomfortable about disclosing their religion to their university, rising to 34% of pagans, 33% of spiritual, and 28% of no religion

11% (22% of Muslims and Buddhists) were members of a religion or belief society in their institution

94% felt that they had not been discriminated against or harassed because of their actual or perceived religion or belief since 2003, the 6% with negative experiences (including 18% of Muslims and 10% of Jews) attributing them in roughly equal measures to immediate colleagues, other staff, and students

79% felt comfortable expressing their religion or belief identity in the workplace

73% had never been approached by anyone with the intention of bringing them over to their religious point of view

53% agreed and only 8% disagreed that their institution valued the religion or belief identities of its employees, the rest being neutral

STUDENTS

44% described themselves as Christians, 31% as of no religion, 9% as Muslims, 5% as spiritual, and 11% as of other faiths or beliefs

49% said that religion was in the foreground of their life, 27% in the background, and 23% that it did not feature in their life

Two-fifths had no recollection of how, if at all, their institutions monitored student religion or belief

16% indicated that they would be uncomfortable about disclosing their religion to their university, with twice this number for Buddhists and those calling themselves spiritual

22% considered that their course content was presented in a way which was sensitive to their religion or belief, 10% disagreed (15% among Muslims and 13% for Christians), 20% were neutral, and 48% held that their religion was irrelevant to the course

23% stated that the teaching on their course was conducted in a way which was sensitive to their religion or belief, 11% disagreed (16% of Muslims and 15% of Christians), 20% were neutral, and 47% argued that their religion was irrelevant to the course

44% considered that campus facilities for people of their religion were adequate, 15% inadequate, with the remainder unsure

27% were members of a religion or belief society in their institution, rising to 63% of Jews, 48% of Muslims and 44% of Sikhs

94% felt that they had not been discriminated against or harassed because of their actual or perceived religion or belief, but Jews (27%), Sikhs (17%) and Muslims (14%) reported much higher levels of discrimination

86% agreed and just 11% disagreed that harassment on the grounds of religion was dealt with as a serious disciplinary offence by their institution

68% felt their university was understanding or tolerant towards students with a specific religion, a mere 3% describing it as ignorant or intolerant (the rest being neutral or stating no opinion)

90% felt comfortable expressing their religion or belief to friends, 72% to fellow students, and 69% to personal academic tutors

54% had never been approached by anyone with the intention of bringing them over to their religious point of view, with one-fifth having been approached and feeling uncomfortable or harassed as a result

The teacher was asked by a girl in her class whether the Christian God and the god of Islam were the same. The teacher, replying that they were not the same, was then asked to explain how they were different.

Following the discussion, the department received a complaint from the Muslim parents of the girl. The teacher told Operation Nehemiah,

[The department] handled the situation well and stated that the child had asked the question and I had answered truthfully without giving or intending any offence.

However since the complaint, the teacher has been asked by the school, where she has been working for seven years, not to talk about any religious matter with the children even if they ask a question. She has been ordered to ignore any question of that nature or change the subject immediately.

The teacher said,

I pointed out that Christianity was my life not my religion. It was a living relationship with my Lord. I live it daily. I now feel I am being watched. I have always shared my faith with the children I teach whenever they ask me a question on my life, why I pray and do what I do.

SOURCE

The identity of the teacher and school has been withheld from this article because the teacher is still working in the school.

UPDATE:

My fear here is that the crass diminution of encouragement of and support for arts, humanities and social sciences in both school and university means that not only are we creating a culture that values mechanics, but doesn’t do ‘deep’ thinking. Not only are we in danger of depriving the current generation, but we are cutting off the expertise and enthusiasms we need for a future generation of teachers. We can lose in one generation what will take several generations (at least) to recover. To see the arts and humanities as ‘unproductive’ in terms of balance sheet bottom lines is more than myopic; it is dangerously and narrowly stupid.

SOURCE

A few links I found interesting for one reason or another:

Assist News Service - Christian doctors to prescribe ‘spiritual healing’ for sickness

Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion – UK Bill to Amend 1996 Arbitration Act

Harry’s Place – Anglican vicar shills for Hamas support network in Malaysia

Sultan Knish – The Rise of the Post-American Empires

The Biblical World – When “D” stands for degree

Listverse – The top 10 misused English words

News broke over the weekend of a new private elite university, that will compete with the Oxbridge universities, set up by A. C. Grayling, Richard Dawkins, and other leading lights from the world of atheism and humanism.

There’s already been critical analysis of this development from the Christian blogosphere, and so I suggest hopping over to the Church Mouse and the Reluctant Sinner.

I’ve nowt to add to their commentary, but will link here to anything else of interest I find.

In the meantime let me know what you think.

Clayboy – from whom I’ve shamelessly pilfered this – is quite right, this is genius.

Here’s a few links I found interesting for one reason or another:

Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley – In Cyberspace, no-one can see your mitre

JoeThorn.Net – The Tragedy of a Self-Centered Life

Ugley Vicar – Why ‘Piss Christ’ was crap art

Telegraph – A six-year-old girl writes a letter to God. And the Archbishop of Canterbury answers

Catholic and Loving it – Christ came to destroy religion?

Christian Post – Belief in Angry God Keeps Students From Cheating

David Lindsay – It’s Auntie’s Time Again

Kineti L’Tziyon – What’s the difference between Messianics and Christians?

Point of no Return – MidEast Christian fate is intertwined with the Jews

Yesterday was of course Easter Sunday, focusing on the glorious resurrection and wondrous victory over death and sin of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In view of this, I was somewhat surprised, puzzled, and a little disheartened, to view the ‘theme of the day’ emanating from prominent Christians.

We had Cardinal O’brien attacking secularists, Lord Patten attacking secularists, Bishop John Sentamu attacking secularists and Cranmer attacking secularists.

Now, this post is not about the march of secularism, but is a gripe at the use of our most Holy Day to vent our spleen at those opposed to our faith.

The Church Mouse has also rightly criticised Bishop John Pritchard for choosing Good Friday to discuss admission policies to Church schools.

Surely, Easter at least, is a time when we can leave far behind the concerns of this world and focus our minds on the things above.

I know some years back, in some Church of England diocese,  the Lay Reader course was connected with – and accredited through – the University of Wales, Lampeter. However, I don’t know if this still holds true.

This is an interesting development nonetheless, especially given that this University is the oldest in Wales (possibly 3rd oldest in UK), and is renown for its theology department which validates degrees internationally.

THE University of Wales could face an inquiry into an allegation it is breaching a new equality law by validating degrees at Christian fundamentalist colleges run by groups that believe homosexuality and sex outside marriage is sinful.

A number of senior academics in Wales intend to make a formal complaint about the university’s involvement with such colleges to the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

On Tuesday, Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 comes into force. It introduces a public-sector equality duty which imposes on public authorities a legally enforceable obligation to “have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under this Act”.

One of the “protected characteristics” defined in the Act is sexual orientation. Public bodies that fail to comply with the equality duty can face action in the civil courts.

….continue reading

This is breaking news and I can’t find anything online yet that I don’t have to pay for, except this link to the National Secular Society.

Sorry about that. I’ll update this post as news becomes available from more friendly sources.

UPDATE:

Here’s the full judgement in PDF format

This from the Associated Press:

European court: Crucifix acceptable in classrooms

Cranmer was quick off the mark.

Final link on this, with Vatican statement:

National Catholic Reporter – Big win for the Vatican in European crucifix case