Britain is a majority non-religious nation
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Britain is a majority non-religious nation
Religion: respecting the minority
This Christmas, for perhaps the first time ever, Britain is a majority non-religious nation
* Editorial
* The Guardian, Friday 24 December 2010
* Article history
Every year, researchers from the British Social Attitudes survey ask a representative sample of British people whether they regard themselves as belonging to any particular religion and, if so, to which one? When the survey first asked these questions in 1985, 63% of the respondents answered that they were Christians, compared with 34% who said they had no religion (the rest belonged to non-Christian religions).
Today, a quarter of a century on, there has been a steady and remarkable turnaround. In the latest 2010 BSA report, published earlier this month, only 42% said they were Christians while 51% now say they have no religion. Admittedly, some other surveys – including the last census – have produced different findings on these issues, usually to the advantage of the religious option. There is also a margin of error in all such exercises. All the same, and particularly since the trends in opinion over time seem well set, it is hard not to feel that this latest finding marks a cultural watershed.
This Christmas, for perhaps the first time ever, Britain is a majority non-religious nation. Most of us have probably seen this moment coming, but it is a substantial event nonetheless. It is undoubtedly a development that would have astonished our ancestors who built a Britain on the basis that we were and would remain a predominantly Protestant people. The victory of secularism would have flabbergasted them almost as much as the pope appearing on the BBC with his Thought for the Day.
The change ought certainly to inspire some national reflection, though there is no need for national breast-beating. After all, in most eyes, the BSA survey finding simply underscores things that have already become obvious. Today, our three political parties are led by two open atheists, and a prime minister who admits his faith comes and goes, a development impossible to imagine in other parts of a world, in which the loss of religion is not a uniform trend. The Britain of 50 years ago, in which religion was a far larger part of the social fabric and the national way of life, is a country we have lost.
What is more striking about the survey is how quickly the change has come – just a generation. It is not that long since everything shut on Sundays, since a majority went regularly to church of some sort, since all schoolchildren knew and sang hymns and studied the Bible even if they did not believe in it, and since the idea that public figures could be anything other than observantly Christian would have seemed unthinkable. It would be hard to say, by most yardsticks, that those were better times. They were certainly different ones. The direction of change is likely to continue. We must all get used to it.
None of this is to dismiss the religious or to disparage its institutions, let alone to imply that Christmas is unimportant. For all its secular and commercial excess, Christmas remains a surprisingly serious season, accentuated this year by the bleak weather. But it is to say that sensitive adaptation to the predominantly non-religious era is required on all sides. In many respects, Britain is handling that task quite well. Our national evolution into a less religious society is not without its skids and bumps. If anything, though, it is being managed with greater dignity than our parallel evolution into a less politicised one.
It is no more the place of a newspaper to impose a religious test on its readers than it was right for the British state to impose such tests on its office-holders in the past. In some sense, the protection of respect becomes more important with Christianity's decline. When Anglicanism held unchallenged sway, after all, it was important to assert the rights of those who disagreed with it, whether as Catholics, nonconformists, non-Christians or as atheists. Today, as an era of non-religious ascendancy begins in Britain, the importance of tolerance towards the faiths is not diminishing but increasing.
This Christmas, for perhaps the first time ever, Britain is a majority non-religious nation
* Editorial
* The Guardian, Friday 24 December 2010
* Article history
Every year, researchers from the British Social Attitudes survey ask a representative sample of British people whether they regard themselves as belonging to any particular religion and, if so, to which one? When the survey first asked these questions in 1985, 63% of the respondents answered that they were Christians, compared with 34% who said they had no religion (the rest belonged to non-Christian religions).
Today, a quarter of a century on, there has been a steady and remarkable turnaround. In the latest 2010 BSA report, published earlier this month, only 42% said they were Christians while 51% now say they have no religion. Admittedly, some other surveys – including the last census – have produced different findings on these issues, usually to the advantage of the religious option. There is also a margin of error in all such exercises. All the same, and particularly since the trends in opinion over time seem well set, it is hard not to feel that this latest finding marks a cultural watershed.
This Christmas, for perhaps the first time ever, Britain is a majority non-religious nation. Most of us have probably seen this moment coming, but it is a substantial event nonetheless. It is undoubtedly a development that would have astonished our ancestors who built a Britain on the basis that we were and would remain a predominantly Protestant people. The victory of secularism would have flabbergasted them almost as much as the pope appearing on the BBC with his Thought for the Day.
The change ought certainly to inspire some national reflection, though there is no need for national breast-beating. After all, in most eyes, the BSA survey finding simply underscores things that have already become obvious. Today, our three political parties are led by two open atheists, and a prime minister who admits his faith comes and goes, a development impossible to imagine in other parts of a world, in which the loss of religion is not a uniform trend. The Britain of 50 years ago, in which religion was a far larger part of the social fabric and the national way of life, is a country we have lost.
What is more striking about the survey is how quickly the change has come – just a generation. It is not that long since everything shut on Sundays, since a majority went regularly to church of some sort, since all schoolchildren knew and sang hymns and studied the Bible even if they did not believe in it, and since the idea that public figures could be anything other than observantly Christian would have seemed unthinkable. It would be hard to say, by most yardsticks, that those were better times. They were certainly different ones. The direction of change is likely to continue. We must all get used to it.
None of this is to dismiss the religious or to disparage its institutions, let alone to imply that Christmas is unimportant. For all its secular and commercial excess, Christmas remains a surprisingly serious season, accentuated this year by the bleak weather. But it is to say that sensitive adaptation to the predominantly non-religious era is required on all sides. In many respects, Britain is handling that task quite well. Our national evolution into a less religious society is not without its skids and bumps. If anything, though, it is being managed with greater dignity than our parallel evolution into a less politicised one.
It is no more the place of a newspaper to impose a religious test on its readers than it was right for the British state to impose such tests on its office-holders in the past. In some sense, the protection of respect becomes more important with Christianity's decline. When Anglicanism held unchallenged sway, after all, it was important to assert the rights of those who disagreed with it, whether as Catholics, nonconformists, non-Christians or as atheists. Today, as an era of non-religious ascendancy begins in Britain, the importance of tolerance towards the faiths is not diminishing but increasing.
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Re: Britain is a majority non-religious nation
It was immediately apparent to me when I was visiting there, and I live in one of the less religious parts of the US. Wouldn't it be fabulous to see it jump to our side of the pond, during my lifetime? I have a sinking feeling though it won't happen.
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Re: Britain is a majority non-religious nation
Yay! For us. Now we just have to stop being a theocracy, promoting faith schools, having 26 Biships in the House of Lords, tax free status for religions and.......Ho what the point. :sighsm:
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Re: Britain is a majority non-religious nation
I'm 100% sure that a large proportion of those who identify as religious do so merely because they were Christened and have never really thought about it at all.
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Re: Britain is a majority non-religious nation
Indeed. It's quite jarring when you put it like that. I think its only going to get worse with the Tories in.DaveDodo007 wrote:Yay! For us. Now we just have to stop being a theocracy, promoting faith schools, having 26 Biships in the House of Lords, tax free status for religions and.......Ho what the point. :sighsm:
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Re: Britain is a majority non-religious nation
More people believe in god than don't. That, ladies and germs, is a fact. I used the scientific method to establish that fact. And that too is a fact.
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Re: Britain is a majority non-religious nation
Pappa wrote:I'm 100% sure that a large proportion of those who identify as religious do so merely because they were Christened and have never really thought about it at all.

I've grown up in an atheist family in a secular city, atheism is the default to me, I never assume people are religious. In fact, the few religious kids at school were weirdos and God was a joke.
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Re: Britain is a majority non-religious nation
Half the population has an IQ <100, which is pretty bad too. What are you saying?Chuck Jones wrote:More people believe in god than don't. That, ladies and germs, is a fact. I used the scientific method to establish that fact. And that too is a fact.


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Re: Britain is a majority non-religious nation
Millefleur, your family lied to you. They are all devout christians.
Tigger, I'm saying that atheists are in a teeny tiny minority. Natural selection will weed you all out eventually. One day archeologists will dig you up and try to convince everyone that once there were atheists, but they will be ridiculed as no one will believe them.
Tigger, I'm saying that atheists are in a teeny tiny minority. Natural selection will weed you all out eventually. One day archeologists will dig you up and try to convince everyone that once there were atheists, but they will be ridiculed as no one will believe them.
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Re: Britain is a majority non-religious nation
If you were religious, which I happen to know you're not, you would be annoying your sky fairy of choice today.Chuck Jones wrote:Millefleur, your family lied to you. They are all devout christians.
Tigger, I'm saying that atheists are in a teeny tiny minority. Natural selection will weed you all out eventually. One day archeologists will dig you up and try to convince everyone that once there were atheists, but they will be ridiculed as no one will believe them.


Seth wrote:Fuck that, I like opening Pandora's box and shoving my tool inside it
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Re: Britain is a majority non-religious nation
Of course. But I'm not religious. Which reminds me, a lot of atheists insist that I am religious, on the grounds that I believe in god, while you and others say that I'm not. It just goes to show how mixed up and confused atheists are. But that's ok, natural selection wil do its thing and one day you'll all be eradicated. God bless you and merry christmas.Tigger wrote:If you were religious, which I happen to know you're not, you would be annoying your sky fairy of choice today.Chuck Jones wrote:Millefleur, your family lied to you. They are all devout christians.
Tigger, I'm saying that atheists are in a teeny tiny minority. Natural selection will weed you all out eventually. One day archeologists will dig you up and try to convince everyone that once there were atheists, but they will be ridiculed as no one will believe them.
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Re: Britain is a majority non-religious nation
No religion here, my dad was bought up in a strict Mormon household which was enough to give him a deep seated hatred of religionChuck Jones wrote:Millefleur, your family lied to you. They are all devout christians.

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Re: Britain is a majority non-religious nation
So you went from one form of indoctrination to another. Nice to see you moving up in the world.
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Re: Britain is a majority non-religious nation
A real fact is marked in capital letters.Chuck Jones wrote:More people believe in god than don't. That, ladies and germs, is a fact. I used the scientific method to establish that fact. And that too is a fact.
FACT.
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