Is Britain becoming less religious?

Faith and social policy

Now that’s a question which would take a whole book to answer – and indeed quite a few sociologists and psychologists have done just that. But in a week where the role of the churches and faith communities has been much in the news not least around the issue of equal marriage, it’s a question worth thinking about. Indeed in our training at Equal and Diverse on religious and belief discrimination it is one that is often raised.

One contribution to an answer came this week from the British Social Attitudes Survey. The 28th report, published in December 2011, indicated that 50 per cent did not affiliate to a religion, and some who did seldom attended religious services or meetings.

It might be worth noting some of the findings here:

• Half (50%) do not regard themselves as belonging to a particular religion,

• Nearly two thirds (64%) of those aged 18–24 do not belong to a religion,

• Only 28% of those aged 65 and above said they were not religious,

• One in three (31%) in 1983 did not belong to a religion, compared with one in two (50%) now.

As the survey notes over the years a number of groups are traditionally regarded as more religious than others – women compared with men, the old compared with the young, and the less well educated compared with the better educated.

What is significant is the growing disparity in relation to age:

‘This change – which is likely to continue – can be explained by generational replacement, with older, more religious, generations dying out and being replaced by less religious generations. There is little evidence that substantial numbers find religion as they get older.’

It would seem therefore across the whole analysis of the survey that we are indeed less religious in Britain, with the numbers who affiliate with a religion or attend religious services experiencing a long-term decline.

‘…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.’

What does this decline mean for society and social policy more generally? Perhaps we will witness an increased emphasis on liberal social attitudes though that is not inevitable and assumes too simplistic a reference between conservatism and belief. What we may already be witnessing not least in the same-sex marriage debate is a growing reluctance, particularly among the younger age groups, for matters of faith to enter the social and public spheres at all. That presents a political challenge as well as an equality one.

As the report says

‘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.

Dr Donald Macaskill

www.equalanddiverse.co.uk

Source: British Social Attitudes Survey

Related articles:

Should Christianity have a special status in modern Britain?

Top tips to promote religion and belief equality and inclusion.

 

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