Definitive study confirms what we already knew: that Britons have little time for religion

New research from NatCen (the National Centre for Social Research) has confirmed that religious belief and adherence in Britain is in free fall. The research also reinforces what the NSS (National Secularist Society) has been saying over many years – Britons do not want religion to run their personal lives or to interfere in politics. The research also finds Church ‘teachings’ on a range of social issues are completely out of step with the opinions and desires of the population at large.

The report analysis the latest British Social Attitudes Survey (to be published next month) and shows that over the last two decades the number of people describing themselves as atheist or agnostic has risen to 37%, while those identifying themselves as Christian has dropped from 66% to 50%. This decline is largely due to a drift away from the Church of England; in 1983, 40% of people described themselves as Anglicans, now only 23% do so.

Among those who self-identified as Anglicans, not even a fifth attend church as much as once a month, and half never go at all. This decline is not evident among all religions. There has been an increase from 2% to 7% in non-Christian religious affiliation due to immigration and population growth amongst ethnic minorities.

Forty-three per cent of people do not feel they belong to any particular religion, up from 31% in 1983.

Other interesting figures: 62% of people in Britain never attend religious services; only 17% of Britons are completely without doubt about the existence of God (in the USA 61% has no doubt that God exists); 79% of Britons think religion “provides comfort in times of trouble”; 67% think religious leaders should not try to influence Government decision-making; 73% think people with strong religious beliefs are often too intolerant of others.

On social issues it is clear that religious leaders are completely out of step with the majority. For instance, 92% of people who identify themselves as non-religious think a doctor should be allowed to help end the life of a patient with an incurable disease (and 71% of people who say they are religious agree).

Only 3% of non-religious people think sex before marriage is “always” or “almost always” wrong (this rises to 29% among the religious). On homosexuality, only 19% of non-religious people think it is “always” or “almost always” wrong – whereas 50% of religious people think it is. On abortion, 67% of religious people think it is ‘sometimes wrong’ or ‘not wrong at all’ if there is a strong chance of a birth defect, compared with 86% of non-religious people.

Keith Porteous Wood, Executive Director of the National Secular Society, said: “This research takes its place among the many other studies that confirm the same thing: religion is not an important issue for the British generally. In fact, I think the news for the churches is likely to be even worse, because it is a well-known phenomenon among pollsters that on questions of religion, respondents tend to exaggerate and overstate their commitment.

Mr Wood continued: “Despite this data, we have a Government that seems to be completely dominated by the idea that religion is terribly important to everyone and that the religious take on morality is the correct one. The figures on attitudes to assisted dying are particularly significant, given that earlier this year a parliamentary bill on the matter was rejected on the say-so of religious interests. It is time the Government took on board the fact that permitting religion to have so much influence on policy-making is thwarting the will of the people.”

nothing knew there..

Most people on the planet have no time for religion...

wonder why?

List of BS that they promote is mind bending.. did i mention hypercrits?

reply to post by moocowman


Single god religion is always been a low point in uk.

Pagan religions have always been the ones uk people want, as they do not want to believe in god, and we already know this.

reply to post by moocowman


Thank you for sharing the study/survey.
It is always music to my ears to hear that evolution is still baring the fruits of progress.

...and the sweetest note to hear was... nearly 3/4 "think people with strong religious beliefs are often too intolerant of others. " as 13579 put it "hypercrits" (aka "hypocrites"). I have found this to be one of the most puzzling ironies of all time, and yet the stats back it up.

Can someone please tell me why this is so?
I would be eternally grateful.


[edit on 28-12-2009 by The Blind Eye]

reply to post by The Blind Eye


It only seems to be Monotheistic religions that have this extreme intolerance, stemming from the early days of each Religion, the formation of the idea of the Devil and the unbelievers who are obviously under his sway.

The idea of Satan evolved in Christianity, for example, as a result of a "them and us" attitude and a need to describe the old polytheistic Gods (who quite often liked many "sinful" behaviours the Devil is credited with now) as demons and their followers as devil worshippers, in order to get people to convert to the new "one God" system.

There was a very good documentary on the Discovery channel a few weeks ago about the origin of the devil and it's role in the intolerance of monotheistic religion.

It is no coincidence that prior to Christainity, Islam etc that polytheistic societies were very tolerant of other peoples beliefs, mainly because there were gods for different villages, let alone nations. Many, many religions sat side by side with little to no trouble between them. Introduce a monotheistic religion, with a "them and us" attitude to non-believers and you have a perfect recipe for intolerance.

[edit on 28/12/09 by stumason]

reply to post by stumason


very true that is!!

Us vs them = BAD BAD IDEA

reply to post by The Blind Eye

...and the sweetest note to hear was... nearly 3/4 "think people with strong religious beliefs are often too intolerant of others. " as 13579 put it "hypercrits" (aka "hypocrites"). I have found this to be one of the most puzzling ironies of all time, and yet the stats back it up. Can someone please tell me why this is so? I would be eternally grateful.

Perhaps it's just sheer arrogance that is blinding the individual to their own intolerance.

It strikes me as these types are more fearful than the non religious in that deep down inside they have some nagging doubts or unbelief for what they claim or preach.

A sales rep will always believe that his product is the best in the world, the finest of it's type the best value for money.

Until - someone points out a flaw or another product not dissimilar to his own or that people don't want his product.
He then has to justify his decision to sell the product, he could of course quite easily sell another product but in order to do this he would have to admit one of two things.

1) His product was not what he thought and his decision to sell it was a mistake.

2) He is a poor salesman.

Fear can easily become arrogance and arrogance intolerance it would seem, coupled with perhaps a lifetime of indoctrination you have a recipe for disaster.

you shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. the problem is not Christ, it is organized religion, telling people what to believe.

reply to post by stumason


Here you go great documentary by the way.

Originally posted by Donnie Darko
you shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. the problem is not Christ, it is organized religion, telling people what to believe.

If you were to learn that the baby was imaginary the pulling the plug is the best thing to do.

reply to post by moocowman


Imaginary to whom??? And all of those agnostics are the first ones to pray when tshtf.... I was that person!!....
And is it ALL of those Brits? Or just the ones on the statistics you mentioned who you personally interviewed??

reply to post by Selahobed

Imaginary to whom???

To those without evidence to the contrary of course.

And all of those agnostics are the first ones to pray when tshtf.... I was that person!!....

And is it ALL of those Brits? Or just the ones on the statistics you mentioned who you personally interviewed??

Are all the agnostics that are the first to pray the ones you personally interviewed?

I did look into becoming a Christian when i was younger, in fact, it was a requirement of a job i applied for, looking after disabled people, a home run by the Shaftesbury society, So i did as i was told, and studied the bible and theology in general, and thats when i started to find the truth for myself.

First i though it was wrong that i had to become a Christian to do the job i wanted to do, didn't make any sense to me, i thought all you needed was a caring heart and the willing to work hard, I felt i had both. Still they insisted.

But looking into it, and finding out about the history of Christianity, i found to many things to be or sound just to far fetched. All those fantastic miracles , and hearing voices, and well you know how the story goes.

My logical mind battled with what i was told i had to believe in, and the logic won every time. I have not belief in God, Jesus, nor the Devil,
I find most of the teachings to be offensive, Hypocritical, mass controlling etc. Also when you find that the bible and all its teachings were put together by a very few men, who decided what they wanted to be in it, and they decided what was not to be included, that was enough for me. So
I have come to my own conclusion that there is a greater conciousness and that we are all part of it, and that has nothing whatsoever to do with any religion. IMO

reply to post by moocowman


Interesting documentary. There is a book that was published in 1900 called 'History of the Devil' by Paul Carus link to e-book
it covers the same topics.

Originally posted by moocowman

Originally posted by Donnie Darko
you shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. the problem is not Christ, it is organized religion, telling people what to believe.

If you were to learn that the baby was imaginary the pulling the plug is the best thing to do.

lmao... so brutally honest, you have to love it ;D
also thank you for the salesman analogy, the play that religion has on the ego is tremendous. ... also kudos for your signature "I DON'T HATE CHRISTIANS, I HATE WHAT THEY DO"... in sum well said all around.

[edit on 29-12-2009 by The Blind Eye]

reply to post by stumason


As you had eloquently put it, the black and white filter casted by the devil/god dichotomy imposes an "all or nothing" perspective through it's script-followers. Excellent insight/observation on your part, thank for taking the time to elaborate on this most valuable insight.

Originally posted by Selahobed
And all of those agnostics are the first ones to pray when tshtf.... I was that person!!....

I was not a person of hypocrisy when death smiled at me chose to hedge my bets and prey to a god I had never believed in since childhood.

In foxholes there are still many atheists contrary to what you may believe or have been told.

Originally posted by TinFoilHatMan55
reply to post by moocowman

 

Interesting documentary. There is a book that was published in 1900 called 'History of the Devil' by Paul Carus link to e-book
it covers the same topics.

Thanks for the link I'm always on the look out for new (free) reading material.

reply to post by neo5842

I did look into becoming a Christian when i was younger, in fact, it was a requirement of a job i applied for, looking after disabled people, a home run by the Shaftesbury society, So i did as i was told,

Well that's a thought provoking story dude and just goes to show the levels that xtians will go to to make you one of their gang.

It's interesting to see the complete hypocrisy in their mission statement -

Our Vision- We are a national faith-based charity with a Christian ethos that values diversity and acknowledges the unique worth of every individual.


Obviously your diversity was certainly not valued and your uniqueness as an individual has no worth to them at all.

If it were me dude I would have sued the lying wasters over that one, but there again people in authority positions like this normally value your need to earn a living and will not hesitate to abuse their position to promote an agenda.

Would I become an xtian in order to increase my lot ? Of course I would that's what xtianity is mostly all about, I would most certainly consider becoming a pastor as thta's where the money seems to be.