Just half of Britons now call themselves Christian after a ‘sharp decline’ in faith over past 25 years

By Martin Beckford of the Telegraph:

Researchers describe a large proportion of the country as the “fuzzy faithful” who have a vague belief in God but do not necessarily belong to a particular denomination or attend services.

However, most people still say religion helps bring happiness and comfort, and regret its declining influence on modern society.

Professor David Voas, who has analysed the latest data, said: “More and more people are ceasing to identify with a religion at all.

“Indeed, the key distinction in Britain now is between religious involvement and indifference. We are thus concerned about differences in religiosity - the degree of religious commitment - at least as much as diversity of religious identity.”

His analysis, to be published in January by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), looks at the results of 4,486 interviews conducted in the respected 2008 British Social Attitudes survey.

It shows that just 50 per cent of respondents now call themselves Christian, down from 66 per cent in 1983. NatCen said it confirmed “the sharp decline in religious faith in Britain.”

At the same time, the proportion of Britons who say they have “no religion” has increased from 31 per cent to 43 per cent. Non-Christians, including Muslims and Jews, now represent 7 per cent of the population, up from 2 per cent, 25 years ago.

The steepest fall was among those who say they worship in the established religion, the Church of England, down from 40 per cent of those who call themselves Christians to 23 per cent.

Official Church attendance figures show that average Sunday attendance was 978,000 in 2007, compared with 1.2m in 1983.

Prof Voas said: “The declining Christian share is largely attributable to a drift away from the Church of England.”

The proportion of Roman Catholics declined only slightly from 10 per cent to 9 per cent.

Further questions showed that 37 per cent of Britons either do not believe in God or are unable to say if a supreme being exists, while 35 per cent have a definite belief in God or belief with occasional doubts.

Only 7 per cent described themselves as very religious, and 62 per cent said they never attended services in a place of worship.

Even 49 per cent of those who said they were Anglicans claimed never go to church, while just 8 per cent go every Sunday.

The study suggests that the decline in faith is largely attributable to children no longer being brought up in a particular religion.

“The results suggest that institutional religion in Britain now has a half-life of one generation, to borrow the terminology of radioactive decay.

“Two non-religious parents successfully transmit their lack of religion. Two religious parents have roughly a 50/50 chance of passing on the faith. One religious parent does only half as well as two together.”

Separate research suggests that immigration has led to a rise in adherence to Pentecostal Christianity and other world religions in Britain, leading to a “polarisation of belief” with the secular indigenous population.

Prof Voas believes that the population can be categorised as religious, non-religious or “fuzzy faithful” – the 36 per cent who “identify with a religion, believe in God or attend services, but not all three”.

Despite the survey showing falling belief in God, 65 per cent of those questioned still thought that religion helps people to find inner piece while 79 per cent thought it provided solace.

In addition, 44 per cent said it was a shame that the influence of religion on British life was declining, while 18 per cent claimed both that faith is becoming more influential and that this is a bad thing.

The findings are in sharp contrast to those recorded in the USA, where 76 per cent say they are Christian and 26 per cent describe themselves as very religious.

It comes just days after the Archbishop of Canterbury, the most senior cleric in the Church of England, claimed that the Government treats worshippers as “oddities” and religion as a “problem”.

Dr Rowan Williams said: “The effect is to de-normalise faith, to intensify the perception that faith is not part of our bloodstream. And, you know, in great swathes of the country that’s how it is.”

Terry Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society, said: “Last week at a gathering of faith leaders at Downing Street, the Prime Minister said that Christian values were ‘at the heart of national life’. This research shows that this is simply not true.

“This report shows more clearly than ever that Britain is a post-religious society and policy should reflect that.”

But the Rev Lynda Barley, the Church of England’s head of Research and Statistics, said: "Statistical comparisons over a long period have the drawback of ignoring recent trends.

"The Church of England has been carefully monitoring Christian affiliation and churchgoing following the 2001 government census result that 7 in 10 people regard themselves as Christian. Independent surveys continue to show that 7 in 10 people are Christian and approaching half are Anglican in contrast to the British Social Attitudes Survey findings which focus on religious membership.

"Local church counts of worshippers throughout October for the last nine years record 1.7 million individual Church of England worshippers each month in each year. At the same time, it has been ordaining some 500 new clergy each year.

Link.

HT: Derren Brown