Religion in the United Kingdom

Religion in the United Kingdom is about the development of religion in the United Kingdom since its formation in 1707. The Treaty of Union that led to the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain^[1] (which became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801 when Great Britain signed an Act of Union with Ireland) ensured that there would be a Protestant succession as well as a link between church and state that still remains.

According to the 2001 UK census, Christianity remains the major religion, followed by Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism and Buddhism in terms of number of adherents. In the 2001 census, 71.6% of the population put themselves down as Christian. Though each country that makes up the UK has a long tradition of Christianity that pre-dates the UK itself, in practice all have relatively low levels of religious observance and today are secular societies.^{[citation needed]}

Christianity is the main religion in England with the Church of England the Established Church.^[2] It is the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion (except the Scottish Episcopal Church which has separate origins and is a Sister Church rather than a Daughter Church) and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national churches. It retains representation in the UK Parliament with the church's 26 bishops sitting in the House of Lords as Lords Spiritual, and the British monarch is a member of the church (required under Article 2 of the Treaty of Union) as well as its Supreme Governor. The Church of England also retains the right to draft legislative measures (related to religious administration) through the General Synod that can then be passed into law by Parliament. Christianity is also the main religion in Wales. In the 1920s, the Church in Wales became independent from the Church of England and became 'disestablished' but remains in the Anglican Communion.

Roman Catholic diocesan hierarchies were re-established in England and Wales in 1850 following an influx of Irish Catholics fleeing the Great Irish Famine. Today the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales is the second largest Christian church across England and Wales with around five million members, mainly in England. The Church has five provinces: Birmingham, Cardiff, Liverpool, Southwark and Westminster. There are 22 dioceses which are divided into parishes. In addition to these, there are two dioceses covering England and Wales for specific groups which are the Bishopric of the Forces and the Apostolic Exarchate for Ukrainians. The Catholic Bishops in England and Wales come together in the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. Currently the Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, is the ex officio President of the Conference.

Pentecostal churches are continuing to grow and, in terms of church attendance, are now third after the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church in England.^[3] Other Christian groups include Salvation Army, United Reformed Church, Plymouth Brethren, Baptist Union, Baptist Union of Wales, Methodists, Congregationalists and house churches.

• Baitul Futuh - Islamic
• Bevis Marks Synagogue - Jewish
• Birmingham Central Mosque - Islamic
• Brompton Oratory - Roman Catholic
• Canterbury Cathedral - Church of England
• Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha - Sikh
• Kingsgate - Charismatic
• Manchester Central Mosque - Islamic
• Metropolitan Tabernacle - Baptist
• Neasden Temple - Hindu
• North London Central Mosque - Islamic
• St Chad's Cathedral - Roman Catholic
• St Lazar's Church, Bournville - Serbian Orthodox
• St Paul's Cathedral - Church of England
• Westminster Abbey - Church of England
• Westminster Cathedral - Roman Catholic
• Westminster Central Hall - Methodist
• York Minster - Church of England
• St David's Cathedral - Church in Wales

In England and Wales, a significant number of state funded schools are faith schools with the vast majority Christian (mainly either of Church of England or Roman Catholic) though there are also Jewish, Muslim and Sikh faith schools. Faith schools follow the same national curriculum as state schools, though with the added ethos of the host religion. Until 1944 there was no requirement for state schools to provide religious education or worship, although most did so. The Education Act 1944 introduced a requirement for a daily act of collective worship and for religious education but did not define what was allowable under these terms. The act contained provisions to allow parents to withdraw their children from these activities and for teachers to refuse to participate. The Education Reform Act 1988 introduced a further requirement that the majority of collective worship be "wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character"^[4] . In recent years schools have increasingly failed to comply with the collective worship rules - in 2004 David Bell, the Chief Inspector of Schools said that "at present more than three-quarters of schools fail to meet this requirement."^[5] Religious studies is still an obligatory subject in the curriculum, but tends to aim at providing an understanding of the main faiths of the world rather than at instilling a strictly Christian viewpoint.

File:StPatsRCCathedralArmagh.JPG

Christianity is the main religion in Northern Ireland though the main denominations are organised on an all-Ireland basis. After that, though dwarfed by the Christian churches, the country also has small Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and Jewish communities. The 2001 UK census found that 40.3% of the population claimed Roman Catholic affiliation, 20.7% in the Presbyterian Church, 15.3% with the Church of Ireland and 3.5% with the Methodist Church. About 13.8% stated no religion, and members of other religions constituted 0.3%.

The Roman Catholic Church in Ireland is the largest single church though there is a greater number of Protestants and Anglicans overall. The Church is organised into four provinces though these are not coterminous with the modern political division of Ireland. The seat of the Archbishop of Armagh, the Primate of All Ireland, is St. Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh.

The Presbyterian Church in Ireland, closely linked to the Church of Scotland in terms of theology and history, is the second largest church and largest protestant denomination. It is followed by the Church of Ireland (Anglican) which was the state church of Ireland until it was disestablished in the nineteenth century. In 2002, the much smaller Methodist Church in Ireland signed a covenant for greater cooperation and potential ultimate unity with the Church of Ireland.^[6]

Smaller, but growing, protestant denominations like the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland and the Assemblies of God Ireland are also organised on an all-Ireland basis, though in the case of the AOG this was the result of a recent reorganisation.^[7]

• St Peter's Cathedral, Belfast - Roman Catholic
• St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast - Church of Ireland
• St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh - Roman Catholic
• St Eugene's Cathedral, Derry - Roman Catholic
• St Columb's Cathedral, Derry - Church of Ireland
• Holy Trinity Cathedral, Down - Church of Ireland

Northern Ireland has a highly segregated education system. 95% of pupils attend either maintained (Catholic) schools or controlled schools, which are open to children of all faiths and none, though in practice most pupils are from the Protestant community.

The presbyterian Church of Scotland is recognised by the Church of Scotland Act 1921 as the national church of Scotland. It is not subject to state control. The British monarch is an ordinary member and is required to swear an oath to "defend the security" of the church upon his or her accession.

The Roman Catholic Church in Scotland is Scotland's second largest Christian church, representing a sixth of the population. Catholic diocesan hierarchies were restored in Scotland in 1878. In the 2001 census about 16% of the population of Scotland described themselves as being Roman Catholic.^[8] Currently, they constitute 17% of Scotland, with 850,000 members. Journalist Andrew Collier notes that Scot Catholics no longer see themselves as a tribal minority, "but as a confident and influential part of the country's demographic mix." This Catholic self-esteem has had a dramatic political side effect, with Catholics starting to find common ground with the Scottish Nationalist Party.^[9] Scotland has two provinces - Glasgow and St Andrews and Edinburgh - and eight dioceses, and the Archbishops and bishops come together in the Bishops' Conference of Scotland. Currently, the Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, is President of the Conference.

The Scottish Episcopal Church is Scotland's third largest christian church with around 39,000 members.^[10] It dates from the final establishment of Presbyterianism in Scotland in 1690, when it split from the Church of Scotland. Though part of the Anglican Communion, it is not a 'daughter church' of the Church of England.

Further splits in the Church of Scotland, especially in the nineteenth century, led to the creation of various other Presbyterian churches in Scotland, including the Free Church of Scotland. In 1900 the vast majority of the Free Church of Scotland united with the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland to form the United Free Church of Scotland, which re-united with the Church of Scotland in 1929. The remaining members of the former Free Church founded a new Free Church of Scotland, which they claimed to be the legitimate Free Church in 1900.

• Crathie Kirk - Church of Scotland
• Glasgow Cathedral - Church of Scotland

In Scotland, the majority of schools are non-denominational but separate Roman Catholic schools, with an element of control by the Roman Catholic Church, are provided within the state system.

Christian denominations in the United Kingdom v t e
British interchurch Affinity (formerly British Evangelical Council) Churches Together in Britain and Ireland Evangelical Alliance, UK Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches Churches Together in England Action of Churches Together, Scotland (ACTS) Churches Together in Wales Evangelical Movement of Wales
Anglican Church of England Church of Ireland Scottish Episcopal Church Church in Wales
Baptist Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland Baptist Union of Great Britain Baptist Union of Scotland Baptist Union of Wales
Catholic Catholic Church in the United Kingdom Catholic Church in England and Wales Catholic Church in Ireland Catholic Church in Scotland
Lutheran Lutheran Church in Great Britain
Methodist and Holiness Methodist Church of Great Britain Methodist Church in Ireland Free Methodist Church Wesleyan Holiness Church Church of the Nazarene Salvation Army
New Church Movement Newfrontiers Pioneer Church
Orthodox Eastern Orthodox Greek Orthodox of G.B. Georgian Orthodox Romanian Orthodox Bulgarian Orthodox Oriental Orthodox Armenian Apostolic British Orthodox Coptic Orthodox Eritrean Orthodox Ethiopian Orthodox Syriac Orthodox
Pentecostal Assemblies of God Church of God in Christ Elim Pentecostal Church
Presbyterian and Reformed Asso. Presbyterian Churches, Scotland Church of Scotland Congregational Federation Evangelical Presbyterian Church Newfrontiers Presbyterian Church in Ireland Presbyterian Church of Wales United Free Church of Scotland United Reformed Church
Other General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches LDS Church in England Quakers Seventh-day Adventist Church
v t e

• The Church of England.
• The Church of Ireland, an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion, operates across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
• The Church of Scotland.
• The Church in Wales.

The Roman Catholic Church has separate national churches for England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland and there is no single hierarchy for Roman Catholicism in the United Kingdom. There is however a single apostolic nuncio to Great Britain, presently Archbishop Faustino Sainz Muñoz. The Apostolic Nuncio to the island of Ireland (both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland) is Giuseppe Leanza.

• Roman Catholicism in England and Wales
• Roman Catholicism in Scotland
• Roman Catholicism in Ireland - covering the whole of the island of Ireland.

• Assemblies of God in Great Britain are part of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship with over 600 churches in Great Britain.
• Assemblies of God Ireland cover the whole of the island of Ireland, including Northern Ireland.
• Apostolic Church commenced in the early part of the 20th century in South Wales and now has over 110 churches across the UK.
• Elim Pentecostal Church now has over 500 churches across the UK.

The is also a growing number of independent, charismatic churches that encourage Pentecostal practices as part of their worship.

The Methodist movement traces its origin to the evangelical awakening in the 18th century. Today,

• The Methodist Church of Great Britain, (which includes congregations in the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, Malta and Gibraltar) has around 270,000 members and 6,000 churches, though only around 3,000 members in 50 congregations are in Scotland. In the 1960s, it made ecumenical overtures to the Church of England, aimed at church unity. Formally, these failed when they were rejected by the Church of England's General Synod in 1972. However, conversations and co-operation continued, leading on 1 November 2003 to the signing of a covenant between the two churches.^[11]
• The Methodist Church in Ireland covers the whole of the island of Ireland, including Northern Ireland where it is the fourth largest denomination.

• The Baptist Union of Great Britain - despite its name, actually covers just England and Wales.^[12]
• The Baptist Union of Scotland
• The Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland - an all-Ireland organisation.

• Russian Orthodox Church - the Diocese of Sourozh covers Great Britain and Ireland.^[13]
• Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia - also has a diocese that covers Great Britain and Ireland.^[14]

• Greek Orthodox Church - Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain, led by His Eminence Gregorios,^[15] that covers England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland as well as Malta.

• Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch - has fourteen parishes and 8 missions within the Deanery of the United Kingdom and Ireland.^[16]

• Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria - British Orthodox Church. In addition, there is one Patriarchal Exarchate at Stevenage, Hertfordshire. There is also the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Armenian Apostolic Church in London.

The United Reformed Church (URC) has about 1,600 congregations^[17] in England, Scotland and Wales.

There are about 600 Congregational churches in the UK. In England there are three main groups, the Congregational Federation, the Evangelical Fellowship of Congregational Churches, and about 100 Congregational churches that are loosely federated with other congregations in the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches, or are unaffiliated. In Scotland the churches are mostly member of the Congregational Federation and in Wales which traditionally has a larger number of Congregationalists, most are members of the Union of Welsh Independents.

Presbyterian is a family of Christian denominations within the Reformed branch of Protestant Western Christianity. A form of Calvinism, Presbyterianism evolved primarily in Scotland before the Act of Union in 1707. Most of the few Presbyteries found in England can trace a Scottish connection. The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland was formed in 1893 and claims to be the spiritual descendant of the Scottish Reformation. The Free Church of Scotland, which claims to tbe the legitimate Free Church in Scotland was founded in 1900. The Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales was founded in the late 1980s and declared themselves to be a Presbytery in 1996. They currently have ten churches.^[18] The Presbyterian Church in Ireland is the largest Protestant denomination and second largest church in Northern Ireland. The Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster was founded on 17 March 1951 by the cleric and politician, Ian Paisley. It has about 60 churches in Northern Ireland. The Presbyterian Church of Wales seceded from the Church of England in 1811 and formally formed itself into a separate body in 1823. The Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland has 31 congregations in Northern Ireland,^[19] with the first Presbytery being formed in Antrim in 1725.^[20]

The Britain Yearly Meeting is the umbrella body for the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in England, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Isles and the Isle of Man. There are 25,000 worshippers with about 400 local meetings. Northern Ireland comes under the umbrella of the Ireland Yearly Meeting.

The Salvation Army was founded in the East End of London in 1865.

The General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches is the umbrella organisation for Unitarian, Free Christian and other liberal religious congregations in the UK. The Unitarian Christian Association was formed in 1991.

Among other denominations are:

• The Seventh-day Adventist Church - The Trans-European Division of Seventh-day Adventists of the church has its headquarters in the UK. The British Union Conference is sub-divided into five conferences covering the whole of the UK.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims more than 180,000 members in the UK.^[21]
• Jehovah's Witness - has about 130,000 members in the UK.^[22]

There is no Patron Saint of the United Kingdom as the individual countries each have their own patron saint:

• England - Saint George
• Ireland - Saint Patrick
• Scotland - Saint Andrew
• Wales - Saint David

Though Islam was not legalised until the Trinitarian Act in 1812, recent estimates suggest a total of as high as 2.4 million Muslims over all the UK,^[23][24] The vast majority of Muslims in the UK live in England and Wales: of 1,591,000 Muslims recorded at the 2001 Census,^[25] 1,536,015 were living in England and Wales,^[26] where they form 3% of the population; 42,557 were living in Scotland, forming 0.84% of the population^[27]; and 1,943 were living in Northern Ireland.^[28]

Most Muslim immigrants to the UK came from former colonies, such as Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, with the remainder coming from Muslim-dominated areas such as Southwest Asia, Somalia, Malaysia, and Indonesia.^[29] During the 18th century, lascars (sailors) who worked for the British East India Company settled in port towns with local wives.^[30] These numbered only 4,037 in 1891 but 51,616 on the eve of World War I.^[31] Naval cooks, including Sake Dean Mahomet, also came from what is now the Sylhet Division of Bangladesh.^[32] From the 1950s onwards, the growing Muslim population has led to a number of notable Mosques being established, including Manchester Central Mosque, East London Mosque, London Markaz, London Central Mosque and, more recently, Baitul Futuh Mosque.

The Muslim Council of Britain is an umbrella organisation for many local, regional and specialist Islamic organisations in the UK.

Hinduism was the religion of 558,342 people in Great Britain according to the 2001 census^[33] but an estimate in a British newspaper in 2007 has put the figure as high as 1.5 Million.^[34] Although most British Hindus live in England, with half living in London alone,^[35] small communities also exist in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The Jewish Naturalisation Act, enacted in 1753, permitted the naturalisation of foreign Jews, but was repealed the next year. The first graduate from the University of Glasgow who was openly-known to be Jewish was in 1787. Unlike their English contemporaries, Scottish students were not required to take a religious oath. In 1841 Isaac Lyon Goldsmid was made baronet, the first Jew to receive a hereditary title. The first Jewish Lord Mayor of the City of London, Sir David Salomons, was elected in 1855, followed by the 1858 emancipation of the Jews. On 26 July 1858, Lionel de Rothschild was finally allowed to sit in the British House of Commons when the law restricting the oath of office to Christians was changed. (Benjamin Disraeli, a baptised, teenage convert to Christianity of Jewish parentage, was already an MP at this time and rose to become Prime Minister in 1874.) In 1884 Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild became the first Jewish member of the British House of Lords; again Disraeli was already a member.

A report in August 2007 by University of Manchester historian Dr Yaakov Wise stated that 75% of all births in the Jewish community were to ultra-orthodox, Haredi parents, and that the increase of ultra-orthodox Jewry has led to a significant rise in the proportion of British Jews who are ultra-orthodox. The Jewish population is close to 300,000 people. However, this figure did not include Jews who identified 'by ethnicity only' in England and Wales or Scottish Jews who identified as Jewish by upbringing but held no current religion. This with various studies that from within Jewish communities and particularly in some strictly Orthodox areas, residents ignored the voluntary question on religion following the advice of their religious leaders which has resulted in a serious undercount, therefore it is ultimately difficult to give an accurate number on the total UK Jewish population. It may be even more than double the official estimates, heavily powered by the very high birth rate of orthodox families and British people who are Jewish by race but not religion; as it currently stands, the Jewish as a race section is not documented on the census. ^[36]

Sikhism was recorded as the religion of 336,179 people in the United Kingdom at the time of the 2001 Census.^[37] While England is home to the majority of Sikhs in the UK, small communities also exist in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The first recorded Sikh settler in the UK was Maharaja Duleep Singh, dethroned and exiled in 1849 at the age of 14, after the Anglo-Sikh wars. The first Sikh Gurdwara (temple) was established in 1911, in Putney, London. The first wave of Sikh migration came in the 1950s, mostly of men from the Punjab seeking work in industries such as foundries and textiles. These new arrivals mostly settled in London, Birmingham and West Yorkshire. Thousands of Sikhs from East Africa followed.

The earliest Buddhist influence on Britain came through its imperial connections with South East Asia, and as a result the early connections were with the Theravada traditions of Burma, Thailand, and Sri Lanka. The tradition of study resulted in the foundation of the Pali Text Society, which undertook the task of translating the Pali Canon of Buddhist texts into English. Buddhism as a path of practice was pioneered by the Theosophists, Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott, and in 1880 they became the first Westerners to receive the refuges and precepts, the ceremony by which one traditionally becomes a Buddhist.

In 1924 London’s Buddhist Society was founded, and in 1926 the Theravadin London Buddhist Vihara. The rate of growth was slow but steady through the century, and the 1950s saw the development of interest in Zen Buddhism. In 1967 Kagyu Samyé Ling Monastery and Tibetan Centre, now the largest Tibetan Buddhist centre in Western Europe, was founded in Scotland. The first home-grown Buddhist movement was also founded in 1967, the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO). There are many Sōka Gakkai Buddhist groups in the UK.

An estimated 250,000 (0.4%)^[38] to 1 million (around 2%)^[39] Britons adhere to various forms of Neopaganism, including Celtic Neopaganism, Heathenism and Wicca.

The Bahá'í Faith in the United Kingdom has a historical connection with the earliest phases of the Bahá'í Faith starting in 1845 and has had a major effect on the development of communities of the religion in far flung nations around the world. It is estimated that between 1951 and 1993, Bahá'ís from the United Kingdom settled in 138 countries.^[40] There are about 5000 Bahá'ís of the UK.^[41]

• The Queen is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, with the Archbishops of Canterbury and York below her.^[42]
• The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland presides over the annual Assembly, but does not lead, the Church of Scotland
• The Primus of Scotland is the presiding bishop of the Scottish Episcopal Church.
• The Archbishop of Westminster is the leader of the Roman Catholic bishops in England and Wales
• The de facto head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland is the most senior archbishop currently Keith Michael Patrick O'Brien, Archbishop and Metropolitan of St Andrews and Edinburgh (see Bishops' Conference of Scotland)
• The Primate of All Ireland exercises his ecclesiastical jurisdiction in Northern Ireland as well as the Republic of Ireland
• The Archbishop of Wales is one of the six diocesan bishops of the Church in Wales, chosen by his colleagues to hold the higher designation in addition to his own diocese
• The Chief Rabbi is the title of the leader of Orthodox Judaism in the Commonwealth.
• The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland presides over, but does not lead, the Church.

Though the main political parties are secular, the formation of the Labour Party was influenced by christian socialism and by leaders from a nonconformist background, such as Keir Hardie. On the other hand, the Church of England has sometimes been nicknamed "the Conservative Party at prayer".^[43]

Today, some minor parties are explicitly 'religious' in ideology: two 'Christian' parties - the Christian Party and the Christian Peoples Alliance, fielded joint candidates at the 2009 European Parliament elections and increased their share of the vote to come eighth, with 249,493 votes (1.6 percent of total votes cast), and in London, where the CPA has three councillors,^[44] the Christian parties picked up 51,336 votes (2.9 percent of the vote), up slightly from the 45,038 gained in 2004.^[45]

The Church of England retains representation in Parliament through 26 Lords Spiritual who sit in the House of Lords along with the secular Lords Temporal. The Church also has the right to draft legislative measures (usually related to religious administration), through the General Synod, that can be passed into law, but not amended by Parliament. The churches of the Anglican Communion in Ireland and Wales were disestablished in the 19th and 20th centuries. The Prime Minister, regardless of personal beliefs, plays a key role in the appointment of Church of England bishops, although in July 2007 Gordon Brown proposed reforms of the Prime Minister's ability to affect Church of England appointments.^[46]

The BBC programme Songs of Praise is aired on a Sunday evening and has an average weekly audience of 2.5 million.^[47] The BBC produces such programming because of remit obligations.

Other channels offer documentaries on, or from the perspective of, non-belief. A significant example is Richard Dawkins' two-part Channel 4 documentary, The Root of all Evil?.

The British media often portrays a cultural scepticism towards religion.^{[citation needed]} British comedy in particular has a history of satire and parody on the subject, the most iconic example probably being Monty Python film Life of Brian. Religious mockery, or open disbelief in any religion, is not regarded as a taboo in the British media.

Ecumenical rapprochement has gradually developed between Christian denominations but religious tensions still exist. (See, for example, Sectarianism in Glasgow and Northern Ireland.)

In the early 21st century, the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 made it an offence in England and Wales to incite hatred against a person on the grounds of their religion. The common law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel were finally abolished with the coming into effect of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 on 8 July 2008.

There being no strict separation of church and state in the United Kingdom, public officials may in general display religious symbols in the course of their duties - for example, turbans. Chaplains are provided in the armed forces (see Royal Army Chaplains' Department) and in prisons.

There is evidence of Anti-Christian sentiment,^[48] Islamophobia^[49] and Anti-Semitism^[50] in the United Kingdom.

Although School uniform codes are generally drawn up flexibly enough to accommodate compulsory items of religious dress, some schools have banned wearing the crucifix, arguing that wearing a crucifix is not a requirement of Christianity, and that necklaces themselves are banned as well, not just crucifixes.^[51]

Some polls have shown that public opinion in the United Kingdom generally tends towards a suspicion or outright disapproval of radical or evangelical religiosity, though moderate groups and individuals are rarely subject to injurious treatment.^[52]

Some churches have warned that new equality laws being considered could force them to go against their faith when hiring staff.^[53]

Several different sets of figures exist which aim to categorise the religious affiliations, beliefs and practices of UK residents. Differences in the wording and context of the questions can give substantially different results. The 2001 census found that 76.8% of the UK population had a religion, with Christianity being the most prevalent (71.6% of respondents described their religion as such)^[54], while the British Social Attitudes Survey survey produced by the National Centre for Social Research in the same year reported that 58% considered themselves to "belong to" a religion.^[55]

An Ipsos MORI poll in 2003 reported that 43% considered themselves to be "a member of an organised religion" (18% were "a practising member of an organised religion")^[56] An ICM survey in 2006 found that only 33% considered themselves to be "a religious person", with 43% saying they never attended religious services.^[57]

A Eurobarometer opinion poll in 2005 reported that 38% "believed there is a God", 40% believe there is "some sort of spirit or life force" and 20% said "I'don't believe there is any sort of spirit, God or life force".^[58] A survey in 2007 suggested that 42% of adults resident in the UK prayed, with one in six praying on a daily basis.^[59]

The EU-funded European Social Survey to be published in April 2009 has found that only 12% of British people belong to a church.^[60]

Religions other than Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and Judaism have established a presence in the UK, both through immigration and by attracting converts, including the Bahá'í Faith, Rastafari movement and Neopaganism. There are also organisations which promote rationalism, humanism, atheism^[61] and secularism. The UK has a large and growing non-religious population with 13,626,000 (23.2% of the UK population) either claiming no religion or not answering the question on religion at the 2001 census.^[62]

The 2001 census contained voluntary questions on religious affiliation. In Scotland and Northern Ireland the census also contained questions on the religion in which a person had been brought up. As a result of comparisons with survey data The Office for National Statistics concluded that the census results for England and Wales were more comparable to the results for religion of upbringing in Scotland and Northern Ireland than for current religious affiliation.^[63] At the time the Census was carried out, there was an Internet campaign that encouraged people to record their religion as Jedi or "Jedi Knight". The number of people who stated Jedi was 390,000 (0.7 per cent of the population).^[64][65]

A survey in 2002 found Christmas attendance at Anglican churches in England varied between 10.19% of the population in the diocese of Hereford, down to just 2.16% in Manchester.^[66] Church attendance at Christmas in some dioceses was up to three times the average for the rest of the year. Overall church attendance at Christmas has been steadily increasing in recent years; a 2005 poll found that 43% expected to attend a church service over the Christmas period, in comparison with 39% and 33% for corresponding polls taken in 2003 and 2001 respectively.^[67] In a 2004 YouGov poll, 44 per cent of UK citizens responded affirmatively to the question "Do you believe in God?".^[68]

In the UK overall, a Guardian/ICM poll in 2006 found that 33% describe themselves as "a religious person" while 82% see religion as a cause of division and tension between people.^[57]

Society in the United Kingdom is markedly more secular than in the past and the number of churchgoers fell over the last half of the 20th century. According to the British Humanist Association 36% of the population is humanist, and may, by the same token, be considered outright atheist^[69]. The National Secular Society is among bodies aiming to reduce the influence of religion. According to the 2001 census, however, 71.6% of population declared themselves to be Christian, a further 2.7% as Muslim and 1% as Hindu. Only 15.5% said they had "no religion" and 7.3% did not reply to the question.^[70] The problem with interpreting these results is that they do not reveal the intensity of religious belief or non-belief. See also Status of religious freedom in the United Kingdom.

The Tearfund Survey in 2007 found 53% of people in the UK identifying themselves as Christian and only 7% as practising Christians. 10% attend church weekly and two-thirds had not gone to church in the past year.^[71][72] The Tearfund Survey also found that two thirds of UK adults (66%) or 32.2 million people have no connection with The Church at present (nor with another religion). These people are evenly divided between those who have been in the past but have since left (16 million) and those who have never been in their lives (16.2 million).

A December 2007 report by Christian Research showed that Roman Catholicism had become the best-attended services of Christian denominations in England, with average attendance at Sunday Mass of 861,000, compared to 852,000 attending Anglican services. Attendance at Anglican services had declined by 20% between 2000 and 2006, while attendance at Catholic services, boosted by large-scale immigration from Poland and Lithuania, had declined by only 13%. In Scotland attendance at Church of Scotland services declined by 19% and attendance at Catholic services fell by 25%.^[73]

A Tearfund survey on prayer found in 2007 that 42% of adults in the UK pray (outside church or religious services).^[74]

British Social Attitudes Surveys have shown the proportion of those in Great Britain who consider they "belong to" Christianity to have fallen from 66% in 1983 to 48% in 2006.

The disparity between the 2001 census data and the above polls has been put down to both the decline in religious adherence in the UK since 2001 and a phenomenon of cultural religiosity, whereby many who do not believe in gods still identify with a religion because of its role in their upbringing or its importance to their family.^[75]

Religion/Denomination	Current religion	Percent %
Christian	42,079,000	71.6
No religion	9,104,000	15.5
Muslim	1,591,000	2.7
Hindu	559,000	1.0
Sikh	336,000	0.6
Jewish	267,000	0.5
Buddhist	152,000	0.3
Other Religion	179,000	0.3
All religions	45,163,000	76.8
Not Answered	4,289,000	7.3
No religion + Not Answered	13,626,000	23.2
Base	58,789,000	100

Source: UK 2001 Census.^[54]

Religion/Denomination	Percent %
No religion	45.7
Church of England	20.9
Roman Catholic	9.0
Presbyterian/Church of Scotland	2.8
Methodist	1.9
Other Protestant	2.7
Christian (no denomination)	10.3
Other Christian	0.4
Muslim	3.3
Hindu	1.4
Jewish	0.4
Sikh	0.4
Other Religion	0.4
Refused / NA	0.5

Source: BSA Survey 2007.^[55]

Ethnic group	Christian	Buddhist	Hindu	Jewish	Muslim	Sikh	Other	No religion	Not stated
White British	75.94%	0.11%	0.01%	0.48%	0.14%	0.01%	0.24%	15.45%	7.62%
White Irish	85.42%	0.19%	0.02%	0.18%	0.14%	0.02%	0.26%	6.35%	7.42%
Other White	62.67%	0.33%	0.09%	2.39%	8.61%	0.04%	0.57%	15.91%	9.38%
Mixed	52.46%	0.70%	0.87%	0.47%	9.72%	0.42%	0.58%	23.25%	11.54%
Indian	4.89%	0.18%	45.00%	0.06%	12.70%	29.06%	1.75%	1.73%	4.63%
Pakistani	1.09%	0.03%	0.08%	0.05%	92.01%	0.05%	0.04%	0.50%	6.16%
Bangladeshi	0.50%	0.06%	0.60%	0.05%	92.48%	0.04%	0.01%	0.43%	5.83%
Other Asian	13.42%	4.85%	26.76%	0.30%	37.31%	6.22%	0.93%	3.44%	6.79%
Black Caribbean	73.76%	0.17%	0.29%	0.10%	0.79%	0.02%	0.59%	11.23%	13.04%
Black African	68.87%	0.07%	0.21%	0.05%	20.04%	0.09%	0.21%	2.31%	8.14%
Other Black	66.61%	0.20%	0.36%	0.13%	5.97%	0.07%	0.65%	12.09%	13.93%
Chinese	25.56%	15.12%	0.07%	0.05%	0.33%	0.03%	0.49%	9.75%	52.60%
Other	32.98%	15.49%	1.32%	1.05%	25.68%	1.02%	0.90%	14.08%	7.48%

Source: UK 2001 Census^[76]

• Religion in Europe
• Religion in the European Union
• Religion in the Republic of Ireland
• Greenbelt festival
• Religion in present-day nations and states
• Spring Harvest
• Jesus Army
• Lord's Day Observance Society
• Monasticism in the United Kingdom

• Eurel: sociological and legal data on religions in Europe
• BBC What the World Thinks of God television programme

• Church of England
• Church of Scotland
• Presbyterian Church in Ireland
• Church of Ireland (Anglican)
• Church in Wales (Anglican)
• Catholic Church in England and Wales
• Roman Catholic Bishops' Conference of Scotland
• Roman Catholic Church in Ireland
• Assemblies of God of Great Britain
• Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales
• Free Church of Scotland
• Free Church of Scotland (Continuing)

• Ecumenical Patriarchate
  • Greek Orthodox Church in Great Britain
  • Parishes in the British Isles under the Ecumenical Patriarchate's Paris Exarchate ^[1]
• Russian Orthodox Church in Great Britain and Ireland - Diocese of Sourozh, Patriarchate of Moscow
• Antiochian Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom and Ireland
• Romanian Orthodox Church, London

• Muslim Council of Great Britain

• Hindu Council UK
• Hindu Cultural Association of Wales UK

• The Network of Sikh Organisations UK

• The Buddhist Society