Unit 6　Religion

Objectives

1. To learn about the religion in the United Kingdom;

2. To learn about the （Anglican） Church of England;

3. To understand the changes in beliefs and attitudes of British people.

Forms of Christianity have dominated religious life in what is now the United Kingdom for over 1 400 years. Although a majority of citizens still identify with Christianity in many surveys, regular church attendance has fallen dramatically since the middle of the 20th century. While immigration and demographic change have contributed to the growth of other faiths, most notably Islam. This has led some commentators to variously describe the U.K. as a multi-faith, secularised, or post-Christian society. In the 2001 census 71.6% of all respondents indicated that they were Christians, with the next largest faiths （by number of adherents） being Islam （2.8%）, Hinduism （1.0%）, Sikhism （0.6%）, Judaism （0.5%）, Buddhism （0.3%） and all other religions （0.3%）. 15% of respondents stated that they had no religion, with a further 7% not stating a religious preference. A Tearfund Survey in 2007 showed only one in ten Britons actually attend church weekly.

The （Anglican） Church of England¹is the established church in England. It retains a representation in the U.K. Parliament and the British monarch is its Supreme Governor. InScotland the Presbyterian Church of Scotland is recognised as the national church. It is not subject to state control, and the British monarch is an ordinary member, required to swear an oath to “maintain and preserve the Protestant Religion and Presbyterian Church Government”upon his or her accession. The Church in Wales was disestablished in 1920, and there is no established church in Northern Ireland. Although there are no U.K.-wide data in the 2001 census on adherence to individual Christian denominations, Ceri Peach has estimated that 62% of Christians are Anglican, 13.5% Roman Catholic, 6% Presbyterian, 3.4% Methodist with small numbers of other Protestant denominations and the Orthodox church.

Several different sets of figures exist which aim to categorise the religious affiliations, beliefs and practices of U.K. residents. Differences in the wording and context of the questions can give substantially different results.