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Religion in the United Kingdom

April 12, 2023

This article is about religion in the United Kingdom as a whole. For religion in each of its constituent countries, see Religion in England, Religion in Scotland, Religion in Wales, and Religion in Northern Ireland.

Religion in the United Kingdom, and in the countries that preceded it, has been dominated for over 1,400 years by various forms of Christianity, replacing Romano-British religions, Celtic and Anglo-Saxon paganism as the primary religion. Religious affiliations of United Kingdom citizens are recorded by regular surveys, the four major ones being the national decennial census, the Labour Force Survey, the British Social Attitudes survey and the European Social Survey.

Religion in the United Kingdom (2018 research)[1]

  None (52%)
  Church of England (13.7%)
  Catholic Church (8.7%)
  Other Christian (13.2%)
  Islam (6.7%)
  Other religions (3.6%)
  Not stated (2.1%)

Results of the 2021 Census for England and Wales (that is, not including Scotland and Northern Ireland), which asked the question "What is your religion?", showed that Christianity is the largest religion, followed by Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism and Buddhism in terms of number of adherents, while Shamanism is the fastest growing religion.[2] Among Christians, Anglicans are the most common denomination, followed by Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists. This, and the relatively large number of individuals with nominal or no religious affiliations, has led commentators to variously describe the United Kingdom as a multi-faith and secularised society. Other major surveys which ask a differently worded question find a majority of people in the UK do not belong to a religion, with Christianity the largest religion.

British society is one of the most secularised in the world and in many surveys determining religious beliefs of the population agnosticism, nontheism, atheism, secular humanism, and non-affiliation are views shared by large percentages of Britons.[3] The Church of England is the state church of its largest member country by population, England. The Church of England defines itself as neither fully Reformed Protestant nor fully Catholic. The Monarch of the United Kingdom is the supreme governor of the Church. Some British people and organisations in the United Kingdom, such as Humanists UK, hold the view that the UK should become a secular state, with no official or established religion.[4] A survey published in April 2022 also revealed that whereas a fifth of those polled thought that Anglican bishops should remain in the House of Lords, three-fifths thought they (as unelected clerics) did not have a place in a modern legislature and another fifth were "don't knows." Commenting on this, Martyn Percy, former dean of Christ Church, Oxford, noted that "To the extent that the Church [of England] retains unique privileges in comparison with any other religious organizations, it can be said that the UK has religious freedom – but, embarrassingly, not religious equality."[5]

The United Kingdom was formed by the union of previously independent countries in 1707, and consequently most of the largest religious groups do not have UK-wide organisational structures. While some groups have separate structures for the individual countries of the United Kingdom, others have a single structure covering England and Wales or Great Britain. Similarly, due to the relatively recent creation of Northern Ireland in 1921, most major religious groups in Northern Ireland are organised on an all-Ireland basis.

History

Further information: History of Christianity in Britain
 
Fourth-century Chi-Rho fresco from Lullingstone Roman Villa, Kent, which contains the only known Christian paintings from the Roman era in Britain.[6]

Pre-Roman forms of religion in Britain included various forms of ancestor worship and paganism.[7] Little is known about the details of such religions (see British paganism). Forms of Christianity have influenced religious life in what is now the United Kingdom for over 1,400 years. It was introduced by the Romans to what is now England, Wales, and Southern Scotland. The doctrine of Pelagianism, declared heretical in the Council of Carthage (418), originated with a British-born ascetic, Pelagius.

During the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries, paganism was re-established; Christianity was again brought to Great Britain by Catholic Church and Irish-Scottish missionaries in the course of the 7th century (see Anglo-Saxon Christianity).[8] In 601 AD, Pope Gregory I ordered images of pagan gods in England to be destroyed, but not the temples, which should instead be used as places of worship of the Christian God.[9] England was nominally Christianised by the end of the 7th century, during which paganism was banned by the Church.[10] Despite this, pagan practices such as leaving votive offerings at standing stones, trees and wells, persisted at least into the 11th century,[11] prompting new penitential laws across England that aimed to suppress the surviving folk beliefs.[12] Insular Christianity as it stood between the 6th and 8th centuries retained some idiosyncrasies in terms of liturgy and calendar, but it had been nominally united with Roman Christianity since at least the Synod of Whitby of 664. Still in the Anglo-Saxon period, the archbishops of Canterbury established a tradition of receiving their pallium from Rome to symbolize the authority of the Pope. Paganism was re-introduced to regions of the British Isles in the 9th century by Scandinavian settlers who established the Kingdom of the Isles and the Danelaw. The timeline for the conversion of the settlers varies, with the Danish leader Guthrum baptised in 878 AD in accordance with the Treaty of Wedmore. Orkney, on other hand, was not nominally Christianised until 995 AD when Olaf Tryggvason ordered that if the earl and his subjects did not convert, he would be killed and the islands ravaged.[13]

The Roman Catholic Church remained the dominant form of Western Christianity in Britain throughout the Middle Ages, but the (Anglican) Church of England became the independent established church in England and Wales in 1534 as a result of the English Reformation.[14] It retains a representation in the UK Parliament and the British monarch is its supreme governor.[15]

In Scotland, the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, established in a separate Scottish Reformation in the sixteenth century, is recognized 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.[16][17]

The adherence to the Catholic Church continued at various levels in different parts of Britain, especially among recusants and in the north of England,[18] but most strongly in Ireland. This would expand in Great Britain, partly due to Irish immigration in the nineteenth century,[19] the Catholic emancipation and the Restoration of the English hierarchy.

Particularly from the mid-seventeenth century, forms of Protestant nonconformity, including Congregationalists, Baptists, Quakers and, later, Methodists, grew outside of the established church.[20] The (Anglican) Church in Wales was disestablished in 1920 and, as the (Anglican) Church of Ireland was disestablished in 1870 before the partition of Ireland, there is no established church in Northern Ireland.[21]

The Jews in England were expelled in 1290 and only emancipated in the 19th century. British Jews had numbered fewer than 10,000 in 1800 but around 120,000 after 1881 when Russian Jews settled permanently in Britain.[22]

The substantial immigration to the United Kingdom after World War II has contributed to the growth of foreign faiths, especially of Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism.[23] Buddhism in the United Kingdom experienced growth partly due to immigration and partly due to conversion (especially when including Secular Buddhism).[24]

As elsewhere in the Western world, religious demographics have become part of the discourse on multiculturalism, with Britain variously described as a post-Christian society,[25] as "multi-faith",[26] or as secularised.[27] Scholars have suggested multiple possible reasons for the decline, but have not agreed on their relative importance. Martin Wellings lays out the "classical model" of secularisation, while noting that it has been challenged by some scholars.

The familiar starting-point, a classical model of secularisation, argues that religious faith becomes less plausible and religious practice more difficult in advanced industrial and urbanized societies. The breakdown or disruption of traditional communities and norms of behaviour; the spread of a scientific world-view diminishing the scope of the supernatural and the role of God; increasing material affluence promoting self-reliance and this-worldly optimism; and greater awareness and toleration of different creeds and ideas, encouraging religious pluralism and eviscerating commitment to a particular faith, all form components of the case for secularisation. Applied to the British churches in general by Steve Bruce and to Methodism in particular by Robert Currie, this model traces decline back to the Victorian era and charts in the twentieth century a steady ebbing of the sea of faith.[28][29][30]

Statistics

Religious affiliations

In the 2011 census, Christianity was the largest religion, stated as their affiliation by 60% of the total population.[31][32][33]

Although there was no UK-wide data in the 2001 or the 2011 census on adherence to individual Christian denominations, since they are asked only in the Scottish and in the Northern Irish Censuses,[34] using the same principle as applied in the 2001 census, a survey carried out in the end of 2008 by Ipsos MORI and based on a scientifically robust sample, found the population of England and Wales to be 47.0% Anglican, 9.6% Catholic and 8.7% other Christians; 4.8% were Muslim, 3.4% were members of other religions. 5.3% were Agnostics, 6.8% were Atheists and 15.0% were not sure about their religious affiliation or refused to answer to the question.[35]

The 2009 British Social Attitudes Survey, which covers Great Britain but not Northern Ireland, indicated that over 50 per cent would self-classify as not religious at all, 19.9 per cent were part of the Church of England, 9.3% non-denominational Christian, 8.6% Catholic, 2.2% Presbyterian/Church of Scotland, 1.3% Methodist, 0.53% Baptist, 1.17% other Protestant, 0.23% United Reformed Church/Congregational, 0.06% Free Presbyterian, 0.03% Brethren Christian and 0.41% other Christian.[36]

In a 2016 survey conducted by BSA (British Social Attitudes) on religious affiliation; 53% of respondents indicated 'no religion' and 41% indicated they were Christians, while 6% affiliated with non-Christian religions (Islam, Hinduism, Judaism etc.)[37]

Eurostat's Eurobarometer survey in December 2018 found that 53.6% of UK's population is Christian, while 6.2% belong to other religions and 40.2% are atheists (30.3% Agnostics, 9.9% Anti-theists).[38] The May 2019 Special Eurobarometer found that 50% were Christians (14% Protestants, 13% Catholics, 7% Orthodox and 16% other Christians), 37% atheist (9% anti-theists, 28% 'nonbelievers and agnostics'), 5% Muslims (3% Sunnis, 1% Shias, 1% other Muslims), 1% Sikhs, 1% Hindus, fewer than 1% Jews, fewer than 1% Buddhists, 4% other religions, 1% didn't know, and 1% refused to answer.[39] The same year Pew Research center estimated that 73% of people in UK were Christian while 23% were unaffiliated and 4% were other religion or did not know.[40]

The wording of the question affects the outcome of polls as is apparent when comparing the results of the Scottish census with that of the English and Welsh census.[41][42][43][44] An ICM poll for The Guardian in 2006 asked the question "Which religion do you yourself belong to?" with a response of 64% stating "Christian" and 26% stating "none". In the same survey, 63% claimed they are not religious with just 33% claiming they are.[45] This suggests that the religious UK population identify themselves as having Christian beliefs, but maybe not as active "church-goers".[46]

Religions other than Christianity, such as Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and Judaism, have established a presence in the United Kingdom, both through immigration and by attracting converts. Others that have done so include the Baháʼí Faith, Modern paganism, and the Rastafari movement -which has 5000 followers in the UK as of a 2001 census.[47]

The European Social Survey, carried out between 2014 and 2016, found that 70% of people between 16 and 29 were not religious.[48]

The 2022 Talking Jesus report (a partnership between Alpha, the Evangelical Alliance, HOPE Together, Luis Palau Association and Kingsgate Community Church) describes the current state of faith in the UK: 48% of the population described themselves as ‘Christian’ of which 6% described themselves as ‘practising Christians’.[49]

Historical trends since 1900

  • Sources: Based on Historical data/information,[50][51] Religious Data since 1980s,[52] Eurobarometer 2015 Data,[53] and 2001 & 2011 National U.K. Census. Specifications: Catholics include directs Roman Catholics (8%) and Anglo-Catholics in obye to the Pope and Church of England[clarification needed] (5%), Protestants include the majority of Anglicans (Traditional Anglicanism, Anglican Evangelical versions and part of Anglo-Catholics), Mainline Protestant Churches like Methodists or Presbyterians (7%) and Evangelical Protestants (4%), Other Christians historically were British Restoriationist Churches inspired by Mainline Protestant denominations (knowed as Free Churches), today the most numerous Christian minorities are the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) (0.3%), and Jehovah's Witnesses (0.2%), also including Orthodox Christianity. Non-Religious since 2000s data were an adjusted by the specified non-religious and most of the non-response percent. Other religions: Islam in the United Kingdom, British Jews, Hinduism in the United Kingdom, Sikhism in the United Kingdom.

Censuses

The statistics for current religion (not religion of upbringing where also asked) from the 2011 census and the corresponding statistics from the 2001 census are set out in the tables below.

2021-22 Census[54]
Religion England Wales England and Wales[55] Scotland Great Britain Northern Ireland[56]
Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number %
Christianity 26,167,899 46.3 1,354,773 43.6 27,522,672 46.2 1,516,147 79.7
Islam 3,801,186 6.7 66,947 2.2 3,868,133 6.5 10,870 0.6
Hinduism 1,020,533 1.8 12,242 0.4 1,032,775 1.7 4,190 0.2
Sikhism 520,092 0.9 4,048 0.1 524,140 0.9
Judaism 269,283 0.5 2,044 0.1 271,327 0.5
Buddhism 262,433 0.5 10,075 0.3 272,508 0.5 1,542 0.1
Other religion 332,410 0.6 15,926 0.5 348,334 0.6 8,917 0.5
No religion 20,715,664 36.7 1,446,398 46.5 22,162,062 37.2 330,983 17.4
Religion not stated 3,400,548 6.0 195,041 6.3 3,595,589 6.0 30,529 1.6
Total population 56,490,048 100.0 3,107,494 100.0 59,597,540 100.0 1,903,178 100.0


2011 Census
Religion England[31] Wales[31] England and Wales[31] Scotland[32] Great Britain Northern Ireland[57][33] United Kingdom
Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number %
Christianity 31,479,876 59.4 1,763,299 57.6 33,243,175 59.3 2,850,199 53.8 36,093,374 58.8 1,490,588 82.3 37,583,962 59.5
Islam 2,660,116 5.0 45,950 1.5 2,706,066 4.8 76,737 1.4 2,782,803 4.5 3,832 0.21 2,786,635 4.4
Hinduism 806,199 1.5 10,434 0.34 816,633 1.5 16,379 0.3 833,012 1.4 2,382 0.13 835,394 1.3
Sikhism 420,196 0.8 2,962 0.1 423,158 0.8 9,055 0.2 432,213 0.7 216 0.01 432,429 0.7
Judaism 261,282 0.5 2,064 0.1 263,346 0.5 5,887 0.1 269,233 0.4 335 0.02 269,568 0.4
Buddhism 238,626 0.5 9,117 0.3 247,743 0.4 12,795 0.2 260,538 0.4 1,046 0.06 261,584 0.4
Other religion 227,825 0.4 12,705 0.4 240,530 0.4 15,196 0.3 255,726 0.4 7,048 0.39 262,774 0.4
No religion 13,114,232 24.7 982,997 32.1 14,097,229 25.1 1,941,116 36.7 16,038,345 26.1 183,164 10.1 16,221,509 25.7
Religion not stated 3,804,104 7.2 233,928 7.6 4,038,032 7.2 368,039 7.0 4,406,071 7.2 122,252 6.8 4,528,323 7.2
Total population 53,012,456 100.0 3,063,456 100.0 56,075,912 100.0 5,295,403 100.0 61,371,315 100.0 1,810,863 100.0 63,182,178 100.0
2001 Census
Religion England[58] Wales[58] England and Wales[58] Scotland[59] Great Britain Northern Ireland[60][61] United Kingdom
Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number %
Christianity 35,251,244 71.7 2,087,242 71.9 37,338,486 71.8 3,294,545 65.1 40,633,031 71.2 1,446,386 85.8 42,079,417 71.6
Islam 1,524,887 3.1 21,739 0.7 1,546,626 3.0 42,557 0.8 1,589,183 2.8 1,943 0.12 1,591,126 2.7
Hinduism 546,982 1.1 5,439 0.2 552,421 1.1 5,564 0.1 557,985 1.0 825 0.05 558,810 1.0
Sikhism 327,343 0.7 2,015 0.1 329,358 0.6 6,572 0.1 335,930 0.6 219 0.0 336,149 0.6
Judaism 257,671 0.5 2,256 0.1 259,927 0.5 6,448 0.1 266,375 0.5 365 0.0 266,740 0.5
Buddhism 139,046 0.3 5,407 0.2 144,453 0.3 6,830 0.1 151,283 0.3 533 0.0 151,816 0.3
Other religion 143,811 0.3 6,909 0.2 150,720 0.3 26,974 0.5 177,694 0.3 1,143 0.1 178,837 0.3
No religion 7,171,332 14.6 537,935 18.5 7,709,267 14.8 1,394,460 27.6 9,103,727 15.9 233,853 13.9 13,626,299 23.2
Religion not stated 3,776,515 7.7 234,143 8.1 4,010,658 7.7 278,061 5.5 4,288,719 7.5
Total population 49,138,831 100.0 2,903,085 100.0 52,041,916 100.0 5,062,011 100.0 57,103,927 100.0 1,685,267 100.0 58,789,194 100.0
 
Percentage of respondents in the 2011 census in the UK who said they were Christian.
Religious affiliation (%) in the UK according to the censuses 2001–2
  Christianity
  Islam
  Other religions
  Not religious

Surveys

Religious affiliations of UK citizens are recorded by regular surveys, the four major ones being the UK Census,[62] the Labour Force Survey,[63] the British Social Attitudes survey[64] and the European Social Survey.[65] The different questions asked by these surveys produced different results:

  • The census for England and Wales asked the question "What is your religion?".[66] In 2001 14.81%[41] and in 2011 around a quarter (25.1%) of the population said they had "none" and 70% stated they were Christian.[67]
  • The census for Scotland asked the question "What religion, religious denomination or body do you belong to?".[66] In 2001 27.55%[42] and in 2011 36.7% selected "none" and 53.8% stated they were Christian.[32]
  • The Labour Force Survey asked the question "What is your religion even if you are not currently practising?" with a response of 15.7% selecting "no religion" in 2004 and 22.4% selecting "no religion" in 2010.[68]
  • The British Social Attitudes survey asked the question "Do you regard yourself as belonging to any particular religion?" with 53% selecting "no religion" in 2016.[37]
  • The European Social Survey asked the question "Which religion or denomination do you belong to at present?" with 50.54% of respondents selecting "no religion" in 2002 and 52.68% selecting "no religion" in 2008.[69]

Other surveys:

  • In 1983, in a large public opinion survey, almost a third of Britons said they believed in Hell and the Devil. In Northern Ireland, 91 per cent of people said they believed in sin. This was reported in The Observer on 28 February 1983.[70]
  • In 2018, according to a study jointly conducted by London's St Mary's University's Benedict XVI Centre for Religion and Society and the Institut Catholique de Paris, and based on data from the European Social Survey 2014–2016 collected on a sample of 560, among 16 to 29 years-old British people 21% were Christians (10% Catholic, 7% Anglican, 2% other Protestant and 2% other Christian), 6% were Muslims, 3% were of other religions, and 70% were not religious.[71] The data was obtained from two questions, one asking "Do you consider yourself as belonging to any particular religion or denomination?" to the full sample and the other one asking "Which one?" to the sample who replied with "Yes".[72]
Detailed 2018 BSA survey on religion in the UK[73]
Affiliation % of UK population
No religion 52 52
 
Christian 38 38
 
Church of England 12 12
 
Roman Catholic 7 7
 
Presbyterian 2 2
 
Methodist 1 1
 
Baptist 0.5 0.5
 
Christian - no denomination 9 9
 
Other Christian 4 4
 
Non-Christian faiths 9 9
 
Muslim 6 6
 
Jewish 0.5 0.5
 
Other Non-Christian faiths 3 3
 
Total 100 100
 

The British Social Attitudes surveys and the European Social Surveys are fielded to adult individuals.[37][69] In contrast, the United Kingdom Census and the Labour Force Surveys are household surveys; the respondent completes the questionnaire on behalf of each member of the household,[43][44][74] including children,[68] as well as for themselves. The 2010 Labour Force Survey claimed that 54% of children aged from birth to four years were Christian, rising to 59% for children aged between 5 and 9 and 65% for children aged between 10 and 14.[68] The inclusion of children with adult-imposed religions influences the results of the polls.[46][75]

Other major polls agree with the British Social Attitudes surveys and the European Social Surveys, with a YouGov survey fielded in February 2012 indicating that 43% of respondents claimed to belong to a religion and 76% claimed they were not very religious or not religious at all.[76] An Ipsos MORI survey fielded in August 2003 indicated that 18% of respondents claimed to be "a practising member of an organised religion" and 25% claimed "I am a non-practising member of an organised religion".[77] A 2015 study estimated some 25,000 believers in Christ from a Muslim background, most of whom belong to an evangelical or Pentecostal community.[78]

Religious affiliation (%) in England, Scotland and Wales according to the Annual Population Survey 2007-2016

The Annual Population Survey is a combined statistical survey of households in Great Britain which is conducted quarterly by the Office for National Statistics and combines results from the Labour Force Survey and the English, Welsh and Scottish Labour Force Survey,[79] gathers information about the religious affiliation, reported in the table below.[80] The change in the religious affiliation between the 2010 APS and the 2011 APS is due to a question change, which significantly influenced the final results.[81]

  Christianity
  Islam
  Other religions
  Not religious

Attendance

Society in the United Kingdom is markedly more secular than it was in the past and the number of churchgoers fell over the second half of the 20th century.[82] The Ipsos MORI poll in 2003 reported that 18% were "a practising member of an organised religion".[77] The Tearfund Survey in 2007 found that only 7% of the population considered themselves as practising Christians. Some 10% attended church weekly and two-thirds had not gone to church in the past year.[83][84] The Tearfund Survey also found that two-thirds of UK adults (66%) or 32.2 million people had no connection with the Church at present (nor with another religion). These people were 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 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.[85] 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 per cent 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.[86]

A December 2007 report by Christian Research showed that the services of the Catholic Church 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%.[87] 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 43% in 2009.[36]

In 2012 about 6% of the population of the United Kingdom regularly attended church, with the average age of attendees being 51; in contrast, in 1980, 11% had regularly attended, with an average age of 37. It is predicted that by 2020 attendance will be around 4%, with an average age of 56.[82] This decline in church attendance has forced many churches to close down across the United Kingdom, with the Church of England alone closing 1,500 churches between 1969 and 2002. Their fates include dereliction, demolition, and residential, artistic and commercial conversion.[88] In October 2014 weekly attendance at Church of England services dropped below 1 million for the first time. At Christmas 2014, 2.4 million attended. For that year baptisms were 130,000, down 12% since 2004; marriages were 50,000, down 19%; and funerals 146,000, down 29%. The Church estimated that about 1% of churchgoers were lost to death each year; the Church's age profile suggested that attendances would continue to decline.[89]

One study showed that in 2004 at least 930,000 Muslims attended a mosque at least once a week, just outnumbering the 916,000 regular churchgoers in the Church of England.[90] Muslim sources claim the number of practising Muslims is underestimated as nearly all of them pray at home.[91]

Belief

European Social Survey (UK)

"Do you consider yourself as belonging to any particular religion or denomination?"

Year Yes No
2008 47.32% 52.64%
2006 48.45% 51.34%
2004 50.55% 49.24%
2002 49.46% 50.49%

Source: European social survey 2002–2010[92]

There is a disparity between the figures for those identifying themselves with a particular religion and for those proclaiming a belief in a God:

  • In a 2011 YouGov poll, 34% of UK citizens said they believed in a God or gods.[93]
  • A Eurobarometer opinion poll in 2010 reported that 37% of UK citizens "believed there is a God", 33% believe there is "some sort of spirit or life force" and 25% answered "I don't believe there is any sort of spirit, God or life force".[94]
  • The 2008 European Social Survey suggested that 46.94% of UK citizens never prayed and 18.96% prayed daily.[69]
  • A survey in 2007 suggested that 42% of adults resident in the United Kingdom prayed, with one in six praying daily.[95]

Jedi census phenomenon

Main article: Jedi census phenomenon

In the 2001 census, 390,127 individuals (0.7 per cent of total respondents) in England and Wales self-identified as followers of the Jedi faith. This Jedi census phenomenon followed an internet campaign that claimed, incorrectly, that the Jedi belief system would receive official government recognition as a religion if it received enough support in the census.[96] An email in support of the campaign, quoted by BBC News, invited people to "do it because you love Star Wars ... or just to annoy people".[97] The Office for National Statistics revealed the total figure in a press release entitled "390,000 Jedi there are".[98]

Christianity

Forms of Christianity have dominated religious life in what is now the United Kingdom for over 1,400 years.[99] The United Kingdom was formed by the union of previously autonomous states in 1707,[100][101][102] and consequently most of the largest religious groups do not have UK-wide organisational structures. While some groups have separate structures for the individual countries of the United Kingdom, others have a single structure covering England and Wales or Great Britain. Similarly, due to the relatively recent creation of Northern Ireland in 1921, most major religious groups in Northern Ireland are organised on an all-Ireland basis.

Protestantism

Anglicanism

Main articles: Church of England, Church of Ireland, Church in Wales, and Scottish Episcopal Church
See also: Anglican Communion

The Church of England is the established church in England.[14] Its most senior bishops sit in the national parliament and the Monarch is its supreme governor. It is also the "mother church" of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Church of England separated from the Catholic Church in 1534 and became the established church by Parliament in the Act of Supremacy, beginning a series of events known as the English Reformation.[103] Historically it has been the predominant Christian denomination in England and Wales, in terms of both influence and number of adherents.

The Scottish Episcopal Church, which is part of the Anglican Communion (but not a "daughter church" of the Church of England),[104] dates from the final establishment of Presbyterianism in Scotland in 1690, when it split from the Church of Scotland. In the 1920s, the Church in Wales became disestablished and independent from the Church of England, but remains in the Anglican Communion.[105]

During the years 2012 to 2014 the number of members of the Church of England dropped by around 1.7 million.[106][107]

In 2018, 12% of the population of Great Britain identify as Anglicans, a sharp decline from 1983 when 40% of the population identified as Anglicans.[108]

Baptists

 
A Baptist church in Birmingham, West Midlands.
Main article: Baptists
See also: English Dissenters, Nonconformism, Ecclesiastical separatism, and 17th-century denominations in England

The Baptist Union of Great Britain, despite its name, covers just England and Wales.[109] There is a separate Baptist Union of Scotland and the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland is an all-Ireland organisation.[110] Other Baptist associations also exist in England, such as the Grace Baptist association and the Gospel Standard Baptists.

Charismatics and Pentecostalism

Main articles: Pentecostalism, Charismatic movement, and Neo-charismatic movement

Assemblies of God in Great Britain are part of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship with over 600 churches in Great Britain.[111] Assemblies of God Ireland cover the whole of the island of Ireland, including Northern Ireland. The Apostolic Church commenced in the early part of the 20th century in South Wales and now has over 110 churches across the United Kingdom. Elim Pentecostal Church as of 2013 had over 500 churches across the United Kingdom.[111]

There is also a growing number of independent, charismatic churches that encourage Pentecostal practices as part of their worship. These are broadly grouped together as the British New Church Movement and could number up to 400,000 members. The phenomenon of immigrant churches and congregations that began with the arrival of the HMT Empire Windrush from the West Indies in 1948 stands as a unique trend. West Indian congregations that started from this time include the Church of God, New Testament Assembly and New Testament Church of God.

Africans began to arrive in the early 1980s and established their own congregations. Foremost among these are Matthew Ashimolowo from Nigeria and his Kingsway International Christian Centre in London that may be the largest church in Western Europe.[112]

Methodism

Main articles: Methodism, Methodist Church of Great Britain, and Methodist Church in Ireland
See also: First Great Awakening, Evangelicalism, and Nonconformism
 
The Methodist church at Haroldswick is the most northerly church in the United Kingdom

The Methodist movement traces its origin to John Wesley and the evangelical revival in the 18th century.[113] The British Methodist Church, which has congregations throughout the nation, has around 188,000 members,[114] and 4,110 churches (as of 2019),[115] though only around 3,000 members in 50 congregations are in Scotland.[citation needed] In the 1960s, the Methodist Church 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.[116]

The Methodist Church in Ireland covers the whole of the island of Ireland, including Northern Ireland where it is the fourth-largest denomination.

Other Methodist denominations in Britain include the Salvation Army, founded in 1865;[117] the Free Methodist Church, a holiness church; and the Church of the Nazarene.

Presbyterianism and Congregationalism

Main articles: Presbyterianism, Church of Scotland, Presbyterian Church of Wales, Presbyterian Church of Ireland, and Presbyterian Church of England

The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Reformation of 1560, when it split from the Catholic Church and established itself as a church in the reformed tradition. The church is Calvinist Presbyterian, having no head of faith or leadership group and believing that God invited the church's adherents to worship Jesus. The annual meeting of its general assembly is chaired by the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The Church of Scotland celebrates two sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper, as well as five other rites, such as Confirmation and Matrimony. The church adheres to the Bible and the Westminster Confession of Faith, and is a member of the World Communion of Reformed Churches.

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,[118] with the first Presbytery being formed in Antrim in 1725.[119]

With its origins in the 16th century, English Presbyterianism, was initially contained with the Church of England until the Great Ejection of 1662. During the 18th century there were few Presbyterian congregations in England until they were revived by Scots who had moved south. In time, this led to the creation of Presbyterian Church of England in 1876. Its successor, the United Reformed Church (URC), a union of Presbyterian and Congregational churches, consists of about 1383 congregations in England, Scotland and Wales.[120] There are about 600 Congregational churches in the United Kingdom. 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 members of the Congregational Federation and in Wales which traditionally has a larger number of Congregationalists, most are members of the Union of Welsh Independents.

Quakers

Main article: Quakers
See also: English Dissenters, Nonconformism, Ecclesiastical separatism, and 17th-century denominations in England

The Britain Yearly Meeting is the umbrella body for the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Great Britain, the Channel Isles and the Isle of Man. It has 14,260 adult members.[121] Northern Ireland comes under the umbrella of the Ireland Yearly Meeting.

Catholicism

Main article: Catholic Church in the United Kingdom
See also: Catholic Church in England and Wales, Catholic Church in Scotland, and Catholic Church in Ireland

The Catholic Church has separate national organisations for England, Wales, and Scotland, which means there is no single hierarchy for the Catholic Church in the United Kingdom. Catholicism is the second largest denomination in England and Wales, with around five million members, mainly in England.[122] There is, however, a single apostolic nuncio to Great Britain, presently Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti. Catholicism is also Scotland's second largest Christian denomination, representing a fifth of the population.[123] In 2021, for the first time since the establishment of the exclave, the Catholic Church attained a plurality of the Northern Irish population.[124] The apostolic nuncio to the whole of Ireland (both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland) is Jude Thaddeus Okolo. Members of the Eastern Catholic Churches in the United Kingdom are served by their own clergy and do not belong to the Latin Church dioceses but are still in full communion with the Bishop of Rome.

The number of adherents to the Catholic Church as a percentage of overall population has remained stable. In 2018, 7% of the population identified as Catholics.[108]

Orthodoxy

Orthodox Christianity is a relatively minor faith in the United Kingdom when compared to Protestantism and Catholicism; most Orthodox churches cater to immigrants from Eastern Europe, the Balkans and The Middle East. It is a relatively minor faith among Britons themselves. In 2013 there were roughly 464,000 members of Orthodox churches in the UK.[125]

Eastern Orthodoxy

Adherents of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in the United Kingdom are traditionally organized in accordance with patrimonial ecclesiastical jurisdictions. The Russian Orthodox Church has a Diocese of Sourozh, which covers Great Britain and Ireland,[126] and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia also has a diocese of Great Britain and Western Europe.[127] The Greek Orthodox Church is represented by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which has established the Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain, that covers England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland as well as Malta. The Patriarchate of Antioch has several parishes and missions within the Diocese of the British Isles and Ireland.[128] Other Eastern Orthodox Churches represented in the United Kingdom include the Georgian Orthodox Church, the Romanian Orthodox Church, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Oriental Orthodoxy

Adherents of Oriental Orthodox Christianity in the United Kingdom are also traditionally organized in accordance with their patrimonial ecclesiastical jurisdictions, each community having its own parishes and priests. The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria has two regional Dioceses in the United Kingdom: the Diocese of Ireland, Scotland, North East England, and the Diocese of the Midlands. Other Oriental Orthodox Churches represented in the United Kingdom include the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The homegrown British Orthodox Church and Celtic Orthodox Church, although both minor, are also represented.

Other Trinitarian denominations

Other denominations and groups include the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Seventh Day Baptists, the Plymouth Brethren,[129] and Newfrontiers.[130]

Non-Trinitarian denominations

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Main articles: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in England, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Wales, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Scotland, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ireland

The first missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to proselytise in the British Isles arrived in 1837. By 1900 as many as 100,000 converts had joined the faith, but most of these early members soon emigrated to the United States to join the main body of the church. From the 1950s emigration to the United States began to be discouraged and local congregations grew more rapidly. Today the church claims just over 186,000 members across the United Kingdom, in over 330 local congregations, known as 'wards' or 'branches'. The church also maintains two temples in England, the first opening in the London area in 1958, and the second completed in 1998 in Preston and known as the Preston England Temple. Preston is also the site of the first preaching by LDS missionaries in 1837, and is home to the oldest continually existing Latter Day Saint congregation anywhere in the world.[131][132] Restored 1994–2000, the Gadfield Elm Chapel in Worcestershire is the oldest extant chapel of the LDS Church.[133]

Other non-Trinitarian denominations

Jehovah's Witnesses had 137,631 "publishers" (a term referring to members actively involved in preaching) in the United Kingdom in 2015.[134] The Church of Christ, Scientist is also represented in the UK.

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

There are an estimated 18,000 Christadelphians in the UK.

Islam

Main article: Islam in the United Kingdom
See also: Islam in England, Islam in Northern Ireland, Islam in Scotland, and Islam in Wales
 
Shah Jahan Mosque in Woking is the oldest purpose-built mosque in the United Kingdom.

Estimates in 2009 suggested a total of about 2.4 million Muslims over all the United Kingdom.[135][136] According to Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, the number of Muslims in Britain could be up to 3 million.[137] The vast majority of Muslims in the United Kingdom live in England and Wales: of 1,591,126 Muslims recorded at the 2001 Census, 1,546,626 were living in England and Wales, where they form 3 per cent of the population; 42,557 were living in Scotland, forming 0.8 per cent of the population;[138] and 1,943 were living in Northern Ireland.[139] Between 2001 and 2009 the Muslim population increased roughly 10 times faster than the rest of society.[140]

Most Muslim immigrants to the United Kingdom came from former colonies. The biggest groups of Muslims are of Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian and Arab origins,[141] with the remainder coming from Muslim-dominated areas such as Southwest Asia, Somalia, Malaysia, and Indonesia.[142] During the 18th century, lascars (sailors) who worked for the British East India Company settled in port towns with local wives.[143] These numbered only 24,037 in 1891 but 51,616 on the eve of World War I.[144] Naval cooks, including Sake Dean Mahomet, also came from what is now the Sylhet Division of Bangladesh.[145] From the 1950s onwards, the growing Muslim population has led to a number of notable Mosques being established, including East London Mosque, London Central Mosque, Manchester Central Mosque, London Markaz, Baitul Futuh of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and Cambridge Central Mosque. According to Kevin Brice, a researcher at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, thousands convert to Islam annually and there are approximately 100,000 converts to Islam in Britain, where they run two mosques.[146]

According to a Labour Force Survey estimate, the total number of Muslims in Great Britain in 2008 was 2,422,000, around 4 per cent of the total population.[147] Between 2004 and 2008, the Muslim population grew by more than 500,000.[147] In 2010, The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life estimated 2,869,000 Muslims in Great Britain.[148] The largest age-bracket within the British Muslim population were those under the age of 4, at 301,000 in September 2008.[147] The Muslim Council of Britain and the Islamic Forum of Europe are the umbrellas organisations for many local, regional and specialist Islamic organisations in the United Kingdom, although it is disputed how representative this organisation is of British Muslims as a whole.

Hinduism

Main article: Hinduism in the United Kingdom
 
The Neasden Temple is the second largest temple of Hinduism in Europe.

Hinduism in the United Kingdom resulted from the British rule in India. There are 835,394 Hindus in Great Britain according to the 2011 census constituting 1.32% of the population.[149] About half of all British Hindus live in London metropolitan area.[150] Small Hindu Communities are also found in Scotland (0.31%)[151] and in Wales (0.34%).[152]

According to United Kingdom's Office of National Statistics, of all ethnic minorities in Britain, the British Hindus had the highest rate of economic activity.[153] Hindus are more likely than the general population to have higher education and Hindu men are more likely than the general population to be entrepreneurs.[154] British Hindus also have the third highest poverty level[155] and the lowest rates of arrest, trial or imprisonment.[156] Hindus constitute less than 0.5% of the total Prison population in Britain.[157] The current PM of Britain is a Hindu.

Sikhism

Main article: Sikhism in the United Kingdom
See also: Sikhism in England, Sikhism in Scotland, and Sikhism in Wales

There are 432,429 Sikhs in the United Kingdom constituting 0.7% of the population, according to the 2011 Census.[158] While England is home to the majority of Sikhs in the United Kingdom, small communities also exist in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The first recorded Sikh settler in the United Kingdom was Maharaja Duleep Singh, dethroned and exiled in 1849 at the age of 14, after the Anglo-Sikh wars. During the reign of King Edward VII the first Sikh society in the UK was founded in 1908, it was called The Khalsa Jatha.[159] The first Sikh Gurdwara was established in 1911, in Shepherd's Bush, Putney, London. The first wave of Sikh migration came in the 1940s, mostly of men from the Punjab seeking work in industries such as foundries and textiles. These new arrivals mostly settled in London, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, the Midlands and West Yorkshire. Thousands of Sikhs from East Africa followed later.

Judaism

Main article: History of the Jews in the United Kingdom
See also: History of the Jews in England, History of the Jews in Scotland, History of the Jews in Wales, and History of the Jews in Ireland

The first Jewish community in what is now the UK was attested from at least the 1060s, but was expelled in 1290, although non-practising Jews maintained themselves as a small but identifiable group until the 1560s in London. Practising Jews occasionally travelled to England, and individual Jews settled in various parts of the British Isles. In the early 1600s, a small community of Sephardic Jews was identified in Bristol, and ordered to leave in 1609. There have continuously been practising Jews in England since at least the 1630s, but it wasn't until 1656 that Oliver Cromwell made it known they would not be subject to expulsion. The largely Iberian and German early community grew only steadily from the mid 17th century until the late 19th century, when a large wave of Eastern European immigrants roughly quadrupled the population. Another wave of largely German refugees increased it by a further 50% between 1933 and 1945.

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. In 1858, practising Jews were allowed to become serving MPs; on 26 July 1858, Lionel de Rothschild was finally allowed to sit in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom when the law restricting the oath of office to Christians was changed, although 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; David Ricardo, another convert to Christianity, had been an MP in the 1810s. In 1884 Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild became the first practising Jewish member of the British House of Lords; again Disraeli was already a member.

British Jews number around 300,000 with the United Kingdom having the fifth largest Jewish community worldwide.[160] 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. The largest concentrations of Jews are in London and its environs, Greater Manchester, and Leeds.

Buddhism

Main article: Buddhism in the United Kingdom
See also: Buddhism in England, Buddhism in Scotland, and Buddhism in Wales

In the UK census for 2011, there were about 178,000 people who registered their religion as Buddhism. The earliest Buddhist influence on Britain came through its imperial connections with Southeast 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 Theravāda Buddhist Tradition into English. Buddhism as a path of practise was pioneered by the Theosophists, Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott, and in 1880 they became the first Westerners to receive the Three refuges and Five precepts, the formal conversion ceremony by which one traditionally accepted and 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 (now the Triratna Buddhist Community). Thai Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah was also established at Chithurst Buddhist Monastery in West Sussex in 1979, giving rise to branch monasteries, including Amaravati Buddhist Monastery and Aruna Ratanagiri.There are also other groups like Order of Interbeing and Soka Gakkai in the United Kingdom.

Other religions

Modern paganism

Main article: Modern paganism in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, census figures do not allow an accurate breakdown of traditions within the Pagan heading, as a campaign by the Pagan Federation before the 2001 Census encouraged Wiccans, Heathens, Druids and others all to use the same write-in term 'Pagan' in order to maximise the numbers reported. For the first time, respondents were able to write in an affiliation not covered by the checklist of common religions, and a total of 42,262 people from England, Scotland and Wales declared themselves to be Pagans by this method. These figures were not immediately analysed by the Office for National Statistics, but were released after an application by the Pagan Federation of Scotland.[161]

In the 2001 Census, a total of 42,262 people from England, Scotland, and Wales declared themselves to be pagans or adherents of Wicca. However, other surveys have led to estimates of around 250,000 or even higher.[162][163]

According to the 2011 UK Census, there are roughly 53,172 people who identify as Pagan in England,[nb 1] and 3,448 in Wales,[nb 2][nb 3]

Wicca

In the 2011 UK Census 11,026 people identified as Wiccans in England and 740 in Wales.[nb 4]

Druidry

Modern Druidry grew out of the Celtic revival in 18th century Romanticism. A 2012 Druid analysis estimates that there are roughly 11,000 Druids in Britain.[165]

Heathenry

Main article: Heathenry in the United Kingdom

Heathenry consists of a variety of modern movements attempting to revive Germanic paganism, such as that practiced in the British Isles by the Anglo-Saxon and Norse peoples prior to Christianisation. In the 2011 UK Census 2,108 people identified as Heathens.[166][167] As in other countries, Heathen movements are broadly divided into two groups. Asatru UK was founded in 2013 and operates as a country-wide group for all inclusive Heathens.[168][169] As of May 2021, Asatru UK had 2,903 members of its Facebook group.[170] The group currently does not own land and thus is in the process of carving portable god posts that can be used in a vé. The first of these was of the god Woden and was consecrated at a gathering in 2021.[171]

Jainism

Main article: Jainism in the United Kingdom
 
Jain Temple Oshwal Centre, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, UK

As of 2011, there are around 20,288 Jains in the United Kingdom.[172] Leicester houses one of the world's few Jain temples outside of India.[173] There is an Institute of Jainology at Greenford, London.[174]

One of the first Jain settlers, Champat Rai Jain, was in England during 1892–1897 to study law. He established the Rishabh Jain Lending Library in 1930. Later, he translated several Jain texts into English.[175]

Baháʼí Faith

Main article: Baháʼí Faith in the United Kingdom
See also: Baháʼí Faith in England, Baháʼí Faith in Scotland, and Baháʼí Faith in Wales

The Baháʼí Faith in the United Kingdom has a historical connection with the earliest phases of the Baháʼí 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, Baháʼís from the United Kingdom settled in 138 countries.[176] At the 2011 UK Census, there were 5,021 Baháʼís in just England and Wales.[177] This declined by the 2021 UK Census to 4,725, a diminution of just under 6%.

Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism in the United Kingdom has a relatively long history. Britain's first ethnically South Asian parliamentarian was Zoroastrian and there have been Zoroastrians in the UK for over a century. Many come from the Zoroastrian Parsi community of northwest India, which was under the control of the British Raj until 1948. According to the 2021 UK census, there were 4,105 Zoroastrians in England and Wales, of which 4,043 were in England. The majority (51%) of these (2,050) were in London, most notably the boroughs of Barnet, Harrow and Westminster. The remaining 49% of English Zoroastrians were scattered relatively evenly throughout the country, with the second and third largest concentrations being Birmingham (72) and Manchester (47).[178]

Religion and society

Religion and politics

Though the main political parties are secular, the formation of the Labour Party was influenced by Christian socialism, Ethical humanism, and by leaders from a nonconformist backgrounds, such as Keir Hardie. Labour's early development was also markedly influenced by non-religious philosophies such as humanism through Ethical movement, which gave rise to the Fabian Society and incubated prominent Labour people such as its first Prime Minister, Ramsay Macdonald. On the other hand, the Church of England was once nicknamed "the Conservative Party at prayer", though this has changed since the 1980s as the Church has moved to the left of the Conservative Party on social and economic issues.[179]

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% of total votes cast), and in London, where the CPA had three councillors,[180] the Christian parties picked up 51,336 votes (2.9% of the vote), up slightly from the 45,038 gained in 2004.[181]

The Church of England is represented in the UK Parliament by 26 bishops (the 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.[182] The Lords Spiritual have seats in the House of Lords and debate government policies affecting the whole of the United Kingdom. The Church of England also has the right to draft legislative measures (related to religious administration) through the General Synod that can then be passed into law by Parliament.[183] 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.[184]

Religion and education

Religious education and Collective Worship are compulsory in many state schools in England and Wales by virtue of clauses 69 and 70 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. Clause 71 of the act gives parents the right to withdraw their children from Religious Education and Collective Worship[185] and parents should be informed of their right in accordance with guidelines published by the Department for Education; "a school should ensure parents or carers are informed of this right".[186] The content of the religious education is decided locally by the Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education.

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 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".[187] According to a 2003 report from the Office for Standards in Education, a "third of governing bodies do not fulfil their statutory duties adequately, sometimes because of a failure to pursue thoroughly enough such matters as arranging a daily act of collective worship".[188]

In Scotland, the majority of schools are non-denominational, but separate Catholic schools, with an element of control by the Catholic Church, are provided within the state system. The Education (Scotland) Act 1980 imposes a statutory duty on all local authorities to provide religious education and religious observance in Scottish schools. These are currently defined by the Scottish Government's Curriculum for Excellence (2005).[189]

Religion and prison

Prisoners are given religious freedom and privileges while in prison. This includes access to a chaplain or religious advisor, authorised religious reading materials,[190] ability to change faith, as well as other privileges.[191] Several faith-based outreach programmes provide faith promoting guidance and counselling.[192][193][194]

Every three months, the Ministry of Justice collects data, including religious affiliation, of all UK prisoners and is published as the Offender Management Caseload Statistics.[195] This data is then compiled into reports and published in the House of Commons library.

On 31 March 2015 the prison population of England and Wales was recorded as 49% Christian, 14% Muslim, 2% Buddhist, 2% other religions and 31% no religion.[196] In this statistics, Muslims happen to be the most disproportionately represented religious group facing arrest, trial and imprisonment, with 13.1% of prisoners being Muslims while the community represents 4% of those aged 15 years or older within the general population.[156] The Prison Officers' Association has put that down to thousands of prisoners becoming so-called "convenience Muslims" – converting to the religion to deliberately play the system. [ ...] It added they were also being made even more vulnerable to radicalisation."[197]

Religion and the media

The Communications Act 2003 requires certain broadcasters in the United Kingdom to carry a "suitable quantity and range of programmes" dealing with religion and other beliefs, as part of their public service broadcasting.[198] Prominent examples of religious programming include the BBC television programme Songs of Praise, aired on a Sunday evening with an average weekly audience of 2.5 million,[199] and the Thought for the Day slot on BBC Radio 4. Channels also offer documentaries on, or from the perspective of a criticism of organised religion. A significant example is Richard Dawkins' two-part Channel 4 documentary, The Root of all Evil?. Open disbelief of, or even mockery of organised religion, is not regarded as a taboo in the British media, though it has occasionally provoked controversy – for example, the movie Monty Python's Life of Brian,[200] the poem "The Love That Dares to Speak Its Name",[201] and the musical Jerry Springer: The Opera,[202] all of which involved characters based on Jesus, were subject to public outcry and blasphemy allegations, while The Satanic Verses, a novel by British Indian author Salman Rushdie which includes a fantasy sequence about Muhammed, caused global protests including several by British Muslims.[203]

Religion and social identity: patron saints of the home nations

Interfaith dialogue, tolerance, religious discrimination and secularism

Interfaith dialogue

 
London neighbours, the Fieldgate Street Great Synagogue and the East London Mosque

The Interfaith Network for the United Kingdom encompasses the main faith organisations of the United Kingdom, either directly with denominational important representatives or through joint bodies for these denominations, promotes local interfaith cooperation, promotes understanding between faiths and convenes meetings and conferences where social and religious questions of concern to the different faith communities can be examined together, including meetings of the Network's 'Faith Communities Consultative Forum'.[205]

Ecumenical friendship and cooperation has gradually developed between Christian denominations and where inter-sect prejudice exists this has via education and employment policy been made a pressing public matter in dealing with its two prominent examples – sectarianism in Glasgow and Northern Ireland – where segregation is declining.

Tolerance and Religious Discrimination

See also: Anti-Catholicism in the United Kingdom, Antisemitism in the United Kingdom, and Islamophobia in the United Kingdom

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 abolished with the coming into effect of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 on 8 July 2008.

2005–2010 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 less favourable treatment from society or employers.[206]

The Equality Act 2010 prohibits discrimination against people on the basis of religion, in the supply of goods and services and selection for employment, subject to very limited exceptions (such as the right of schools and religious institutions to appoint paid ministers).

Secularism

See also: Disestablishmentarianism

There is no strict separation of church and state in the United Kingdom. Accordingly, most public officials may display the most common identifiers of a major religion in the course of their duties – for example, rosary beads. Chaplains are provided in the armed forces (see Royal Army Chaplains' Department, RAF Chaplains Branch) and in prisons.

Although school uniform codes are generally drawn up flexibly enough to accommodate compulsory items of religious dress, some schools have banned wearing the crucifix in a necklace, arguing that to do so is not a requirement of Christianity where they prohibit all other necklaces. Post-adolescence, the wearing of a necklace is permitted in some F.E. colleges who permit religious insignia necklaces on a wider basis, which are without exception permitted at universities.[207]

Some churches have warned that the Equality Act 2010 could force them to go against their faith when hiring staff.[208]

In 2011, judges ruled that the European Convention on Human Rights required bed-and-breakfast owners to rent rooms to same-sex couples.[209]

In 2011, Clive Bone sued Bideford Town Council for opening meetings with prayer. The High Court ruled in Bone's favor but, soon afterward, the government passed new laws permitting prayer at town meetings.[210]

In 2011, two judges of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales upheld previous statements in the country's jurisprudence that the (non-canon) laws of the United Kingdom 'do not include Christianity'. Therefore, a local authority was acting lawfully in denying a Christian married couple the right to foster care because of stated negative views on homosexuality. In terms of the rights recognised "in the case of fostering arrangements at least, the right of homosexuals to equality should take precedence over the right of Christians to manifest their beliefs and moral values".[211]

National and regional differences

Levels of affiliation vary between different part of the UK, particularly between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The percentages declaring themselves Christians in the 2011 Census are 59.4 in England, 57.6 in Wales and 53.8 in Scotland, which decreased by 12.3, 14.3, and 11.3 percentage points respectively from the census of 2001.[212][213][214][215] Northern Ireland remains one of the most religious nations in western Europe[citation needed] with 82.3% of the population claiming Christian affiliation, with a decline of only 3.5% by the 2011 census, while "other religions" have increased in membership.[212] Religion has been seen as both a product and a cause of political divisions in Northern Ireland.[216]

Main religious leaders

 
Lambeth Palace is the official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury in London

Notable places of worship

Christian

Jewish

Islamic

Hindu

Sikh

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ People who strictly identified as "Pagan". Other Pagan paths, such as Wicca or Druidism, have not been included in this number.[164]
  2. ^ People who strictly identified as "Pagan". Other Pagan paths, such as Wicca or Druidism, have not been included in this number.[164]
  3. ^ People who strictly identified as "Wiccan". Other Pagan paths, such as Druidism, and general "Pagan" have not been included in this number.[164]
  4. ^ People who strictly identified as "Wiccan". Other Pagan paths, such as Druidism, and general "Pagan" have not been included in this number.[164]

References

  1. ^ "United Kingdom". Association of Religion Data Archives. 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  2. ^ Alich, Alexander. "Shamanism: what you need to know about the fastest-growing 'religion' in England and Wales". The Conversation.
  3. ^ Staff. "British Social Attitudes: Religion, Identity, behaviour and belief over two decades" (PDF). The National Centre for Social Research. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  4. ^ "Secularism". Humanists UK. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  5. ^ Martyn Percy, "With the Church of England dying, how much longer can we justify having bishops in the House of Lords?" Prospect Magazine, 6 October 2022.
  6. ^ "- English Heritage". english-heritage.org.uk. from the original on 8 August 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
  7. ^ "BBC – Religions – Paganism: Britain's spiritual history". BBC. from the original on 29 August 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
  8. ^ Cannon, John, ed. (2nd edn., 2009). A Dictionary of British History 19 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Oxford University Press. p. 144. ISBN 0-19-955037-9.
  9. ^ "Pope Gregory's Letter". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  10. ^ discipulus Umbrensium (c. 700). "Paenitentiale Umbrense" (PDF). Retrieved 4 July 2021 – via UTORweb.
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Further reading

  • Bebbington, David W. Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s (Routledge, 2003)
  • Brown, Callum G. The Battle for Christian Britain: Sex, Humanists and Secularisation, 1945-1980 (2019).
  • Buchanan, Colin. Historical Dictionary of Anglicanism (2nd ed. 2015) excerpt
  • Bullivant, Stephen. "The" No Religion" Population of Britain: Recent Data from the British Social Attitudes Survey (2015) and the European Social Survey (2014)." (2017). online
  • Bullivant, Stephen. Mass exodus: Catholic disaffiliation in Britain and America since Vatican II (Oxford UP, 2019).
  • Chadwick, Owen, The Victorian Church: Vol 1 1829-1859 (1966); Victorian Church: Part two 1860-1901 (1979); a major scholarly survey
  • Clements, Ben, and Peter Gries. "“Religious Nones” in the United Kingdom: How Atheists and Agnostics Think about Religion and Politics." Politics and Religion 10.1 (2017): 161-185. online
  • Davie, Grace. Religion in Britain since 1945: Believing without belonging (Blackwell, 1994)
  • Davie, Grace. Religion in Britain: A Persistent Paradox (2014).
  • Davies, Rupert E. et al. A History of the Methodist Church in Great Britain (3 vol. Wipf & Stock, 2017). online
  • Gilbert, Alan D. Religion and society in industrial England: church, chapel, and social change, 1740–1914 (1976).
  • Gilley, Sheridan, and W. J. Sheils. A History of Religion in Britain: Practice and Belief from Pre-Roman Times to the Present (1994) 608pp excerpt and text search
  • Hastings, Adrian. A History of English Christianity: 1920-1985 (1986) 720pp; a major scholarly survey
  • McLeod, Hugh. Religion and society in England, 1850–1914 (Macmillan, 1996).
  • Obelkevich, J. Religion and Rural Society (Oxford University Press, 1976)
  • Percy, Martyn. "Sketching a shifting landscape: Reflections on emerging patterns of religion and spirituality among Millennials." Journal for the Study of Spirituality 9.2 (2019): 163–172, focus on UK.
  • Shaw, Duncan, edt al. "What is Religious History?" History Today (1985) 35#8 online, commentary by 8 scholars
  • Wolffe, John. Sacred and Secular Martyrdom in Britain and Ireland since 1914 (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019)

Primary sources

  • Horace Mann (1854). Census of Great Britain, 1851: Religious Worship in England and Wales. Ge. Routledge.

External links

General

  • Eurel: sociological and legal data on religions in Europe
  • BBC What the World Thinks of God television programme
  • Kettell, Steven (2009). "On the Public Discourse of Religion: An Analysis of Christianity in the United Kingdom" (PDF). Politics and Religion. 2 (3): 420–443. doi:10.1017/s1755048309990204. S2CID 143430913.

Christianity

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

Judaism

  • Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Great Britain and the Commonwealth (Orthodox)
  • Masorti Judaism
  • Movement for Reform Judaism
  • Liberal Judaism

Islam

  • Muslim Council of Great Britain

Hinduism

  • Hindu Council UK
  • Hindu Cultural Association of Wales UK

Sikhism

  • The Sikh Council UK
  • The Network of Sikh Organisations UK

Buddhism

  • The Buddhist Society

Paganism

  • The Pagan Federation
  • Police Pagan Association
  • Asatru UK

No religion

  • Humanists UK
  • The Freethinker - The voice of Atheism since 1881
  1. ^ the listing of parishes on this website is disputed: Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe#Parishes and Communities of the Vicariate

April 12, 2023
religion, united, kingdom, this, article, about, religion, united, kingdom, whole, religion, each, constituent, countries, religion, england, religion, scotland, religion, wales, religion, northern, ireland, this, article, need, rewritten, comply, with, wikipe. This article is about religion in the United Kingdom as a whole For religion in each of its constituent countries see Religion in England Religion in Scotland Religion in Wales and Religion in Northern Ireland This article may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia s quality standards as This artice is completely degenerated Except for the census tables everything else is a pile of unrelated data and haphazard sentences with haphazard sources There are even stray legends of tables which have disappeared left across the text body It should be rewritten according to the good model represented by articles such as Religion in Iceland and Religion in Switzerland You can help The talk page may contain suggestions March 2023 Religion in the United Kingdom and in the countries that preceded it has been dominated for over 1 400 years by various forms of Christianity replacing Romano British religions Celtic and Anglo Saxon paganism as the primary religion Religious affiliations of United Kingdom citizens are recorded by regular surveys the four major ones being the national decennial census the Labour Force Survey the British Social Attitudes survey and the European Social Survey Religion in the United Kingdom 2018 research 1 None 52 Church of England 13 7 Catholic Church 8 7 Other Christian 13 2 Islam 6 7 Other religions 3 6 Not stated 2 1 Westminster Abbey is used for the coronation of British monarchs Results of the 2021 Census for England and Wales that is not including Scotland and Northern Ireland which asked the question What is your religion showed that Christianity is the largest religion followed by Islam Hinduism Sikhism Judaism and Buddhism in terms of number of adherents while Shamanism is the fastest growing religion 2 Among Christians Anglicans are the most common denomination followed by Roman Catholics Presbyterians Methodists and Baptists This and the relatively large number of individuals with nominal or no religious affiliations has led commentators to variously describe the United Kingdom as a multi faith and secularised society Other major surveys which ask a differently worded question find a majority of people in the UK do not belong to a religion with Christianity the largest religion British society is one of the most secularised in the world and in many surveys determining religious beliefs of the population agnosticism nontheism atheism secular humanism and non affiliation are views shared by large percentages of Britons 3 The Church of England is the state church of its largest member country by population England The Church of England defines itself as neither fully Reformed Protestant nor fully Catholic The Monarch of the United Kingdom is the supreme governor of the Church Some British people and organisations in the United Kingdom such as Humanists UK hold the view that the UK should become a secular state with no official or established religion 4 A survey published in April 2022 also revealed that whereas a fifth of those polled thought that Anglican bishops should remain in the House of Lords three fifths thought they as unelected clerics did not have a place in a modern legislature and another fifth were don t knows Commenting on this Martyn Percy former dean of Christ Church Oxford noted that To the extent that the Church of England retains unique privileges in comparison with any other religious organizations it can be said that the UK has religious freedom but embarrassingly not religious equality 5 The United Kingdom was formed by the union of previously independent countries in 1707 and consequently most of the largest religious groups do not have UK wide organisational structures While some groups have separate structures for the individual countries of the United Kingdom others have a single structure covering England and Wales or Great Britain Similarly due to the relatively recent creation of Northern Ireland in 1921 most major religious groups in Northern Ireland are organised on an all Ireland basis Contents 1 History 2 Statistics 2 1 Religious affiliations 2 2 Historical trends since 1900 2 3 Censuses 2 4 Surveys 2 4 1 Religious affiliation in England Scotland and Wales according to the Annual Population Survey 2007 2016 2 5 Attendance 2 6 Belief 2 7 Jedi census phenomenon 3 Christianity 3 1 Protestantism 3 1 1 Anglicanism 3 1 2 Baptists 3 1 3 Charismatics and Pentecostalism 3 1 4 Methodism 3 1 5 Presbyterianism and Congregationalism 3 1 6 Quakers 3 2 Catholicism 3 3 Orthodoxy 3 3 1 Eastern Orthodoxy 3 3 2 Oriental Orthodoxy 3 4 Other Trinitarian denominations 3 5 Non Trinitarian denominations 3 5 1 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints 3 5 2 Other non Trinitarian denominations 4 Islam 5 Hinduism 6 Sikhism 7 Judaism 8 Buddhism 9 Other religions 9 1 Modern paganism 9 1 1 Wicca 9 1 2 Druidry 9 1 3 Heathenry 9 2 Jainism 9 3 Bahaʼi Faith 9 4 Zoroastrianism 10 Religion and society 10 1 Religion and politics 10 2 Religion and education 10 3 Religion and prison 10 4 Religion and the media 10 5 Religion and social identity patron saints of the home nations 10 6 Interfaith dialogue tolerance religious discrimination and secularism 10 6 1 Interfaith dialogue 10 6 2 Tolerance and Religious Discrimination 10 6 3 Secularism 11 National and regional differences 12 Main religious leaders 13 Notable places of worship 14 See also 15 Footnotes 16 References 17 Further reading 17 1 Primary sources 18 External links 18 1 General 18 2 Christianity 18 3 Judaism 18 4 Islam 18 5 Hinduism 18 6 Sikhism 18 7 Buddhism 18 8 Paganism 18 9 No religionHistory EditFurther information History of Christianity in Britain Fourth century Chi Rho fresco from Lullingstone Roman Villa Kent which contains the only known Christian paintings from the Roman era in Britain 6 Pre Roman forms of religion in Britain included various forms of ancestor worship and paganism 7 Little is known about the details of such religions see British paganism Forms of Christianity have influenced religious life in what is now the United Kingdom for over 1 400 years It was introduced by the Romans to what is now England Wales and Southern Scotland The doctrine of Pelagianism declared heretical in the Council of Carthage 418 originated with a British born ascetic Pelagius During the Anglo Saxon settlement of Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries paganism was re established Christianity was again brought to Great Britain by Catholic Church and Irish Scottish missionaries in the course of the 7th century see Anglo Saxon Christianity 8 In 601 AD Pope Gregory I ordered images of pagan gods in England to be destroyed but not the temples which should instead be used as places of worship of the Christian God 9 England was nominally Christianised by the end of the 7th century during which paganism was banned by the Church 10 Despite this pagan practices such as leaving votive offerings at standing stones trees and wells persisted at least into the 11th century 11 prompting new penitential laws across England that aimed to suppress the surviving folk beliefs 12 Insular Christianity as it stood between the 6th and 8th centuries retained some idiosyncrasies in terms of liturgy and calendar but it had been nominally united with Roman Christianity since at least the Synod of Whitby of 664 Still in the Anglo Saxon period the archbishops of Canterbury established a tradition of receiving their pallium from Rome to symbolize the authority of the Pope Paganism was re introduced to regions of the British Isles in the 9th century by Scandinavian settlers who established the Kingdom of the Isles and the Danelaw The timeline for the conversion of the settlers varies with the Danish leader Guthrum baptised in 878 AD in accordance with the Treaty of Wedmore Orkney on other hand was not nominally Christianised until 995 AD when Olaf Tryggvason ordered that if the earl and his subjects did not convert he would be killed and the islands ravaged 13 The Roman Catholic Church remained the dominant form of Western Christianity in Britain throughout the Middle Ages but the Anglican Church of England became the independent established church in England and Wales in 1534 as a result of the English Reformation 14 It retains a representation in the UK Parliament and the British monarch is its supreme governor 15 In Scotland the Presbyterian Church of Scotland established in a separate Scottish Reformation in the sixteenth century is recognized 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 16 17 The adherence to the Catholic Church continued at various levels in different parts of Britain especially among recusants and in the north of England 18 but most strongly in Ireland This would expand in Great Britain partly due to Irish immigration in the nineteenth century 19 the Catholic emancipation and the Restoration of the English hierarchy Particularly from the mid seventeenth century forms of Protestant nonconformity including Congregationalists Baptists Quakers and later Methodists grew outside of the established church 20 The Anglican Church in Wales was disestablished in 1920 and as the Anglican Church of Ireland was disestablished in 1870 before the partition of Ireland there is no established church in Northern Ireland 21 The Jews in England were expelled in 1290 and only emancipated in the 19th century British Jews had numbered fewer than 10 000 in 1800 but around 120 000 after 1881 when Russian Jews settled permanently in Britain 22 The substantial immigration to the United Kingdom after World War II has contributed to the growth of foreign faiths especially of Islam Hinduism and Sikhism 23 Buddhism in the United Kingdom experienced growth partly due to immigration and partly due to conversion especially when including Secular Buddhism 24 As elsewhere in the Western world religious demographics have become part of the discourse on multiculturalism with Britain variously described as a post Christian society 25 as multi faith 26 or as secularised 27 Scholars have suggested multiple possible reasons for the decline but have not agreed on their relative importance Martin Wellings lays out the classical model of secularisation while noting that it has been challenged by some scholars The familiar starting point a classical model of secularisation argues that religious faith becomes less plausible and religious practice more difficult in advanced industrial and urbanized societies The breakdown or disruption of traditional communities and norms of behaviour the spread of a scientific world view diminishing the scope of the supernatural and the role of God increasing material affluence promoting self reliance and this worldly optimism and greater awareness and toleration of different creeds and ideas encouraging religious pluralism and eviscerating commitment to a particular faith all form components of the case for secularisation Applied to the British churches in general by Steve Bruce and to Methodism in particular by Robert Currie this model traces decline back to the Victorian era and charts in the twentieth century a steady ebbing of the sea of faith 28 29 30 Statistics EditReligious affiliations Edit In the 2011 census Christianity was the largest religion stated as their affiliation by 60 of the total population 31 32 33 Although there was no UK wide data in the 2001 or the 2011 census on adherence to individual Christian denominations since they are asked only in the Scottish and in the Northern Irish Censuses 34 using the same principle as applied in the 2001 census a survey carried out in the end of 2008 by Ipsos MORI and based on a scientifically robust sample found the population of England and Wales to be 47 0 Anglican 9 6 Catholic and 8 7 other Christians 4 8 were Muslim 3 4 were members of other religions 5 3 were Agnostics 6 8 were Atheists and 15 0 were not sure about their religious affiliation or refused to answer to the question 35 The 2009 British Social Attitudes Survey which covers Great Britain but not Northern Ireland indicated that over 50 per cent would self classify as not religious at all 19 9 per cent were part of the Church of England 9 3 non denominational Christian 8 6 Catholic 2 2 Presbyterian Church of Scotland 1 3 Methodist 0 53 Baptist 1 17 other Protestant 0 23 United Reformed Church Congregational 0 06 Free Presbyterian 0 03 Brethren Christian and 0 41 other Christian 36 In a 2016 survey conducted by BSA British Social Attitudes on religious affiliation 53 of respondents indicated no religion and 41 indicated they were Christians while 6 affiliated with non Christian religions Islam Hinduism Judaism etc 37 Eurostat s Eurobarometer survey in December 2018 found that 53 6 of UK s population is Christian while 6 2 belong to other religions and 40 2 are atheists 30 3 Agnostics 9 9 Anti theists 38 The May 2019 Special Eurobarometer found that 50 were Christians 14 Protestants 13 Catholics 7 Orthodox and 16 other Christians 37 atheist 9 anti theists 28 nonbelievers and agnostics 5 Muslims 3 Sunnis 1 Shias 1 other Muslims 1 Sikhs 1 Hindus fewer than 1 Jews fewer than 1 Buddhists 4 other religions 1 didn t know and 1 refused to answer 39 The same year Pew Research center estimated that 73 of people in UK were Christian while 23 were unaffiliated and 4 were other religion or did not know 40 The wording of the question affects the outcome of polls as is apparent when comparing the results of the Scottish census with that of the English and Welsh census 41 42 43 44 An ICM poll for The Guardian in 2006 asked the question Which religion do you yourself belong to with a response of 64 stating Christian and 26 stating none In the same survey 63 claimed they are not religious with just 33 claiming they are 45 This suggests that the religious UK population identify themselves as having Christian beliefs but maybe not as active church goers 46 Religions other than Christianity such as Islam Hinduism Sikhism and Judaism have established a presence in the United Kingdom both through immigration and by attracting converts Others that have done so include the Bahaʼi Faith Modern paganism and the Rastafari movement which has 5000 followers in the UK as of a 2001 census 47 The European Social Survey carried out between 2014 and 2016 found that 70 of people between 16 and 29 were not religious 48 The 2022 Talking Jesus report a partnership between Alpha the Evangelical Alliance HOPE Together Luis Palau Association and Kingsgate Community Church describes the current state of faith in the UK 48 of the population described themselves as Christian of which 6 described themselves as practising Christians 49 Historical trends since 1900 Edit Sources Based on Historical data information 50 51 Religious Data since 1980s 52 Eurobarometer 2015 Data 53 and 2001 amp 2011 National U K Census Specifications Catholics include directs Roman Catholics 8 and Anglo Catholics in obye to the Pope and Church of England clarification needed 5 Protestants include the majority of Anglicans Traditional Anglicanism Anglican Evangelical versions and part of Anglo Catholics Mainline Protestant Churches like Methodists or Presbyterians 7 and Evangelical Protestants 4 Other Christians historically were British Restoriationist Churches inspired by Mainline Protestant denominations knowed as Free Churches today the most numerous Christian minorities are the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints LDS Church 0 3 and Jehovah s Witnesses 0 2 also including Orthodox Christianity Non Religious since 2000s data were an adjusted by the specified non religious and most of the non response percent Other religions Islam in the United Kingdom British Jews Hinduism in the United Kingdom Sikhism in the United Kingdom Censuses Edit The statistics for current religion not religion of upbringing where also asked from the 2011 census and the corresponding statistics from the 2001 census are set out in the tables below 2021 22 Census 54 Religion England Wales England and Wales 55 Scotland Great Britain Northern Ireland 56 Number Number Number Number Number Number Christianity 26 167 899 46 3 1 354 773 43 6 27 522 672 46 2 1 516 147 79 7Islam 3 801 186 6 7 66 947 2 2 3 868 133 6 5 10 870 0 6Hinduism 1 020 533 1 8 12 242 0 4 1 032 775 1 7 4 190 0 2Sikhism 520 092 0 9 4 048 0 1 524 140 0 9Judaism 269 283 0 5 2 044 0 1 271 327 0 5Buddhism 262 433 0 5 10 075 0 3 272 508 0 5 1 542 0 1Other religion 332 410 0 6 15 926 0 5 348 334 0 6 8 917 0 5No religion 20 715 664 36 7 1 446 398 46 5 22 162 062 37 2 330 983 17 4Religion not stated 3 400 548 6 0 195 041 6 3 3 595 589 6 0 30 529 1 6Total population 56 490 048 100 0 3 107 494 100 0 59 597 540 100 0 1 903 178 100 0 2011 Census Religion England 31 Wales 31 England and Wales 31 Scotland 32 Great Britain Northern Ireland 57 33 United KingdomNumber Number Number Number Number Number Number Christianity 31 479 876 59 4 1 763 299 57 6 33 243 175 59 3 2 850 199 53 8 36 093 374 58 8 1 490 588 82 3 37 583 962 59 5Islam 2 660 116 5 0 45 950 1 5 2 706 066 4 8 76 737 1 4 2 782 803 4 5 3 832 0 21 2 786 635 4 4Hinduism 806 199 1 5 10 434 0 34 816 633 1 5 16 379 0 3 833 012 1 4 2 382 0 13 835 394 1 3Sikhism 420 196 0 8 2 962 0 1 423 158 0 8 9 055 0 2 432 213 0 7 216 0 01 432 429 0 7Judaism 261 282 0 5 2 064 0 1 263 346 0 5 5 887 0 1 269 233 0 4 335 0 02 269 568 0 4Buddhism 238 626 0 5 9 117 0 3 247 743 0 4 12 795 0 2 260 538 0 4 1 046 0 06 261 584 0 4Other religion 227 825 0 4 12 705 0 4 240 530 0 4 15 196 0 3 255 726 0 4 7 048 0 39 262 774 0 4No religion 13 114 232 24 7 982 997 32 1 14 097 229 25 1 1 941 116 36 7 16 038 345 26 1 183 164 10 1 16 221 509 25 7Religion not stated 3 804 104 7 2 233 928 7 6 4 038 032 7 2 368 039 7 0 4 406 071 7 2 122 252 6 8 4 528 323 7 2Total population 53 012 456 100 0 3 063 456 100 0 56 075 912 100 0 5 295 403 100 0 61 371 315 100 0 1 810 863 100 0 63 182 178 100 02001 Census Religion England 58 Wales 58 England and Wales 58 Scotland 59 Great Britain Northern Ireland 60 61 United KingdomNumber Number Number Number Number Number Number Christianity 35 251 244 71 7 2 087 242 71 9 37 338 486 71 8 3 294 545 65 1 40 633 031 71 2 1 446 386 85 8 42 079 417 71 6Islam 1 524 887 3 1 21 739 0 7 1 546 626 3 0 42 557 0 8 1 589 183 2 8 1 943 0 12 1 591 126 2 7Hinduism 546 982 1 1 5 439 0 2 552 421 1 1 5 564 0 1 557 985 1 0 825 0 05 558 810 1 0Sikhism 327 343 0 7 2 015 0 1 329 358 0 6 6 572 0 1 335 930 0 6 219 0 0 336 149 0 6Judaism 257 671 0 5 2 256 0 1 259 927 0 5 6 448 0 1 266 375 0 5 365 0 0 266 740 0 5Buddhism 139 046 0 3 5 407 0 2 144 453 0 3 6 830 0 1 151 283 0 3 533 0 0 151 816 0 3Other religion 143 811 0 3 6 909 0 2 150 720 0 3 26 974 0 5 177 694 0 3 1 143 0 1 178 837 0 3No religion 7 171 332 14 6 537 935 18 5 7 709 267 14 8 1 394 460 27 6 9 103 727 15 9 233 853 13 9 13 626 299 23 2Religion not stated 3 776 515 7 7 234 143 8 1 4 010 658 7 7 278 061 5 5 4 288 719 7 5Total population 49 138 831 100 0 2 903 085 100 0 52 041 916 100 0 5 062 011 100 0 57 103 927 100 0 1 685 267 100 0 58 789 194 100 0 Percentage of respondents in the 2011 census in the UK who said they were Christian Religious affiliation in the UK according to the censuses 2001 2 Christianity Islam Other religions Not religious Surveys Edit Religious affiliations of UK citizens are recorded by regular surveys the four major ones being the UK Census 62 the Labour Force Survey 63 the British Social Attitudes survey 64 and the European Social Survey 65 The different questions asked by these surveys produced different results The census for England and Wales asked the question What is your religion 66 In 2001 14 81 41 and in 2011 around a quarter 25 1 of the population said they had none and 70 stated they were Christian 67 The census for Scotland asked the question What religion religious denomination or body do you belong to 66 In 2001 27 55 42 and in 2011 36 7 selected none and 53 8 stated they were Christian 32 The Labour Force Survey asked the question What is your religion even if you are not currently practising with a response of 15 7 selecting no religion in 2004 and 22 4 selecting no religion in 2010 68 The British Social Attitudes survey asked the question Do you regard yourself as belonging to any particular religion with 53 selecting no religion in 2016 37 The European Social Survey asked the question Which religion or denomination do you belong to at present with 50 54 of respondents selecting no religion in 2002 and 52 68 selecting no religion in 2008 69 Other surveys In 1983 in a large public opinion survey almost a third of Britons said they believed in Hell and the Devil In Northern Ireland 91 per cent of people said they believed in sin This was reported in The Observer on 28 February 1983 70 In 2018 according to a study jointly conducted by London s St Mary s University s Benedict XVI Centre for Religion and Society and the Institut Catholique de Paris and based on data from the European Social Survey 2014 2016 collected on a sample of 560 among 16 to 29 years old British people 21 were Christians 10 Catholic 7 Anglican 2 other Protestant and 2 other Christian 6 were Muslims 3 were of other religions and 70 were not religious 71 The data was obtained from two questions one asking Do you consider yourself as belonging to any particular religion or denomination to the full sample and the other one asking Which one to the sample who replied with Yes 72 Detailed 2018 BSA survey on religion in the UK 73 Affiliation of UK populationNo religion 52 52 Christian 38 38 Church of England 12 12 Roman Catholic 7 7 Presbyterian 2 2 Methodist 1 1 Baptist 0 5 0 5 Christian no denomination 9 9 Other Christian 4 4 Non Christian faiths 9 9 Muslim 6 6 Jewish 0 5 0 5 Other Non Christian faiths 3 3 Total 100 100 The British Social Attitudes surveys and the European Social Surveys are fielded to adult individuals 37 69 In contrast the United Kingdom Census and the Labour Force Surveys are household surveys the respondent completes the questionnaire on behalf of each member of the household 43 44 74 including children 68 as well as for themselves The 2010 Labour Force Survey claimed that 54 of children aged from birth to four years were Christian rising to 59 for children aged between 5 and 9 and 65 for children aged between 10 and 14 68 The inclusion of children with adult imposed religions influences the results of the polls 46 75 Other major polls agree with the British Social Attitudes surveys and the European Social Surveys with a YouGov survey fielded in February 2012 indicating that 43 of respondents claimed to belong to a religion and 76 claimed they were not very religious or not religious at all 76 An Ipsos MORI survey fielded in August 2003 indicated that 18 of respondents claimed to be a practising member of an organised religion and 25 claimed I am a non practising member of an organised religion 77 A 2015 study estimated some 25 000 believers in Christ from a Muslim background most of whom belong to an evangelical or Pentecostal community 78 Religious affiliation in England Scotland and Wales according to the Annual Population Survey 2007 2016 EditThe Annual Population Survey is a combined statistical survey of households in Great Britain which is conducted quarterly by the Office for National Statistics and combines results from the Labour Force Survey and the English Welsh and Scottish Labour Force Survey 79 gathers information about the religious affiliation reported in the table below 80 The change in the religious affiliation between the 2010 APS and the 2011 APS is due to a question change which significantly influenced the final results 81 Christianity Islam Other religions Not religious Attendance Edit Society in the United Kingdom is markedly more secular than it was in the past and the number of churchgoers fell over the second half of the 20th century 82 The Ipsos MORI poll in 2003 reported that 18 were a practising member of an organised religion 77 The Tearfund Survey in 2007 found that only 7 of the population considered themselves as practising Christians Some 10 attended church weekly and two thirds had not gone to church in the past year 83 84 The Tearfund Survey also found that two thirds of UK adults 66 or 32 2 million people had no connection with the Church at present nor with another religion These people were 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 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 85 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 per cent 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 86 A December 2007 report by Christian Research showed that the services of the Catholic Church 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 87 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 43 in 2009 36 In 2012 about 6 of the population of the United Kingdom regularly attended church with the average age of attendees being 51 in contrast in 1980 11 had regularly attended with an average age of 37 It is predicted that by 2020 attendance will be around 4 with an average age of 56 82 This decline in church attendance has forced many churches to close down across the United Kingdom with the Church of England alone closing 1 500 churches between 1969 and 2002 Their fates include dereliction demolition and residential artistic and commercial conversion 88 In October 2014 weekly attendance at Church of England services dropped below 1 million for the first time At Christmas 2014 2 4 million attended For that year baptisms were 130 000 down 12 since 2004 marriages were 50 000 down 19 and funerals 146 000 down 29 The Church estimated that about 1 of churchgoers were lost to death each year the Church s age profile suggested that attendances would continue to decline 89 One study showed that in 2004 at least 930 000 Muslims attended a mosque at least once a week just outnumbering the 916 000 regular churchgoers in the Church of England 90 Muslim sources claim the number of practising Muslims is underestimated as nearly all of them pray at home 91 Belief Edit European Social Survey UK Do you consider yourself as belonging to any particular religion or denomination Year Yes No2008 47 32 52 64 2006 48 45 51 34 2004 50 55 49 24 2002 49 46 50 49 Source European social survey 2002 2010 92 There is a disparity between the figures for those identifying themselves with a particular religion and for those proclaiming a belief in a God In a 2011 YouGov poll 34 of UK citizens said they believed in a God or gods 93 A Eurobarometer opinion poll in 2010 reported that 37 of UK citizens believed there is a God 33 believe there is some sort of spirit or life force and 25 answered I don t believe there is any sort of spirit God or life force 94 The 2008 European Social Survey suggested that 46 94 of UK citizens never prayed and 18 96 prayed daily 69 A survey in 2007 suggested that 42 of adults resident in the United Kingdom prayed with one in six praying daily 95 Jedi census phenomenon Edit Main article Jedi census phenomenon In the 2001 census 390 127 individuals 0 7 per cent of total respondents in England and Wales self identified as followers of the Jedi faith This Jedi census phenomenon followed an internet campaign that claimed incorrectly that the Jedi belief system would receive official government recognition as a religion if it received enough support in the census 96 An email in support of the campaign quoted by BBC News invited people to do it because you love Star Wars or just to annoy people 97 The Office for National Statistics revealed the total figure in a press release entitled 390 000 Jedi there are 98 Christianity EditForms of Christianity have dominated religious life in what is now the United Kingdom for over 1 400 years 99 The United Kingdom was formed by the union of previously autonomous states in 1707 100 101 102 and consequently most of the largest religious groups do not have UK wide organisational structures While some groups have separate structures for the individual countries of the United Kingdom others have a single structure covering England and Wales or Great Britain Similarly due to the relatively recent creation of Northern Ireland in 1921 most major religious groups in Northern Ireland are organised on an all Ireland basis Protestantism Edit Anglicanism Edit Main articles Church of England Church of Ireland Church in Wales and Scottish Episcopal Church See also Anglican Communion Durham Cathedral The Church of England is the established church in England 14 Its most senior bishops sit in the national parliament and the Monarch is its supreme governor It is also the mother church of the worldwide Anglican Communion The Church of England separated from the Catholic Church in 1534 and became the established church by Parliament in the Act of Supremacy beginning a series of events known as the English Reformation 103 Historically it has been the predominant Christian denomination in England and Wales in terms of both influence and number of adherents The Scottish Episcopal Church which is part of the Anglican Communion but not a daughter church of the Church of England 104 dates from the final establishment of Presbyterianism in Scotland in 1690 when it split from the Church of Scotland In the 1920s the Church in Wales became disestablished and independent from the Church of England but remains in the Anglican Communion 105 During the years 2012 to 2014 the number of members of the Church of England dropped by around 1 7 million 106 107 Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral In 2018 12 of the population of Great Britain identify as Anglicans a sharp decline from 1983 when 40 of the population identified as Anglicans 108 Baptists Edit A Baptist church in Birmingham West Midlands Main article Baptists See also English Dissenters Nonconformism Ecclesiastical separatism and 17th century denominations in England The Baptist Union of Great Britain despite its name covers just England and Wales 109 There is a separate Baptist Union of Scotland and the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland is an all Ireland organisation 110 Other Baptist associations also exist in England such as the Grace Baptist association and the Gospel Standard Baptists Charismatics and Pentecostalism Edit Main articles Pentecostalism Charismatic movement and Neo charismatic movement Assemblies of God in Great Britain are part of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship with over 600 churches in Great Britain 111 Assemblies of God Ireland cover the whole of the island of Ireland including Northern Ireland The Apostolic Church commenced in the early part of the 20th century in South Wales and now has over 110 churches across the United Kingdom Elim Pentecostal Church as of 2013 update had over 500 churches across the United Kingdom 111 There is also a growing number of independent charismatic churches that encourage Pentecostal practices as part of their worship These are broadly grouped together as the British New Church Movement and could number up to 400 000 members The phenomenon of immigrant churches and congregations that began with the arrival of the HMT Empire Windrush from the West Indies in 1948 stands as a unique trend West Indian congregations that started from this time include the Church of God New Testament Assembly and New Testament Church of God Africans began to arrive in the early 1980s and established their own congregations Foremost among these are Matthew Ashimolowo from Nigeria and his Kingsway International Christian Centre in London that may be the largest church in Western Europe 112 Methodism Edit Main articles Methodism Methodist Church of Great Britain and Methodist Church in Ireland See also First Great Awakening Evangelicalism and Nonconformism The Methodist church at Haroldswick is the most northerly church in the United Kingdom The Methodist movement traces its origin to John Wesley and the evangelical revival in the 18th century 113 The British Methodist Church which has congregations throughout the nation has around 188 000 members 114 and 4 110 churches as of 2019 update 115 though only around 3 000 members in 50 congregations are in Scotland citation needed In the 1960s the Methodist Church 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 116 The Methodist Church in Ireland covers the whole of the island of Ireland including Northern Ireland where it is the fourth largest denomination Other Methodist denominations in Britain include the Salvation Army founded in 1865 117 the Free Methodist Church a holiness church and the Church of the Nazarene Presbyterianism and Congregationalism Edit Main articles Presbyterianism Church of Scotland Presbyterian Church of Wales Presbyterian Church of Ireland and Presbyterian Church of England The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox in the Reformation of 1560 when it split from the Catholic Church and established itself as a church in the reformed tradition The church is Calvinist Presbyterian having no head of faith or leadership group and believing that God invited the church s adherents to worship Jesus The annual meeting of its general assembly is chaired by the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland celebrates two sacraments Baptism and the Lord s Supper as well as five other rites such as Confirmation and Matrimony The church adheres to the Bible and the Westminster Confession of Faith and is a member of the World Communion of Reformed Churches 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 118 with the first Presbytery being formed in Antrim in 1725 119 With its origins in the 16th century English Presbyterianism was initially contained with the Church of England until the Great Ejection of 1662 During the 18th century there were few Presbyterian congregations in England until they were revived by Scots who had moved south In time this led to the creation of Presbyterian Church of England in 1876 Its successor the United Reformed Church URC a union of Presbyterian and Congregational churches consists of about 1383 congregations in England Scotland and Wales 120 There are about 600 Congregational churches in the United Kingdom 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 members of the Congregational Federation and in Wales which traditionally has a larger number of Congregationalists most are members of the Union of Welsh Independents Quakers Edit Main article Quakers See also English Dissenters Nonconformism Ecclesiastical separatism and 17th century denominations in England The Britain Yearly Meeting is the umbrella body for the Religious Society of Friends Quakers in Great Britain the Channel Isles and the Isle of Man It has 14 260 adult members 121 Northern Ireland comes under the umbrella of the Ireland Yearly Meeting Catholicism Edit Main article Catholic Church in the United Kingdom See also Catholic Church in England and Wales Catholic Church in Scotland and Catholic Church in Ireland The Catholic Church has separate national organisations for England Wales and Scotland which means there is no single hierarchy for the Catholic Church in the United Kingdom Catholicism is the second largest denomination in England and Wales with around five million members mainly in England 122 There is however a single apostolic nuncio to Great Britain presently Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti Catholicism is also Scotland s second largest Christian denomination representing a fifth of the population 123 In 2021 for the first time since the establishment of the exclave the Catholic Church attained a plurality of the Northern Irish population 124 The apostolic nuncio to the whole of Ireland both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is Jude Thaddeus Okolo Members of the Eastern Catholic Churches in the United Kingdom are served by their own clergy and do not belong to the Latin Church dioceses but are still in full communion with the Bishop of Rome The number of adherents to the Catholic Church as a percentage of overall population has remained stable In 2018 7 of the population identified as Catholics 108 Orthodoxy Edit Orthodox Christianity is a relatively minor faith in the United Kingdom when compared to Protestantism and Catholicism most Orthodox churches cater to immigrants from Eastern Europe the Balkans and The Middle East It is a relatively minor faith among Britons themselves In 2013 there were roughly 464 000 members of Orthodox churches in the UK 125 Eastern Orthodoxy Edit Adherents of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in the United Kingdom are traditionally organized in accordance with patrimonial ecclesiastical jurisdictions The Russian Orthodox Church has a Diocese of Sourozh which covers Great Britain and Ireland 126 and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia also has a diocese of Great Britain and Western Europe 127 The Greek Orthodox Church is represented by the Ecumenical Patriarchate which has established the Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain that covers England Wales Scotland and Ireland as well as Malta The Patriarchate of Antioch has several parishes and missions within the Diocese of the British Isles and Ireland 128 Other Eastern Orthodox Churches represented in the United Kingdom include the Georgian Orthodox Church the Romanian Orthodox Church the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Serbian Orthodox Church Oriental Orthodoxy Edit Adherents of Oriental Orthodox Christianity in the United Kingdom are also traditionally organized in accordance with their patrimonial ecclesiastical jurisdictions each community having its own parishes and priests The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria has two regional Dioceses in the United Kingdom the Diocese of Ireland Scotland North East England and the Diocese of the Midlands Other Oriental Orthodox Churches represented in the United Kingdom include the Syriac Orthodox Church the Armenian Apostolic Church the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church The homegrown British Orthodox Church and Celtic Orthodox Church although both minor are also represented Other Trinitarian denominations Edit Other denominations and groups include the Seventh day Adventist Church the Seventh Day Baptists the Plymouth Brethren 129 and Newfrontiers 130 Non Trinitarian denominations Edit The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Edit Main articles The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints in England The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints in Wales The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints in Scotland and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints in Ireland London England Temple LDS The first missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to proselytise in the British Isles arrived in 1837 By 1900 as many as 100 000 converts had joined the faith but most of these early members soon emigrated to the United States to join the main body of the church From the 1950s emigration to the United States began to be discouraged and local congregations grew more rapidly Today the church claims just over 186 000 members across the United Kingdom in over 330 local congregations known as wards or branches The church also maintains two temples in England the first opening in the London area in 1958 and the second completed in 1998 in Preston and known as the Preston England Temple Preston is also the site of the first preaching by LDS missionaries in 1837 and is home to the oldest continually existing Latter Day Saint congregation anywhere in the world 131 132 Restored 1994 2000 the Gadfield Elm Chapel in Worcestershire is the oldest extant chapel of the LDS Church 133 Other non Trinitarian denominations Edit Jehovah s Witnesses had 137 631 publishers a term referring to members actively involved in preaching in the United Kingdom in 2015 134 The Church of Christ Scientist is also represented in the UK The General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches is the umbrella organisation for Unitarian Free Christian and other liberal religious congregations in the United Kingdom The Unitarian Christian Association was formed in 1991 There are an estimated 18 000 Christadelphians in the UK Islam EditMain article Islam in the United Kingdom See also Islam in England Islam in Northern Ireland Islam in Scotland and Islam in Wales Shah Jahan Mosque in Woking is the oldest purpose built mosque in the United Kingdom Estimates in 2009 suggested a total of about 2 4 million Muslims over all the United Kingdom 135 136 According to Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life the number of Muslims in Britain could be up to 3 million 137 The vast majority of Muslims in the United Kingdom live in England and Wales of 1 591 126 Muslims recorded at the 2001 Census 1 546 626 were living in England and Wales where they form 3 per cent of the population 42 557 were living in Scotland forming 0 8 per cent of the population 138 and 1 943 were living in Northern Ireland 139 Between 2001 and 2009 the Muslim population increased roughly 10 times faster than the rest of society 140 Most Muslim immigrants to the United Kingdom came from former colonies The biggest groups of Muslims are of Pakistani Bangladeshi Indian and Arab origins 141 with the remainder coming from Muslim dominated areas such as Southwest Asia Somalia Malaysia and Indonesia 142 During the 18th century lascars sailors who worked for the British East India Company settled in port towns with local wives 143 These numbered only 24 037 in 1891 but 51 616 on the eve of World War I 144 Naval cooks including Sake Dean Mahomet also came from what is now the Sylhet Division of Bangladesh 145 From the 1950s onwards the growing Muslim population has led to a number of notable Mosques being established including East London Mosque London Central Mosque Manchester Central Mosque London Markaz Baitul Futuh of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and Cambridge Central Mosque According to Kevin Brice a researcher at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David thousands convert to Islam annually and there are approximately 100 000 converts to Islam in Britain where they run two mosques 146 According to a Labour Force Survey estimate the total number of Muslims in Great Britain in 2008 was 2 422 000 around 4 per cent of the total population 147 Between 2004 and 2008 the Muslim population grew by more than 500 000 147 In 2010 The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life estimated 2 869 000 Muslims in Great Britain 148 The largest age bracket within the British Muslim population were those under the age of 4 at 301 000 in September 2008 147 The Muslim Council of Britain and the Islamic Forum of Europe are the umbrellas organisations for many local regional and specialist Islamic organisations in the United Kingdom although it is disputed how representative this organisation is of British Muslims as a whole Hinduism EditMain article Hinduism in the United Kingdom The Neasden Temple is the second largest temple of Hinduism in Europe Hinduism in the United Kingdom resulted from the British rule in India There are 835 394 Hindus in Great Britain according to the 2011 census constituting 1 32 of the population 149 About half of all British Hindus live in London metropolitan area 150 Small Hindu Communities are also found in Scotland 0 31 151 and in Wales 0 34 152 According to United Kingdom s Office of National Statistics of all ethnic minorities in Britain the British Hindus had the highest rate of economic activity 153 Hindus are more likely than the general population to have higher education and Hindu men are more likely than the general population to be entrepreneurs 154 British Hindus also have the third highest poverty level 155 and the lowest rates of arrest trial or imprisonment 156 Hindus constitute less than 0 5 of the total Prison population in Britain 157 The current PM of Britain is a Hindu Sikhism Edit Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Southall UK Main article Sikhism in the United Kingdom See also Sikhism in England Sikhism in Scotland and Sikhism in Wales There are 432 429 Sikhs in the United Kingdom constituting 0 7 of the population according to the 2011 Census 158 While England is home to the majority of Sikhs in the United Kingdom small communities also exist in Northern Ireland Scotland and Wales The first recorded Sikh settler in the United Kingdom was Maharaja Duleep Singh dethroned and exiled in 1849 at the age of 14 after the Anglo Sikh wars During the reign of King Edward VII the first Sikh society in the UK was founded in 1908 it was called The Khalsa Jatha 159 The first Sikh Gurdwara was established in 1911 in Shepherd s Bush Putney London The first wave of Sikh migration came in the 1940s mostly of men from the Punjab seeking work in industries such as foundries and textiles These new arrivals mostly settled in London Birmingham Wolverhampton the Midlands and West Yorkshire Thousands of Sikhs from East Africa followed later Judaism EditMain article History of the Jews in the United Kingdom See also History of the Jews in England History of the Jews in Scotland History of the Jews in Wales and History of the Jews in Ireland Singers Hill Synagogue Birmingham England The first Jewish community in what is now the UK was attested from at least the 1060s but was expelled in 1290 although non practising Jews maintained themselves as a small but identifiable group until the 1560s in London Practising Jews occasionally travelled to England and individual Jews settled in various parts of the British Isles In the early 1600s a small community of Sephardic Jews was identified in Bristol and ordered to leave in 1609 There have continuously been practising Jews in England since at least the 1630s but it wasn t until 1656 that Oliver Cromwell made it known they would not be subject to expulsion The largely Iberian and German early community grew only steadily from the mid 17th century until the late 19th century when a large wave of Eastern European immigrants roughly quadrupled the population Another wave of largely German refugees increased it by a further 50 between 1933 and 1945 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 In 1858 practising Jews were allowed to become serving MPs on 26 July 1858 Lionel de Rothschild was finally allowed to sit in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom when the law restricting the oath of office to Christians was changed although 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 David Ricardo another convert to Christianity had been an MP in the 1810s In 1884 Nathan Mayer Rothschild 1st Baron Rothschild became the first practising Jewish member of the British House of Lords again Disraeli was already a member British Jews number around 300 000 with the United Kingdom having the fifth largest Jewish community worldwide 160 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 The largest concentrations of Jews are in London and its environs Greater Manchester and Leeds Buddhism Edit Kagyu Samye Ling Monastery and Tibetan Centre in Scotland Main article Buddhism in the United Kingdom See also Buddhism in England Buddhism in Scotland and Buddhism in Wales In the UK census for 2011 there were about 178 000 people who registered their religion as Buddhism The earliest Buddhist influence on Britain came through its imperial connections with Southeast 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 Theravada Buddhist Tradition into English Buddhism as a path of practise was pioneered by the Theosophists Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott and in 1880 they became the first Westerners to receive the Three refuges and Five precepts the formal conversion ceremony by which one traditionally accepted and 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 Samye 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 now the Triratna Buddhist Community Thai Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah was also established at Chithurst Buddhist Monastery in West Sussex in 1979 giving rise to branch monasteries including Amaravati Buddhist Monastery and Aruna Ratanagiri There are also other groups like Order of Interbeing and Soka Gakkai in the United Kingdom Other religions EditModern paganism Edit Modern druids Main article Modern paganism in the United Kingdom In the United Kingdom census figures do not allow an accurate breakdown of traditions within the Pagan heading as a campaign by the Pagan Federation before the 2001 Census encouraged Wiccans Heathens Druids and others all to use the same write in term Pagan in order to maximise the numbers reported For the first time respondents were able to write in an affiliation not covered by the checklist of common religions and a total of 42 262 people from England Scotland and Wales declared themselves to be Pagans by this method These figures were not immediately analysed by the Office for National Statistics but were released after an application by the Pagan Federation of Scotland 161 In the 2001 Census a total of 42 262 people from England Scotland and Wales declared themselves to be pagans or adherents of Wicca However other surveys have led to estimates of around 250 000 or even higher 162 163 According to the 2011 UK Census there are roughly 53 172 people who identify as Pagan in England nb 1 and 3 448 in Wales nb 2 nb 3 Wicca Edit In the 2011 UK Census 11 026 people identified as Wiccans in England and 740 in Wales nb 4 Druidry Edit Modern Druidry grew out of the Celtic revival in 18th century Romanticism A 2012 Druid analysis estimates that there are roughly 11 000 Druids in Britain 165 Heathenry Edit Main article Heathenry in the United Kingdom Heathenry consists of a variety of modern movements attempting to revive Germanic paganism such as that practiced in the British Isles by the Anglo Saxon and Norse peoples prior to Christianisation In the 2011 UK Census 2 108 people identified as Heathens 166 167 As in other countries Heathen movements are broadly divided into two groups Asatru UK was founded in 2013 and operates as a country wide group for all inclusive Heathens 168 169 As of May 2021 Asatru UK had 2 903 members of its Facebook group 170 The group currently does not own land and thus is in the process of carving portable god posts that can be used in a ve The first of these was of the god Woden and was consecrated at a gathering in 2021 171 Jainism Edit Main article Jainism in the United Kingdom Jain Temple Oshwal Centre Potters Bar Hertfordshire UK As of 2011 there are around 20 288 Jains in the United Kingdom 172 Leicester houses one of the world s few Jain temples outside of India 173 There is an Institute of Jainology at Greenford London 174 One of the first Jain settlers Champat Rai Jain was in England during 1892 1897 to study law He established the Rishabh Jain Lending Library in 1930 Later he translated several Jain texts into English 175 Bahaʼi Faith Edit Main article Bahaʼi Faith in the United Kingdom See also Bahaʼi Faith in England Bahaʼi Faith in Scotland and Bahaʼi Faith in Wales The Bahaʼi Faith in the United Kingdom has a historical connection with the earliest phases of the Bahaʼi 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 Bahaʼis from the United Kingdom settled in 138 countries 176 At the 2011 UK Census there were 5 021 Bahaʼis in just England and Wales 177 This declined by the 2021 UK Census to 4 725 a diminution of just under 6 Zoroastrianism Edit Zoroastrianism in the United Kingdom has a relatively long history Britain s first ethnically South Asian parliamentarian was Zoroastrian and there have been Zoroastrians in the UK for over a century Many come from the Zoroastrian Parsi community of northwest India which was under the control of the British Raj until 1948 According to the 2021 UK census there were 4 105 Zoroastrians in England and Wales of which 4 043 were in England The majority 51 of these 2 050 were in London most notably the boroughs of Barnet Harrow and Westminster The remaining 49 of English Zoroastrians were scattered relatively evenly throughout the country with the second and third largest concentrations being Birmingham 72 and Manchester 47 178 Religion and society EditReligion and politics Edit Though the main political parties are secular the formation of the Labour Party was influenced by Christian socialism Ethical humanism and by leaders from a nonconformist backgrounds such as Keir Hardie Labour s early development was also markedly influenced by non religious philosophies such as humanism through Ethical movement which gave rise to the Fabian Society and incubated prominent Labour people such as its first Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald On the other hand the Church of England was once nicknamed the Conservative Party at prayer though this has changed since the 1980s as the Church has moved to the left of the Conservative Party on social and economic issues 179 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 of total votes cast and in London where the CPA had three councillors 180 the Christian parties picked up 51 336 votes 2 9 of the vote up slightly from the 45 038 gained in 2004 181 The Church of England is represented in the UK Parliament by 26 bishops the 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 182 The Lords Spiritual have seats in the House of Lords and debate government policies affecting the whole of the United Kingdom The Church of England also has the right to draft legislative measures related to religious administration through the General Synod that can then be passed into law by Parliament 183 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 184 Religion and education Edit Religious education and Collective Worship are compulsory in many state schools in England and Wales by virtue of clauses 69 and 70 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 Clause 71 of the act gives parents the right to withdraw their children from Religious Education and Collective Worship 185 and parents should be informed of their right in accordance with guidelines published by the Department for Education a school should ensure parents or carers are informed of this right 186 The content of the religious education is decided locally by the Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education 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 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 187 According to a 2003 report from the Office for Standards in Education a third of governing bodies do not fulfil their statutory duties adequately sometimes because of a failure to pursue thoroughly enough such matters as arranging a daily act of collective worship 188 In Scotland the majority of schools are non denominational but separate Catholic schools with an element of control by the Catholic Church are provided within the state system The Education Scotland Act 1980 imposes a statutory duty on all local authorities to provide religious education and religious observance in Scottish schools These are currently defined by the Scottish Government s Curriculum for Excellence 2005 189 Religion and prison Edit Prisoners are given religious freedom and privileges while in prison This includes access to a chaplain or religious advisor authorised religious reading materials 190 ability to change faith as well as other privileges 191 Several faith based outreach programmes provide faith promoting guidance and counselling 192 193 194 Every three months the Ministry of Justice collects data including religious affiliation of all UK prisoners and is published as the Offender Management Caseload Statistics 195 This data is then compiled into reports and published in the House of Commons library On 31 March 2015 the prison population of England and Wales was recorded as 49 Christian 14 Muslim 2 Buddhist 2 other religions and 31 no religion 196 In this statistics Muslims happen to be the most disproportionately represented religious group facing arrest trial and imprisonment with 13 1 of prisoners being Muslims while the community represents 4 of those aged 15 years or older within the general population 156 The Prison Officers Association has put that down to thousands of prisoners becoming so called convenience Muslims converting to the religion to deliberately play the system It added they were also being made even more vulnerable to radicalisation 197 Religion and the media Edit The Communications Act 2003 requires certain broadcasters in the United Kingdom to carry a suitable quantity and range of programmes dealing with religion and other beliefs as part of their public service broadcasting 198 Prominent examples of religious programming include the BBC television programme Songs of Praise aired on a Sunday evening with an average weekly audience of 2 5 million 199 and the Thought for the Day slot on BBC Radio 4 Channels also offer documentaries on or from the perspective of a criticism of organised religion A significant example is Richard Dawkins two part Channel 4 documentary The Root of all Evil Open disbelief of or even mockery of organised religion is not regarded as a taboo in the British media though it has occasionally provoked controversy for example the movie Monty Python s Life of Brian 200 the poem The Love That Dares to Speak Its Name 201 and the musical Jerry Springer The Opera 202 all of which involved characters based on Jesus were subject to public outcry and blasphemy allegations while The Satanic Verses a novel by British Indian author Salman Rushdie which includes a fantasy sequence about Muhammed caused global protests including several by British Muslims 203 Religion and social identity patron saints of the home nations Edit Saint George is the patron saint of England Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland Saint David is the patron saint of Wales Saint Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland 204 Interfaith dialogue tolerance religious discrimination and secularism Edit Interfaith dialogue Edit London neighbours the Fieldgate Street Great Synagogue and the East London Mosque The Interfaith Network for the United Kingdom encompasses the main faith organisations of the United Kingdom either directly with denominational important representatives or through joint bodies for these denominations promotes local interfaith cooperation promotes understanding between faiths and convenes meetings and conferences where social and religious questions of concern to the different faith communities can be examined together including meetings of the Network s Faith Communities Consultative Forum 205 Ecumenical friendship and cooperation has gradually developed between Christian denominations and where inter sect prejudice exists this has via education and employment policy been made a pressing public matter in dealing with its two prominent examples sectarianism in Glasgow and Northern Ireland where segregation is declining Tolerance and Religious Discrimination Edit See also Anti Catholicism in the United Kingdom Antisemitism in the United Kingdom and Islamophobia in the United Kingdom 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 abolished with the coming into effect of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 on 8 July 2008 2005 2010 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 less favourable treatment from society or employers 206 The Equality Act 2010 prohibits discrimination against people on the basis of religion in the supply of goods and services and selection for employment subject to very limited exceptions such as the right of schools and religious institutions to appoint paid ministers Secularism Edit See also Disestablishmentarianism There is no strict separation of church and state in the United Kingdom Accordingly most public officials may display the most common identifiers of a major religion in the course of their duties for example rosary beads Chaplains are provided in the armed forces see Royal Army Chaplains Department RAF Chaplains Branch and in prisons Although school uniform codes are generally drawn up flexibly enough to accommodate compulsory items of religious dress some schools have banned wearing the crucifix in a necklace arguing that to do so is not a requirement of Christianity where they prohibit all other necklaces Post adolescence the wearing of a necklace is permitted in some F E colleges who permit religious insignia necklaces on a wider basis which are without exception permitted at universities 207 Some churches have warned that the Equality Act 2010 could force them to go against their faith when hiring staff 208 In 2011 judges ruled that the European Convention on Human Rights required bed and breakfast owners to rent rooms to same sex couples 209 In 2011 Clive Bone sued Bideford Town Council for opening meetings with prayer The High Court ruled in Bone s favor but soon afterward the government passed new laws permitting prayer at town meetings 210 In 2011 two judges of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales upheld previous statements in the country s jurisprudence that the non canon laws of the United Kingdom do not include Christianity Therefore a local authority was acting lawfully in denying a Christian married couple the right to foster care because of stated negative views on homosexuality In terms of the rights recognised in the case of fostering arrangements at least the right of homosexuals to equality should take precedence over the right of Christians to manifest their beliefs and moral values 211 National and regional differences EditLevels of affiliation vary between different part of the UK particularly between Great Britain and Northern Ireland The percentages declaring themselves Christians in the 2011 Census are 59 4 in England 57 6 in Wales and 53 8 in Scotland which decreased by 12 3 14 3 and 11 3 percentage points respectively from the census of 2001 212 213 214 215 Northern Ireland remains one of the most religious nations in western Europe citation needed with 82 3 of the population claiming Christian affiliation with a decline of only 3 5 by the 2011 census while other religions have increased in membership 212 Religion has been seen as both a product and a cause of political divisions in Northern Ireland 216 Main religious leaders Edit Lambeth Palace is the official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury in London The reigning Monarch is the supreme governor of the Church of England with the Archbishops of Canterbury and York below them 217 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 Great Imam is Sheikh Mawlana Abdul Qayum one of the most famous scholars of Europe 218 who serves the largest Muslim congregation in Great Britain 219 The Archbishop of Westminster is the ex officio President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales The de facto head of the Catholic Church in Scotland is the most senior archbishop currently Leo Cushley Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh see Bishops Conference of Scotland The Primate of All Ireland of both the Church of Ireland and of the Catholic Church 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 from them by an electoral college comprising the bishops and other representatives The Archbishop retains his or her original 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 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints is led by the Europe Area Presidency The current area president is Elder Erich W Kopischke with Elder Gerald J Causse and Elder Jose A Teixeira as first and second counsellors respectively The Caliph Masih of the Ahmadiyya Community is Mirza Masroor Ahmad and Fazl Mosque is his headquarters Notable places of worship EditChristian All Saints Church of England Brompton Oratory Catholic Canterbury Cathedral Church of England and Mother Church of England Church of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Durham Cathedral Church of England Dormition Cathedral London Russian Orthodox Holy Trinity Cathedral Down Church of Ireland Kingsway International Christian Centre Charismatic London England Temple Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints Metropolitan Tabernacle Baptist Salisbury Cathedral Church of England St Anne s Cathedral Belfast Church of Ireland St David s Cathedral Church in Wales St Dominic s Priory Catholic St Giles Cathedral Edinburgh Church of Scotland St Giles Church Catholic St Mary s Cathedral Edinburgh Catholic St Mary s Cathedral Edinburgh Scottish Episcopal St Mary s Church Catholic St Lazar s Church Bournville Serbian Orthodox St Patrick s Cathedral Armagh Catholic St Patrick s Cathedral Armagh Church of Ireland St Paul s Cathedral Church of England St Pancras Old Church Church of England St Sarkis Kensington Armenian Apostolic St Sophia s Cathedral London Greek Orthodox Westminster Abbey Church of England Westminster Cathedral Catholic Westminster Central Hall Methodist York Minster Church of EnglandJewish Bevis Marks Synagogue Jewish New West End Synagogue JewishIslamic Baitul Futuh Mosque Islamic London Central Mosque Islamic North London Central Mosque IslamicHindu Shri Venkateswara Balaji Temple BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir London Neasden Temple Bradford Lakshmi Narayan Hindu TempleSikh Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh SabhaSee also Edit United Kingdom portal Religion portalDisestablishmentarianism Exclusion Crisis 1679 1681 Religion by country Religion in England Religion in Scotland Religion in Wales Religion in Northern Ireland Religion in Jersey Religion in London Religion in Birmingham Religion in the Republic of Ireland Sectarianism in Glasgow Segregation in Northern Ireland Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life Irreligion in the United KingdomFootnotes Edit People who strictly identified as Pagan Other Pagan paths such as Wicca or Druidism have not been included in this number 164 People who strictly identified as Pagan Other Pagan paths such as Wicca or Druidism have not been included in this number 164 People who strictly identified as Wiccan Other Pagan paths such as Druidism and general Pagan have not been included in this number 164 People who strictly identified as Wiccan Other Pagan paths such as Druidism and general Pagan have not been included in this number 164 References Edit United Kingdom Association of Religion Data Archives 2015 Retrieved 18 May 2020 Alich Alexander Shamanism what you need to know about the fastest growing religion in England and Wales The Conversation Staff British Social Attitudes Religion Identity behaviour and belief over two decades PDF The National Centre for Social Research Retrieved 26 September 2022 Secularism Humanists UK Retrieved 29 September 2020 Martyn Percy With the Church of England dying how much longer can we justify having bishops in the House of Lords Prospect Magazine 6 October 2022 English Heritage 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Victorian Church Part two 1860 1901 1979 a major scholarly survey Clements Ben and Peter Gries Religious Nones in the United Kingdom How Atheists and Agnostics Think about Religion and Politics Politics and Religion 10 1 2017 161 185 online Davie Grace Religion in Britain since 1945 Believing without belonging Blackwell 1994 Davie Grace Religion in Britain A Persistent Paradox 2014 Davies Rupert E et al A History of the Methodist Church in Great Britain 3 vol Wipf amp Stock 2017 online Gilbert Alan D Religion and society in industrial England church chapel and social change 1740 1914 1976 Gilley Sheridan and W J Sheils A History of Religion in Britain Practice and Belief from Pre Roman Times to the Present 1994 608pp excerpt and text search Hastings Adrian A History of English Christianity 1920 1985 1986 720pp a major scholarly survey McLeod Hugh Religion and society in England 1850 1914 Macmillan 1996 Obelkevich J Religion and Rural Society Oxford University Press 1976 Percy Martyn Sketching a shifting landscape Reflections on emerging patterns of religion and spirituality among Millennials Journal for the Study of Spirituality 9 2 2019 163 172 focus on UK Shaw Duncan edt al What is Religious History History Today 1985 35 8 online commentary by 8 scholars Wolffe John Sacred and Secular Martyrdom in Britain and Ireland since 1914 Bloomsbury Academic 2019 Primary sources Edit Horace Mann 1854 Census of Great Britain 1851 Religious Worship in England and Wales Ge Routledge External links EditGeneral Edit Eurel sociological and legal data on religions in Europe BBC What the World Thinks of God television programme Kettell Steven 2009 On the Public Discourse of Religion An Analysis of Christianity in the United Kingdom PDF Politics and Religion 2 3 420 443 doi 10 1017 s1755048309990204 S2CID 143430913 Christianity Edit Church of England Church of Scotland Presbyterian Church in Ireland Church of Ireland Anglican Church in Wales Anglican Catholic Church in England and Wales Catholic Bishops Conference of Scotland 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 LondonJudaism Edit Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Great Britain and the Commonwealth Orthodox Masorti Judaism Movement for Reform Judaism Liberal JudaismIslam Edit Muslim Council of Great BritainHinduism Edit Hindu Council UK Hindu Cultural Association of Wales UKSikhism Edit The Sikh Council UK The Network of Sikh Organisations UKBuddhism Edit The Buddhist SocietyPaganism Edit The Pagan Federation Police Pagan Association Asatru UKNo religion Edit Humanists UK The Freethinker The voice of Atheism since 1881 the listing of parishes on this website is disputed Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe Parishes and Communities of the Vicariate Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Religion in the United Kingdom amp oldid 1149026538, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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