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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 a majority of Britons.[1] Historically, it was dominated for over 1,400 years by various forms of Christianity, which replaced preceding Romano-British religions, including Celtic and Anglo-Saxon paganism. 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.
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. The Census has also been criticised by statisticians and demographers for its use of a leading question which critics say inflates the number of people reporting a religious identity. 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.
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.[3] 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 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."[4]
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.
Attitudes to religion in politics have changed markedly in recent decades, and religious affiliation appears to have little or no impact on political prospects. For example, in February 2024, the Prime Minister and First Ministers of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland were Hindu, Muslim, atheist, and Catholic respectively.
History
Prehistory–10th century: Celts, Germanic peoples and adoption of Christianity
Pre-Roman forms of religion in Britain included various forms of ancestor worship and paganism.[6] 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).[7] 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.[8] England was nominally Christianised by the end of the 7th century, during which paganism was banned by the Church.[9] Despite this, pagan practices such as leaving votive offerings at standing stones, trees and wells, persisted at least into the 11th century,[10] prompting new penitential laws across England that aimed to suppress the surviving folk beliefs.[11] 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.[12]
11th–16th century: High Middle Ages and the Reformation
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.[13] It retains a representation in the UK Parliament and the British monarch is its supreme governor.[14]
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.[15][16]
The adherence to the Catholic Church continued at various levels in different parts of Britain, especially among recusants and in the north of England,[17] but most strongly in Ireland. This would expand in Great Britain, partly due to Irish immigration in the nineteenth century,[18] the Catholic emancipation and the Restoration of the English hierarchy.
17th–19th century
Particularly from the mid-seventeenth century, forms of Protestant nonconformity, including Congregationalists, Baptists, Quakers and, later, Methodists, grew outside of the established church.[19] 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.[20]
The Jews in England were expelled in 1290, readmitted in the 1650s 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.[21]
20th–21st century: Growth of multiculturalism and secularism
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.[22] Buddhism in the United Kingdom experienced growth partly due to immigration and partly due to conversion (especially when including Secular Buddhism).[23]
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,[24] as "multi-faith",[25] or as secularised.[26] 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".[27][28][29]
Statistics
Religious affiliations
In the 2011 census, Christianity was the largest religion, stated as their affiliation by 60% of the total population.[30][31][32]
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,[33] 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.[34]
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.[35]
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.)[36]
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).[37] 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.[38] 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.[39]
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.[40][41][42][43] 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.[44] This suggests that the religious UK population identify themselves as having Christian beliefs, but maybe not as active "church-goers".[45]
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.[46]
The European Social Survey, carried out between 2014 and 2016, found that 70% of people between 16 and 29 were not religious.[47]
Historical trends since 1900
- Sources: Based on Historical data/information,[48][49] Religious Data since 1980s,[50] Eurobarometer 2015 Data,[51] 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 (known 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 per cent. Other religions: Islam in the United Kingdom, British Jews, Hinduism in the United Kingdom, Sikhism in the United Kingdom.
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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.