England and Wales are no longer Christian nations...

[VincentHanna]

Sort of:

Less than half of England and Wales population Christian, Census 2021 shows

The number of people who say they have no religion has risen, the 2021 Census for England and Wales shows.

www.bbc.co.uk

The results showed that for the first time in a census of England and Wales, less than half of the population (46.2 per cent, or 27.5 million people) described themselves as ‘Christian’ in 2021. This marks a 13.1 percentage point decrease from 59.3 per cent (33.3 million) in 2011.

The census also showed that every major religion increased over the ten-year period, except for Christianity.

Despite this decrease, ‘Christian’ remained the most common response to the religion question. ‘No religion’ was the second most common response, increasing to 37.2 per cent (22.2 million) from 25.2 per cent (14.1 million) across the ten year period.

So Christianity is still the majority religion, but more than half the UK now identify either as 'No Religion' or some other religion.

Any thoughts? I'm fine with phasing out pixie sky worshipping to be honest. I've been to a few church weddings, baptisms etc and always found them quite cringe worthy.

 

[VincentHanna]

Anyone know why doesn't the census include Northern Ireland and Scotland? Did it ever?

 

[VincentHanna]

It means that getting rid of religion isn't going to mean people stop believing in things. They will replace God with other things i.e. money, power, wealth, ego, dominance over others etc.

Have you heard of American evangelicals?

 

[VincentHanna]

People haven't changed and they're still looking for a group to belong to which sates their spiritual appetites, unfortunately most of the 'new' religions grifts are just as abusive, exploitative as the old ones... but that's life I suppose.

Going to church was for the most part an activity to fill out part of a rather empty day and for some it was merely entertainment so once the TV was widespread (then games, internet etc) those people had very little reason to sit in a cold pew listening to a boring sermon, so without the feedback loop the organised became disorganised and people have had very little reason to identify as such when they practice so little.

True, even 30 years ago there wasn't a great deal to do on a Sunday. Shops were barely open as I recall, as it was Sunday which was "church day" (though thankfully, not in my household)

 

[VincentHanna]

Most predictable news story to appear on GD ever.

You sure about that? I imagine other posters might have focused more on the changing racial demographics