Reports about religion and the 2021 census focus on the figure that shows England and Wales to be minority Christian countries for the first time. Fewer than half of the population, 46.2%, describe themselves as Christian. In the past twenty years there has been a fall of 17% in the number of people who describe themselves as Christian.
In the same period the proportion of people who identified as having no religion has increased from 14.8% to 37.2%, a rise of more than 22% and a 43% rise in the number of people who say they follow Islam to 3.9 million. The number identifying as Christian has dropped by 13.1%. The number of Muslims has risen by 1.7%.
The population of the UK today contains a mosaic of religious beliefs, commitments, and cultures, with no single affiliation dominant. The non–religion group is also a miscellany of different positions, some angrily anti–religious, some culturally, ethically, or spiritually sympathetic. Others are simply disinterested.
A decline of 17% in the number who identify as Christian is an enormously significant collapse. The number who identify as Christian has dropped for a variety of reasons: I suspect people give up identifying as Christian because of what they rightly perceive to be the prejudiced attitudes and abusive behaviours that are forcefully advocated by a minority in the Church. Fewer people identify culturally as Christian, but I also suspect, based on my own experience, that a loss of trust in institutions does not indicate loss of spirituality. What the word ‘spirituality’ encompasses isn’t often explored. I think many more people might identify as having a spiritual dimension if being spiritual were detached from the perception or religious institutions being dogmatic and too literal in the conceptions of the Mystery we name as God. I suspect it’s also true that those who tick the non–religious box are not necessarily anti-God or anti–religious but refuse to identify with institutional religion and dogmatic styles of belief. Nones are a complex group, as Linda Woodhead has described.
Religious belief total
I’m interested in a different perspective. If you add Muslims (6.5%}, Hindus (1.7%),Sikhs (0.9%), Buddhists (0.5%, Jews (0.5%), and other religions (0.6%) to Christians (46.2%), the total number of people having a religious belief rises to 56.9%, significantly exceeding the 37.2% identifying as having no religion (Six percent didn’t answer the question).
Faith as held by those identifying with religious institutions is clearly in decline, but the majority still identify with “faith”, though the content of their faith may vary significantly from what has hitherto been accepted as ‘orthodox’.
It is, I think, what people believe in or do not believe in that is changing. I sense the majority of members of the Church of England no longer have a deeply internalised sense of the unconditionally present, loving, physical, dynamic energy of the divine, intimately present “Other”, what is identified as the Spirit of God and the integration of the human and the divine in Jesus in Trinitarian theology. Those Christians that do manifest such an internalised sense, primarily charismatic churches, may integrate that with a Biblical literalism and fundamentalism that results in moral and ethical views that result in a variety of prejudices against women and LGBTQIA+ people in particular (or at least, the leaders of such churches do).
I have great difficulty in communicating the essence of my Christian faith today. I have in spades a deep faith, inspiration, energy, and what looks like annoyingly prophetic vision. Finding the language to communicate this is very challenging. The Christian Church seems to be addicted to an increasingly obsolete, unbelievable version of its story, lacking connection with contemporary truths about what it means to be open to and integrating in life the teachings and practice of Jesus of Nazareth.
The Church of England
The archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, said the census result “throws down a challenge to us not only to trust that God will build his kingdom on Earth but also to play our part in making Christ known”. Archbishop Stephen’s reiteration of today’s contemporary, formulaic Church of England mantras depresses me. What does it mean to trust that God will “build his kingdom on Earth?” This symbolic language communicates exactly what raises people’s suspicions – that the Church is primarily attached to hierarchy, power and status. Those with a deep Christian awareness of Jesus’ proclamation of the Kingdom of God have very different understandings of what this means, from the literal to the spiritual and metaphorical.
The Archbishop’s other reported comment is more authentic: “We have left behind the era when many people almost automatically identified as Christian but other surveys consistently show how the same people still seek spiritual truth and wisdom and a set of values to live by.”
Western society hangs together because the majority of people do indeed still seek spiritual truth and wisdom and a set of values to live by. These are essential ingredients of any healthy human community and democracy. Dr Adam Rutherford, the president of Humanists UK, said people should not think a decline in religion equated to an absence in values. “We might be living in a more values-driven society than ever before,” he said. “Surveys show, for example, that around three in 10 British adults have humanist beliefs and values, and it’s a trend we’ve seen growing in recent years.”
Humanist values are not so different from Christian values. They may even be pretty much the same. But the Christian Church today still teaches belief in an unbelievable God beset by magical thinking. I believe Christian adherence is declining because people reject the literalism of historic beliefs. I also believe that every human being is in essence spiritual, aware of the “Other”, the mystery of life, the mystery of ourselves and of other people. I also think people live by deep faith in the qualities of love, goodness, truth, kindness, wisdom and hope. The Church has a lot of learning to do.