Christianity reduced to minority religion in England and Wales for first time: ‘Not a big surprise’
0
0
The number of Christians in England and Wales has fallen below half the population for the first time in census history, according to government statistics released on Tuesday.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that 46.2% of the English and Welsh population, or approximately 27.5 million people, labeled themselves as “Christian” in 2021, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The figure marks a sharp decline of 13.1 percentage points from 2011, when 59.3%, or approximately 33.3 million people, adhered to the UK’s established religion. In the 2001 census, almost 72% of all respondents indicated that they were Christian.
Although it still ranked first among respondents when asked about their religion, “Christian” was closely followed by those who adhered to “no religion,” accounting for 37.2% or 22.2 million people, which represents a strong increase from 25.2% or 14.1. million people in 2011. Only 15% of respondents said they had no religion in 2001.
CONSERVATIVE ANGLICANS WARN CHURCH OF ENGLAND is growing in bid to stay relevant: ‘CHURCH IS DYING’
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby leads the opening service of the 15th Lambeth Conference at Canterbury Cathedral in Kent on July 31, 2022.
(Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty Images)
All other religions grew in followers, according to the census, with the number of Muslims increasing from 4.9% to 6.5% of the population between 2011 and 2021, and the number of Hindus increasing from 1.5% to 1.7%.
Scotland and Northern Ireland, the other two countries in the United Kingdom, report their census data separately and have not been included in the statistics.
The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, who serves as the second-ranking cleric in the Church of England, said the decline in the number of Christians “wasn’t a huge surprise”, according to the Daily Telegraph, but it point out that Christianity remains “the greatest movement in the world. Earth” and “still challenges us not only to trust that God will build His kingdom on Earth, but also to do our part in making Christ known” .
CAMBRIDGE DEAN DEFENDS SERMON ON JESUS’ “TRANS BODY” SIDE “VAGINAL” WOUND AS “HERESY”
The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, said the decline in rates of Christianity in the UK was “not a huge surprise”, but noted that religion remains “the biggest movement on Earth”.
(Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)
“We’ve left behind the time when many people almost automatically identified as Christian, but other surveys consistently show how the same people are still searching for spiritual truth and wisdom and a set of values to live by,” he said.
Andrew Copson, who serves as chief executive of the charity Humanists UK, noted that “the spectacular growth of the non-religious” had made the UK “almost certainly one of the least religious countries on Earth”.
“One of the most striking things about these results is the inequality between the population of the same state,” he said. “No state in Europe has a religious configuration like ours in terms of law and public policy, and at the same time has such a non-religious population.”
CHRISTIANITY DECLINES RAPIDLY IN US, FROM BEING MINORITY RELIGION FOR DECADES: STUDY
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip stand during the maundy service conducted by the Bishop of Worcester Dr. John Inge at Christ Church Cathedral on March 28, 2013, in Oxford, England.
(WPA Pool / Pool via Getty Images)
The Church of England is the nation’s established religion, with some bishops sitting in the House of Lords, the upper house of Parliament. The British monarch must take an oath at the time of accession to “maintain and preserve the Protestant religion and the government of the Presbyterian church” in Scotland.
Declining rates of Christianity in the U.K. reflect similar trends in the U.S. A report by the Pew Research Center and the General Social Survey released in September found an increase in American adults abandoning Christianity to become atheists, agnostics or “nothing in particular”.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The study predicted that if the number of Christians under 30 leaving their faith accelerates beyond the current rate, followers of the historically dominant religion in the US could become a minority by 2045.
