Head of Public Affairs, James Somerville-Meikle, writes:
Is Britain a Christian country? If the results from the most recent census are anything to go by then the answer is yes, but only just. The 2021 census revealed that 46.2% of people in England and Wales identified as Christian. According to the data, 27.5 million people described themselves as Christian, compared to 33.3 million in 2011. What is going on here, have we really lost 5.8 million followers of Christ in England and Wales in the past 10 years? It’s true that some may have lost their faith and others passed away, but there is perhaps a broader theme to consider. The options to the question of “What is your religion?” included the world’s six largest religions along with “Other religion” and “No religion” or the choice not to answer. As Catholic writer Tina Beattie reflected on Thought for the Day this week, these categories are becoming less good as indicators for someone’s personal faith. Faced with the choice between “Christian” and “No religion”, where would someone sit who has drifted away from the Church but is still trying to follow Christian values? Even with these choices, only 37.2% of people ticked the box for “No religion”. There is still faith in Britain.