"No religion" outnumbers Christianity in England and Wales for the first time
Justin Welby
No-one is making any inroads at all into the non-religious population or non-Christian religions. The vast majority of all ‘conversion’ is inter-denominational musical chairs.
For the first time on record people of no religion outnumber Christians in England and Wales.
No religion beats Christian in England and Wales
The proportion of people who identify as having no religion has risen from 25% in 2011 to 48.5% in 2014.(It’s important to note that saying you have “no religion” does not equate to saying you are an atheist.)
- London has the highest proportion of people who say they are religious due mainly to having high levels of people who identify with non-Christian religions.
- Wales has the highest proportion who say they have no religion, largely due to the low number of immigrants.
- The Christian population is ageing, half of all Christians in England and Wales are over 55 [ed. what’s wrong with that!]
- The proportion of the population who describe themselves as Anglican plunged from 44.5% in 1983 to 19% in 2014.
- While over a third of the population* were brought up Anglican, only a fifth now identify as such
- For every new member they gain, churches are losing eleven existing members.
- Most new members are Christians swapping from other denominations.
The Church of England expects attendance to continue to fall for another 30 years as its congregations age and the millennial generation spurns the institutions of faith.
Meanwhile the Archbishop of Canterbury (above) has urged Christians not talk to people about their faith unless they are actively invited to do so.
Download the report.
