[ 2015-04-03 ]

Christianity on course to be minority religion in UK
Christians will be a minority in the UK by the
middle of this century amid surging growth in
atheism and Islam, an authoritative new study
charting the future of the world’s religions
predicts.

According to projections by the US-based Pew
Research Centre, the proportion of the British
population identifying themselves as Christian
will reduce by almost a third by 2050 to stand at
just 45.4 per cent, compared with almost two
thirds in 2010.

The number of Muslims in Britain is predicted to
more than double to 11.3 per cent, or one in nine
of the total population during that time.

But the reports predicts that biggest change in
the religious make-up of Britain in the next three
and a half decades will be a major expansion in
the number of non-religious people.

They would account for just under 39 per cent,
challenging Christians as the biggest faith
community in the UK.

The predictions mirror analysis from the most
recent UK census which saw the number of children
growing up as Muslims in the UK almost double in a
decade while the number of people describing
themselves as non-religious also jumped
dramatically.

If the projections, which are based on official
population figures, birth rates and immigration
estimates from around the world, are borne out, it
could amount to the most significant religious
realignment in Britain since the arrival of
Christianity.

It would mean that by 2050 Britain would have the
third largest Muslim community, as a share of the
population, in Europe, overtaking France, Germany,
Belgium and a handful of other countries.

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Significantly it would also have the sixth largest
non-religious population, proportionally, in the
world – still behind officially atheist
countries such as North Korea but leapfrogging
Vietnam among others.

But, despite the growth of secularism in western
countries, the influence of religion across the
world is on course to grow by 2050.

At a time of rapid global population increases,
the number of “unaffiliated” people worldwide
is projected to edge only slightly higher from 1.1
billion to 1.2 billion by 2050.

Prof Linda Woodhead, an expert in the sociology of
religion based at Lancaster University, said: “I
think the interesting thing is to compare Britain
with comparator countries, other northern European
countries with similar national churches.

“The same rate of de-Christianisation is not
projected for Norway, Denmark, Sweden for
example.

“So the national Church of England and Church of
Scotland, seem to have been particularly effective
in generating ‘no religion’.”

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Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular
Society, said: “I think the Pew prediction of 45
per cent is pretty conservative.

“The British Social Attitudes Survey already
puts the non-religious in the majority and if
trends continue, Christians will be in a very
small minority by 2050.

“The Christian hierarchy may consider it a
tragedy, but most people are quite sanguine about
it – they have no interest in church.

“All the same, Britain still manages to be one
of the most compassionate and peaceful nations in
the world.

“When the tsunami struck south-east Asia, the
United Nations congratulated the British people on
raising more money than any other country.

“In countries where religion dominates, on the
other hand, there seems to be nothing but conflict
and bloodshed.

“The fading of religion from British life is no
tragedy.

“It might be the making of us.”

Source - The Telegraph

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