25Religious scenes (in the USA and Great Britain)

25. Religious scenes (in the USA and Great Britain)

Christianity is the established religion in the UK

"Many people are brought up, as part of their family, to say that they are Christian despite only having a precursory knowledge of Christ and only a vague belief in God. Frequently only a single parent figure has any interest in the Church, but insists that the household each calls themselves a Christian, and sometimes this continues for generations.

An implicit Christian is one who calls themselves Christian out of ease or habit, not due to belief. From personal experience, most self declared Christians in the United Kingdom confuse believing in God with being a Christian. Many think that if you believe in God, you are therefore a Christian. In a predominantly Christian (Western) context, that assumption suits only demographics, and is not useful for discerning what beliefs people actually have."

"There are less Christians than there appear to be" by Vexen 2001 July

One single general trend can be brought out of all the statistics of religious belief in the UK: Our population is mostly irreligious, innocent and ignorant of religion, and despite some defaulting to calling themselves "Christian" (71%), the country is not Christian despite a vague 50% lingering belief in a God of some sort.

2. The Importance of Religion to the British public

Religion is unimportant to most British people:

• 17% of the population responded that religion was one of the most significant factors in their lives. A persons' own experience, parents, education and friends come first₉

• 33% of the British public consider that 'religion is important'₇

Compared to other countries:

Of 41 countries polled, 16 most developed countries have less than 40% of the populace who think religion is important in their lives. The rest (including the US at a very high 60%, and nearly all developing countries) had at least 57% of their populace who said so. Out of all the countries where the majority of the people do not consider religion important, Northern Ireland is the only country which experiences a conflict closely tied with religion. The USA stands as the only developed country that is generally religous.

Religion in the UK:

The United Kingdom has one of the most religiously diverse populations in the European Union. Each religion has a considerable internal diversity of traditions, movements, cultures and languages.

Religious practice cuts across ethnic groups and ethnic groups are multi-religious. Indians for example may be Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, Christians or other faith. The largest religious minority in the UK are the Muslims. It is estimated that there are over two million Muslims in the UK today. Jews, Hindus and Sikhs are also large religious minorities in the UK. Northern Ireland is the only country in the UK to have direct legal protection from religious discrimination (The fair Employment Act, 1989). The European Convention on Human Rights and its incorporation into domestic law through the Human Rights Act, 1998 is the key international standard for legal protection against religious discrimination in the UK.

A rticle 9 of the Convention; “ Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his/her religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or in private, to manifest his/her religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance” and that “ Freedom to manifest his/her religion or beliefs shall be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interest of public safety, for the protection of public order, health or morals, or for the protection of the rights or freedoms of others”.

The UK population: by religion, April 2001

In 2001 the Census collected information about religious identity. The topic was new to the Census in England, Wales and Scotland although the subject had been included in previous Censuses in Northern Ireland.

Just over three-quarters of the UK population reported having a religion. More than seven out of ten people said that their religion was Christian (72 per cent). After Christianity, Islam was the most common faith with nearly 3 per cent describing their religion as Muslim (1.6 million). The next largest religious groups were Hindus (559 thousand), followed by Sikhs (336 thousand), Jews (267 thousand), Buddhists (152 thousand), and people from Other religions (179 thousand). These groups each accounted for less than 1 per cent and together accounted for a further 3 per cent of the UK population.

People in Northern Ireland were most likely to say that they identified with a religion (86%) compared with those in England and Wales (77%) and Scotland (67%). About sixteen per cent of the UK population stated that they had no religion. This category included agnostics, atheists, heathens and those who wrote Jedi Knight. The Census religion question was a voluntary question. Nevertheless, over 92 per cent of people chose to answer it.Christianity is the main religion in Great Britain. There were 41 million Christians in 2001, making up almost three quarters of the population (72 per cent). This group included the Church of England, Church of Scotland, Church in Wales, Catholic, Protestant and all other Christian denominations.

People with no religion formed the second largest group, comprising 15 per cent of the population.

About one in 20 (5 per cent) of the population belonged to a non-Christian religious denomination.

Muslims were the largest religious group after Christians. There were 1.6 million Muslims living in Britain in 2001. This group comprised 3 per cent of the total population and over half (52 per cent) of the non-Christian religious population.

Hindus were the second largest non-Christian religious group. There were over half a million Hindus (558,000), comprising 1 per cent of the total population and 18 per cent of the non-Christian religious population. There were just over a third of a million Sikhs (336,000), making up 0.6 per cent of the total population and 11 per cent of the non-Christian religious population. There were just over a quarter of a million Jewish people (267,000), constituting 0.5 per cent of the total population and 9 per cent of the non-Christian religious group. Buddhists numbered 149,000 people in 2001, comprising 0.3 per cent of the population of Great Britain. The religion question was the only voluntary question in the 2001 Census and 8 per cent of people chose not to state their religion.

Other religions in England and Wales

Rather than select one of the specified religions offered on the 2001 Census form, many people chose to write in their own religion. Some of these religions were reassigned to one of the main religions offered, predominantly within the Christian group. In England and Wales, 151,000 people belonged to religious groups which did not fall into any of the main religions. The largest of these were Spiritualists (32,000) and Pagans (31,000), followed by Jain (15,000), Wicca (7,000), Rastafarian (5,000), Bahà'ì (5,000) and Zoroastrian (4,000).

Religion in the United States

Catholic schools are educational ministries of the Catholic Church. These schools develop their students through participation in the sacramental life of the Church, study of religion and theology, a full curriculum in secular subjects, and a variety of extra-curricular activities.

Religion is included in the learning experience, and school uniforms are often a requirement for students. In some boards, there are requirements that the student must become Catholic to attend a Catholic school. In the United States, Catholic schools are accredited by independent and/or state agencies, and teachers are generally certified. Catholic elementary and secondary schools receive virtually no government funding and are supported through tuition payments, fund raising and sometimes directly from the (arch-)diocese. Most Catholic schools are operated by a local parish community, a diocese or archdiocese, or a religious order. The majority of Catholic schools in the United States accept students of all religions, ethnic backgrounds and ability. However, parents of such students are generally expected to allow their children to be exposed to the teachings and religious practice of the Catholic Church.

A Christian school is a school run on Christian principles or by a Christian organization.

The nature of Christian Schools varies enormously from country to country according to the religious and educational culture. Historically in Europe many schools were founded as religious as well as educational establishments. Religious instruction was considered a normal part of education.