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Religion in the United Kingdom
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Religion in the United Kingdom is about the development of religion in the United Kingdom (UK) since its formation in 1707. The Treaty of Union that led to the formation of the United Kingdom ensured that there would be a protestant succession as well as a link between church and state that still remains. According to the 2001 UK census, Christianity is the major religion, followed by Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and then Judaism in terms of number of adherents.
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Religion in the United Kingdom is about the development of religion in the United Kingdom (UK) since its formation in 1707. The Treaty of Union that led to the formation of the United Kingdom ensured that there would be a protestant succession as well as a link between church and state that still remains. According to the 2001 UK census, Christianity is the major religion, followed by Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and then Judaism in terms of number of adherents. Though each country that makes up the UK has a long tradition of Christianity that pre-dates the UK itself, in practice all have relatively low levels of religious observance and today are secular societies. For details of religion in the individual countries, including prior to 1707, see;
Several different sets of figures exist which aim to categorise the religious affiliations, beliefs and practices of UK residents. Differences in the wording and context of the questions can give substantially different results. The 2001 census found that 76.8% of the UK population had a religion, with Christianity being the most prevalent (72% of respondents described their religion as such), while the British Social Attitudes Survey survey produced by the National Centre for Social Research in the same year reported that 58% considered themselves to "belong to" a religion. An Ipsos MORI poll in 2003 reported that 43% considered themselves to be "a member of an organised religion" (18% were "a practicing member of an organised religion") and an ICM survey in 2006 found that 33% considered themselves to be "a religious person". A Eurobarometer opinion poll in 2005 reported that 38% "believed there is a God", 40% believe there is "some sort of spirit or life force" and 20% said "I'don't believe there is any sort of spirit, God or life force".
Other religions have also established a presence in the UK, both through immigration and by attracting converts, including the Bahá'í Faith, Rastafarianism and Neopaganism. There are also organizations which promote rationalism, humanism, and secularism.
Christianity
National churches
The Protestant Reformation established different religious practices in the different countries of what became the United Kingdom.
England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion (except the Scottish Episcopal Church which has separate origins and is a Sister Church rather than a Daughter Church) and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national churches.
The Church of England considers itself to be both Catholic and reformed. It regards itself as in continuity with the pre-Reformation state Catholic church, but has been a distinct Anglican church since the settlement under Elizabeth I, with some disruption during the 17th-century Commonwealth period. The British Monarch is formally Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and its spiritual leader is the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is regarded by convention as the head of the worldwide communion of Anglican Churches, (the Anglican Communion). In practice the Church of England is governed by the General Synod, under the authority of Parliament.
Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, The Kirk, is the national church of Scotland. It is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation.
It is recognised in law (by the Church of Scotland Act 1921) as the national church in Scotland, but is not an Established church and is independent of state control in spiritual matters. It is a Reformed church, with a Presbyterian system of ecclesiastical polity. Although the British Monarch is an ordinary member of the Church of Scotland, the monarch is represented at the General Assembly by the Lord High Commissioner.
The Scottish Reformation was more influenced by Calvinism than in England, with the adoption of the Westminster Confession of Faith. There have been divisions within Presbyterianism such as the Disruption of 1843 in Scotland when 450 ministers of the Church broke away, over the issue of the Church's relationship with the State, to form the Free Church of Scotland. In 1900 the vast majority of the Free Church of Scotland united with the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland to form the United Free Church of Scotland, which re-united with the Church of Scotland in 1929. The remaining members of the former Free Church founded a new Free Church of Scotland, which they claimed to be the legitimate Free Church in 1900.
The indigenous Scottish Episcopal Church, which is part of the Anglican communion, is a relatively small denomination and not established.
Wales
The Church in Wales, , is a member Church of the Anglican Communion, consisting of six dioceses in Wales. The Archbishop of Wales holds that post as well as being bishop of one of the six dioceses. The Welsh Church Act 1914 provided for the separation of the dioceses of the Church of England located in Wales known collectively as the Church in Wales from the rest of the Church, and for the simultaneous disestablishment of the Church. The Act came into operation in 1920; since that time there has been no Established church in Wales.
Beside the Roman Catholic Church and the Church in Wales which both have less than 5% of the population as members, the largest religious societies are the Presbyterian Church of Wales with 34,819 (2004) members and 1% of the population as members and the Union of Welsh Independents as well as the Baptist Union of Wales both with about 1% of the population as members.
Northern Ireland
The Anglican Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion, operating across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Like other Anglican churches, it considers itself to be both Catholic and Reformed. The Church of Ireland was disestablished in 1871 by the Irish Church Disestablishment Act. The Republic of Ireland later seceded from the UK. Although the Protestant population of Northern Ireland is larger numerically than the Catholic population, the Roman Catholic Church forms the largest single denomination. The largest Protestant denominations are the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Church of Ireland and the Methodist Church. The 2001 UK census showed 40.3% Roman Catholic, 20.7% Presbyterian Church, with the Church of Ireland having 15.3% and the Methodist Church 3.5%. 13.8% gave no religion, and other religions were 0.3%.
Roman Catholicism
The Roman Catholic Church has separate national churches for England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland (which is administered on an all-Ireland basis) and so there is no single hierachy for Roman Catholicism in the United Kingdom (though there is a single apostolic nuncio to the United Kingdom, presently Archbishop Faustino Sainz Muńoz).
The early years of the UK were difficult for Roman Catholicism since it faced official discrimination: the Treaty of Union specified that there would be a protestant succession to the British throne and the civil rights of Catholics were severely curtailed with restrictions on property ownership, occupation and voting, and numbers, influence and visibility were at a low ebb. Things began to change following the 'Catholic Relief Act' in 1778 though equal rights were not achieved until the passing of the Catholic Emancipation Act in 1829. With numbers in England, Wales and Scotland boosted due to an influx of Irish Catholics fleeing the Great Irish Famine, Catholic hierachies were re-established in England and Wales in 1850 and restored in Scotland in 1878.
England and Wales
The Church in England and Wales has five provinces: Birmingham, Cardiff, Liverpool, Southwark and Westminster. There are 22 dioceses which are divided into parishes. In addition to these, there are two dioceses covering England and Wales for specific groups which are the Bishopric of the Forces and the Apostolic Exarchate for Ukrainians. The Catholic Bishops in England and Wales come together in a collaborative structure known as the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales and currently the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, is the ex officio President of the Conference.
Ireland
The Church in Ireland covers the whole of the island of Ireland and its internal boundaries do not correspond with the border of Northern Ireland. Within Northern Ireland, Roman Catholics are the largest single church, though there are more Protestants in total.
Scotland
In the 2001 census about 16% of the population of Scotland described themselves as being Roman Catholic. Currently, they constitute 17% of Scotland, with 850,000 members. Journalist Andrew Collier notes that Scot Catholics no longer see themselves as a tribal minority, "but as a confident and influential part of the country's demographic mix." This Catholic self-esteem has had a dramatic political side effect, with Catholics starting to find common ground with the Scottish Nationalist Party. Scotland has two provinces - Glasgow and St Andrews and Edinburgh - and eight dioceses, and the Archbishops and bishops come together in the Bishops Conference of Scotland.
Pentecostal
Pentecostal churches are continuing to grow and, in terms of church attendance, are now third after the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church in England. There are three main denomination of pentecostal churches;
The is also a growing number of independent, charismatic churches that encourage pentecostal practices at part of their worship.
Methodism
The Methodist movement traces its origin to the evangelical awakening in 18th century Great Britain. Many parts of the British Isles developed a strong tradition of Methodism from the 18th century onwards. The Methodist movement was started in England by a group of men including John Wesley, an Anglican clergyman and his younger brother Charles as a movement within the Church of England, but developed as a separate denomination after John Wesley's death. Traditionally, Methodism proved particularly popular in Wales with the Welsh Methodist revival in the 18th century and the 1904-1905 Welsh Revival and in Cornwall. Both Wales and Cornwall, alone among the Celtic countries, were noted for their non-conformism. It was also very strong in the old mill towns of Yorkshire and Lancashire and the new industrial urban working class.
Schisms within the original Methodist church, and independent revivals, led to the formation of a number of separate denominations calling themselves Methodist. The largest of these were the Primitive Methodist Church, the Bible Christian Church and the United Methodist Church (not connected with the American denomination of the same name, but a union of three smaller denominations). The original church became known as the Wesleyan Methodist Church to distinguish it from these bodies. The three major streams of British Methodism united in 1932 to form the current Methodist Church of Great Britain, which is the fourth largest Christian denomination in the UK with around 330,000 members and 6,000 churches. It also includes congregations in the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, Malta and Gibraltar as part of the church. In Scotland the congregations are more limited and in Northern Ireland, where Methodism is also the fourth largest denomination, the church is organised within the Methodist Church in Ireland. The Wesleyan Reform Union and the Independent Methodist Connexion still remain separate from the Methodist Church of Great Britain.
In the 1960s, the Methodist Church of Great Britain made ecumenical overtures to the Church of England, aimed at church unity. Formally, these failed when they were rejected by the Church of England's General Synod in 1972. However, conversations and co-operation continued, leading on 1 November 2003 to the signing of a covenant between the two churches. The Methodist Church in Ireland is the fourth largest denomination in Northern Ireland. In 2002 The Methodist Church in Ireland signed a covenant for greater cooperation and potential ultimate unity with the Church of Ireland.
Orthodox Churches
Orthodoxy has more recently been introduced to the UK by Cypriot, Russian, and other immigrants covering Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox.
Russian Orthodox Church
There are various Russian Orthodox groups in the UK. In 1962, Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh founded and was for many years bishop, archbishop then metropolitan bishop of the diocese of the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Sourozh, the Russian Orthodox Moscow Patriarchate's diocese for Great Britain and Ireland. It is the most numerous Russian Orthodox group in the UK.
There are also the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia churches as well as some churches and communities belonging to the Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe's Episcopal Cicariate in the UK.
Most Russian Orthodox parishes fall under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Sourozh and the Episcopal Vicariate of Great Britain and Ireland.
Greek Orthodox Church
The Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain, based in London, is a diocese of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and was created in 1932. The first recorded organised Greek Orthodox community in England was established in 1670 by a group of 100 Greek refugees from Mani. The first church, the church of the Dormition of the Mother of God, was built in Soho, London in 1677 before being confiscated and handed over in 1684 to Huguenots fleeing religious persecution in France. The church no longer stands but the dedicatory plaque that was embedded over the main entrance is now housed in the narthex of St Sophia Cathedral in Bayswater.
During the next 150 years, the community had to worship in the Imperial Russian Embassy. Finally, in 1837, an autonomous community was set up in Finsbury Park in London. The first new church was built in 1850, on London Street in the City. In 1882, St Sophia Cathedral was constructed in London, in order to cope with the growing influx of Orthodox immigrants to the UK. By the outbreak of World War I, there were large Orthodox communities in London, Manchester, Cardiff and Liverpool, each focused on its own church. World War IIand its aftermath also saw a large expansion amongst the Orthodox Communities.
Today, there are seven churches bearing the title of Cathedral in London as well as in Birmingham (the Dormition of the Mother of God and St Andrew) and Leicester. In addition to these, there are eighty-one churches and other places where worship is regularly offered, twenty-five places (including University Chaplaincies) where the Divine Liturgy is celebrated on a less regular basis, four chapels (including that of the Archdiocese), and two monasteries. The Archdiocese comes under the authority of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, who in turn has authority over four bishops and hundreds of priests and deacons. As is traditional within the Orthodox Church, the bishops have a considerable degree of autonomy within the Archdiocese.
The Greek Orthodox Church of St Nicholas in Toxteth, Liverpool, was built in 1870. It is an enlarged version of St Theodore's church in Constantinople and is a Grade II Listed building.
Most Greek Orthodox Church parishes fall under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Thyateira and Great Britain.
The current Archbishop of Thyateira and Great Britain is His Eminence Gregorios.
The Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch also have the St. George's Cathedral in London and a total of sixteen parishes throughout the UK.
Other Orthodox Churches
As well as the Russian and Greek Orthodox churches, there are also the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church all in London as well as the Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Manchester.
Non-Chalcedonians
All Coptic Orthodox parishes fall under the jurisdiction of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria Pope of Alexandria. The Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom is divided into three main parishes:
In addition, there is one Patriarchal Exarchate at Stevenage, Hertfordshire. Most British converts belong to the British Orthodox Church, which is canonically part of the Coptic Orthodox Church. There is also the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in London.
Other Christian denominations
Other traditions of Christianity have a long history in the UK.
Non-conformism
There has been a strain of Nonconformism or Dissent traceable back to Lollardry from the mid-14th century. The English Dissenters were Christians who opposed State interference in religious matters, who broke away from the Church of England in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Today these include -
Baptist
The first Baptist church met in Spitalfields, London in 1612. In the 17th century Baptists refused to conform and be members of the Church of England, arguing that Christ, and not the Monarch was head of the church and were persecuted for their beliefs.
The Baptist Union of Great Britain (which actually covers England and Wales) was formed when the General Baptists and Particular Baptists came together in 1891. It is the largest national association of Baptist churches in the UK with about 2,150 churches, thirteen regional associations and six Baptist colleges.
The Baptist Union of Scotland was founded in 1869, when 51 churches joined together to form the Union. By the end of the 19th century this had risen to 118 churches. It currently has 173 churches. The Baptist Union of Wales was formed in 1866. They have 447 churches with some of them holding dual membership with the Baptist Union of Great Britain. The Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland has over 100 churches on the island but mostly Northern Ireland.
There are also smaller groups - the Association of Grace Baptist Churches, the Gospel Standard Baptists, the Grace Baptist Assembly and the Old Baptist Union.
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a family of Christian denominations within the Reformed branch of Protestant Western Christianity. A form of Calvinism, Presbyterianism evolved primarily in Scotland before the Act of Union in 1707. Most of the few Presbyteries found in England can trace a Scottish connection. The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland was formed in 1893 and claims to be the spiritual descendant of the Scottish Reformation. The Free Church of Scotland, which claims to tbe the legitimate Free Church in Scotland was founded in 1900. In England Presbyterianism was founded in secret in 1572. The Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales was founded in the late 1980s and declared themselves to be a Presbytery in 1996. They currently have ten churches. The Presbyterian Church in Ireland is the largest Protestant denomination and second largest church in Northern Ireland. The Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster was founded on 17 March 1951 by the cleric and politician, Ian Paisley. It has about 60 churcges in Northern Ireland. The Presbyterian Church of Wales seceded from the Church of England in 1811 and formally formed itself into a separate body in 1823. The Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland has 31 congregations in Northern Ireland, with the first Presbytery being formed in Antrim in 1725.
Congregational church
There are about 600 Congregational churches in the UK. In England there are three main groups, the Congregational Federation, the Evangelical Fellowship of Congregational Churches, and about 100 Congregational churches that are loosely federated with other congregations in the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches, or are unaffiliated. In Scotland the churches are mostly member of the Congergational Federation and in Wales which traditionally has a larger number of Congregationalists, most are members of the the Union of Welsh Independents.
Mennonite
There is one Mennonite congregation in the UK, the Wood Green Mennonite Church in London.
Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
Quakerism was founded in the UK in the 17th century. The Britain Yearly Meeting is the umbrella body for the Religious Society of Friends in England, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Isles and the Isle of Man. There are 25,000 worshippers with about 400 local meetings. Northern Ireland comes under the umbrella of the Ireland Yearly Meeting.
Unitarians
The General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches is the umbrella organization for Unitarian, Free Christian and other liberal religious congregations in the UK. The Unitarian Christian Association was formed in 1991.
Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion
The Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion is a small society of evangelical churches, founded in 1783, which today has 23 congregations in England.
Other denominations
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Among other denominations are:
- The United Reformed Church (URC) is the result of a union between the Presbyterian Church of England and the Congregational Church in England and Wales in 1972 and subsequent unions with the Re-formed Association of Churches of Christ in 1981 and the Congregational Union of Scotland in 2000. The URC has about 1,900 congregations.
- The Salvation Army was founded in the East End of London in 1865.
- The Seventh-day Adventist Church - The Trans-European Division of Seventh-day Adventists of the church has its headquarters in the UK. The British Union Conference is sub-divided into five conferences covering the whole of the UK.
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints claims more than 180,000 members in the UK.
- Jehovah's Witness - has about 130,000 members in the UK.
The UK provided a place of refuge for Huguenots fleeing religious persecution in France. There are several Nordic churches in London which provide Lutheran Christian worship.
Saints
Traditionally, saints have often been venerated locally, nationally and internationally. This is often reflected in British toponymy. However, following the Reformation, the cult of saints has been observed to a much lesser degree than historically.
Patron saints:
Many municipalities and regions preserve traditions of their own saints. See, for example, Cornish Saints and Saint Swithun.
Wales is particularly noted for naming places after either local or well-known saints - all places beginning in Llan e.g. Llanbedr - St Peter (Pedr); Llanfihangel - St Michael (Mihangel); Llanarmon - St Garmon. Because of the relatively small number of saints' names used, places names are often suffixed by their locality e.g. Llanfihangel Glyn Myfyr, Llanfihangel-y-Creuddyn, Llanfihangel-y-Pennant.
Saint Alban was, according to tradition, the first Christian martyr in Britain. Other martyrs, such as the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, have also been canonised.
Pilgrimages were an important religious, social and economic activity in pre-Reformation Britain. The shrine of Thomas Becket attracted particularly large numbers of pilgrims, as recounted in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Some local pilgrimages have been revived; see, for example, the shrines of Walsingham.
Islam
Islam has been present in the United Kingdom throughout the country's history, as small numbers of Muslims were already living in England and Scotland at the time of its formation, though the practice of Islam was only legalized by the Trinitarian Act in 1812. Islam, today, is the second largest religion in the UK with recent estimates suggesting a total of as high as 2.4 million Muslims, Most Muslim immigrants to the UK are from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, with the remainder from Muslim-dominated areas such as Southwest Asia, Somalia, Malaysia, and Indonesia. During the 18th century, lascars (sailors) who worked for the British East India Company settled in port towns with local wives due to a lack of Asian women in the UK at the time. These numbered only 4,037 in 1891 but 51,616 on the eve of World War I.Naval cooks also came, many from what is now the Sylhet Division of Bangladesh, including Sake Dean Mahomet, a captain of the British East India Company. After 1900, Yemeni sailors began to permanently settle in the United Kingdom. From the 1950s onwards, there was considerable immigration to the UK from former colonies with large Muslim populations developing in many towns and cities as a result. Since the first Mosque was established at 2 Glynrhondda Street, Cathays, Cardiff, in 1860, most major towns and cities now have mosques, including notable mosques such as Manchester Central Mosque, East London Mosque, London Markaz and London Central Mosque.
The vast majority of Muslims in the UK live in England and Wales: of 1,591,000 Muslims recorded at the 2001 Census, 1,536,015 were living in England and Wales, where they form 3% of the population; 42,557 were living in Scotland, forming 0.84% of the population; and 1,943 were living in Northern Ireland.
British Muslims of South Asian descent follow many different movements within Islam. Many British Asian Muslims follow the Barelwi sect. The most influential movement of the Barelwi group is the World Islamic Mission . Many also follow the Deobandi movement as well. The Tablighi Jamaat is an important subgroup of the Deobandis; its centre is located in Dewsbury.
The Ahl-i Hadith is another trend, which in general is opposed to Sufism. Islamic Mission is the counterpart of the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami which follows the ideology of Abu l-Ala Mawdudi.
South Asian Shias are predominantly from Pakistan or Gujarat though there are also Shias from Lebanon, Iran, and Iraq. The al-Khoei foundation, belonging to one of the most important Iraqi Shia families, is located in London. Among the Gujarati Ismaili Muslims, both branches of Ismailism - the Dawoodi Bohras and the Nizaris - are represented. The Ahmadiyya Community also have their de facto International headquarters in South London following their persecution in Pakistan. The Ahmadiyya opened the first mosque in Greater London in 1926.
The United Kingdom also has a large diaspora of African and Afro-Caribbean Muslims, hailing both from the Muslim communities in British colonies in Africa and the Caribbean and also from British-born converts.
The Muslim Council of Britain is an umbrella organisation for many local, regional and specialist Islamic organisations in the United Kingdom.
Judaism
The majority of Jewish immigration to Scotland appears to have occurred post-industrialisation, and post-1707. The Jew Bill, enacted in 1753, permitted the naturalisation of foreign Jews, but was repealed the next year. The first graduate from the University of Glasgow who was openly-known to be Jewish was in 1787. Unlike their English contemporaries, Scottish students were not required to take a religious oath.
The Jewish community has historically suffered expulsions, official restrictions and discrimination, and outbreaks of communal violence (see History of anti-Semitism); however, in the 19th and 20th centuries, British society was considered more tolerant of Jews than most other European nations, especially the ones from Germany and eastern Europe. In 1841 Isaac Lyon Goldsmid was made baronet, the first Jew to receive a hereditary title. The first Jewish Lord Mayor of the City of London, Sir David Salomons, was elected in 1855, followed by the 1858 emancipation of the Jews. On 26 July 1858, Lionel de Rothschild was finally allowed to sit in the British House of Commons when the law restricting the oath of office to Christians was changed; Benjamin Disraeli, a baptised Christian of Jewish parentage, was already an MP.
In 1874, Disraeli became Prime Minister having earlier been Chancellor of the Exchequer. In 1884 Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild became the first Jewish member of the British House of Lords; again Disraeli was already a member.
The Jewish population of the UK peaked in the late 1940s at around 400,000, but has since declined through emigration and intermarriage to around 250,000; some community leaders have expressed concern that the Jewish community could disappear by the end of the 21st century if current trends continue. However, a report in August 2007 by University of Manchester historian Dr Yaakov Wise stated that 75% of all births in the Jewish community were to ultra-orthodox, Haredi parents, and that the increase of ultra-orthodox Jewry allied with the declining overall Jewish population has led to a significant rise in the proportion of British Jews who are ultra-orthodox. The figures were based on census data and also on the regular monitoring of Jewish births by academics in both Manchester and Leeds.
A ten-month parliamentary inquiry into anti-Semitism in the UK reported on 7th September 2006.
Other faiths
Religious diversity has led Charles, Prince of Wales to muse publicly on the desirability of being Defender of Faith rather than Defender of the Faith. He commented in 1994 that, "I personally would rather see it (his future role) as Defender of Faith, not the Faith"..
British Imperial interests in Asia led to contacts with religions of Eastern origin. Scholarly study of these religions in the 19th century, especially Hinduism and Buddhism, also led to conversions in the United Kingdom. British members of the Theosophical Society spread interest in Asian religion.
Hinduism
Hinduism was the religion of 558,342 people in the United Kingdom according to the 2001 UK census. However, the total was estimated as high as 1.5 Million in 2007. Although most British Hindus live in England, with half living in London alone, small communities also exist in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Sikhism
The first recorded Sikh settler in the UK was Maharaja Duleep Singh, dethroned and exiled in 1849 at the age of 14, after the Anglo-Sikh wars. The first Sikh Gurdwara (temple) was established in 1911, in Putney, London.
The first Sikh migration came in the 1950s, mostly of men from the Punjab seeking work in industries such as foundries and textiles. These new arrivals mostly settled in London, Birmingham and West Yorkshire. Thousands of Sikhs from East Africa followed.
Buddhism
The earliest Buddhist influence on Britain came through its imperial connections with South East Asia, and as a result the early connections were with the Theravada traditions of Burma, Thailand, and Sri Lanka. The tradition of study resulted in the foundation of the Pali Text Society, which undertook the task of translating the Pali Canon of Buddhist texts into English. Buddhism as a path of practice was pioneered by the Theosophists, Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott, and in 1880 they became the first Westerners to receive the refuges and precepts, the ceremony by which one traditionally becomes a Buddhist.
In 1924 London’s Buddhist Society was founded, and in 1926 the Theravadin London Buddhist Vihara. The rate of growth was slow but steady through the century, and the 1950s saw the development of interest in Zen Buddhism. In 1967 Kagyu Samyé Ling Monastery and Tibetan Centre, now the largest Tibetan centre in Western Europe, was founded in Scotland. The first home-grown Buddhist movement was also founded in 1967, the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order.
Neopaganism
An estimated 250,000 (0.4%) to 1 million (around 2%) Britons adhere to various forms of Neopaganism, including Celtic Neopaganism, Heathenism and Wicca.
Wicca is the only major world religion which originated in the United Kingdom, with the historian Ronald Hutton claiming it was "the only religion that England has ever given to the world".
Bahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith in the United Kingdom has a historical connection with the earliest phases of the Bahá'í Faith starting in 1845 and reflects on the evolving character of the religion and the countries of the British Isles like England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland culminating in the present United Kingdom and relates to the development of communities of the religion in far flung nations around the world. It is estimated that between 1951 and 1993, Bahá'ís from the United Kingdom settled in 138 countries. There are about 5000 Bahá'ís of the UK.
No Religion
The United Kingdom has a large and growing non-religious population with 13,626,000 (23.2% of the UK population) either claiming no religion or not answering the question on religion at the 2001 census.
Monasticism
Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox monastic communities exist as well as religious communities of Hindus and Buddhists.
Religious leaders
Notable places of worship
The varied religious and ethnic history of the United Kingdom and the countries that formed it has left a wide range of religious buildings - churches, cathedrals, chapels, chapels of ease, synagogues, mosques and temples. Besides its spiritual importance, the religious architecture includes buildings of importance to the tourism industry and local pride. As a result of the Reformation, the ancient cathedrals remained in the possession of the then-established churches, while most Roman Catholic churches date from Victorian times or are of more recent construction (curiously, in Liverpool the ultra-modern design Roman Catholic cathedral was actually completed before the more traditional design of the Anglican cathedral, whose construction took most of the twentieth century). Changing social and demographic profiles mean that in some areas redundant religious buildings are being converted to secular purposes. In other locations, new places of worship are being established. Here is a selection of articles on notable places of worship in the United Kingdom:
Religion and education
England and Wales
Religion is still heavily involved with a significant number of the state funded schools being faith schools: the vast majority are Christian (and mainly either of Church of England or Roman Catholic) though there are also Jewish, Muslim and Sikh faith schools. In England and Wales, faith schools follow the same national curriculum as state schools with the added ethos of the host religion.
Until 1944 there was no requirement for state schools in England and Wales to provide religious education or worship, although most did so. The Education Act 1944 introduced a requirement for a daily act of collective worship and for religious education but did not define what was allowable under these terms. The act contained provisions to allow parents to withdraw their children from these activities and for teachers to refuse to participate. The Education Reform Act 1988 introduced a further requirement that the majority of collective worship be "wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character" . In recent years schools have increasingly failed to comply with the collective worship rules - in 2004 David Bell, the Chief Inspector of Schools said that "at present more than three-quarters of schools fail to meet this requirement."
Religious studies is still an obligatory subject in the curriculum, but tends to aim at providing an understanding of the main faiths of the world than at instilling a strictly Christian viewpoint.
Scotland
The majority of schools are non-denominational but separate Roman Catholic schools, with an element of control by the Roman Catholic Church, are provided within the state system.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland has a highly segregated education system with 95% of pupils attending either a maintained (Catholic) school or a controlled school (mostly Protestant). However, controlled schools are open to children of all faiths and none.
Religion and modern politics
The strength of Nonconformism among workers in the newly-industrialised towns of the Industrial Revolution gave rise, in large measure, to the development of Christian socialism in the United Kingdom. The Labour Party arose from a nonconformist background, whereas the Church of England has sometimes been nicknamed "the Conservative Party at prayer".
As religious disabilities were relaxed in the 19th century, politics was opened up to people of different faiths or none (see Charles Bradlaugh).
Lionel de Rothschild was the first Jew to take a seat in the House of Commons (1858) and in 1884 Baron Rothschild became the first Jewish member of the House of Lords. Dadabhai Naoroji, a Parsi, was an MP 1892-1895. Piara Khabra, a Sikh, was elected to the House of Commons in 1992. Mohammad Sarwar was the first Muslim MP (elected 1997). Henry Stanley, 3rd Baron Stanley of Alderley, a convert to Islam, was the first Muslim member of the House of Lords (from 1869). The first Muslim appointed to the House of Lords was Nazir Ahmed, Baron Ahmed in 1998; the first female Muslim so appointed, also in 1998, was Pola Uddin, Baroness Uddin.
However, the Church of England still maintains a constitutional position in the legislature: see Lord Spiritual. The Prime Minister, regardless of his or her personal beliefs, plays a key rôle in the appointment of Church of England bishops (although in July 2007, Gordon Brown proposed reforms of the Prime Minister's ability to affect Church of England appointments).
The direct influence of the Anglican Communion has been on the decline for many years but the Church of England retains a representation in Parliament and the right to draft legislative measures (usually related to religious administration), through the General Synod, that can be passed into law, but not amended by Parliament. The churches of the Anglican Communion in the rest of the UK were disestablished in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The debate over the role of the churches in the constitution was perennial in British politics:
Religion and the media
The BBC programme Songs of Praise is aired on a Sunday evening and has an average weekly audience of 2.5 million. Midnight mass and other such events are usually aired. As a public broadcaster the BBC produces such programming partly because of remit obligations. Accordingly, BBC Three and BBC Four air occasional programming from atheist or Muslim perspectives.
Other channels offer documentaries on, or from the perspective of, non-belief. A significant example is Richard Dawkins' two-part Channel 4 documentary, The Root of all Evil?.
The British media often portrays a cultural scepticism towards religion. British comedy in particular has a history of satire and parody on the subject, the most iconic example probably being Monty Python film Life of Brian. Religious mockery, or open disbelief in any religion, is not regarded as a taboo in the British media, as it could be considered to be in the other nations, for example the USA.
Secularism and tolerance
Despite its Christian tradition, the number of churchgoers fell over the last half of the 20th century. Society in the United Kingdom is markedly more secular than in the past. According to the British Humanist Association 36% of the population is humanist, and may, by the same token, be considered outright atheist and according to an O'Reilly Factor article the combined number of atheists and agnostics in the UK make up 44% of the population.
The National Secular Society is among bodies aiming to reduce the influence of religion. According to the 2001 census, however, 71.6% of population declared themselves to be Christian, a further 2.7% as Muslim and 1% as Hindu. Only 15.5% said they had "no religion" and 7.3% did not reply to the question. The problem with interpreting these results is that they do not reveal the intensity of religious belief or non-belief. See also Status of religious freedom in the United Kingdom.
Ecumenical rapprochement has gradually developed between Christian denominations.
However, some religious tensions still exist. See, for example, The Satanic Verses (novel), and Sectarianism in Glasgow and Northern Ireland.
In the early 21st century proposals to update the blasphemy law in the United Kingdom were discussed. The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 made it an offence to incite hatred against a person on the grounds of their religion. The common law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel were finally abolished with the coming into effect of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 on 8 July 2008.
There being no strict separation of church and state in the United Kingdom, public officials may in general display religious symbols in the course of their duties - for example, turbans. Chaplains are provided in the armed forces (see Royal Army Chaplains' Department) and in prisons.
Although School uniform codes are generally drawn up flexibly enough to accommodate compulsory items of religious dress, Christians have been banned from wearing the crucifix since wearing a crucifix is not a requirement of Christianity.
Statistics
The 2001 census contained voluntary questions on religious affiliation. In Scotland and Northern Ireland the census also contained questions on the religion in which a person had been brought up. As a result of comparisons with survey data The Office for National Statistics concluded that the census results for England and Wales were more comparable to the results for religion of upbringing in Scotland and Northern Ireland than for current religious affiliation. At the time the Census was carried out, there was an Internet campaign that encouraged people to record their religion as Jedi or "Jedi Knight". The number of people who stated Jedi was 390,000 (0.7 per cent of the population).
A survey in 2002 found Christmas attendance at Anglican churches in England varied between 10.19% of the population in the diocese of Hereford, down to just 2.16% in Manchester. Church attendance at Christmas in some dioceses was up to three times the average for the rest of the year.
Overall church attendance at Christmas has been steadily increasing in recent years; a 2005 poll found that 43% expected to attend a church service over the Christmas period, in comparison with 39% and 33% for corresponding polls taken in 2003 and 2001 respectively.
In a 2004 YouGov poll, 44 per cent of UK citizens responded affirmatively to the question "Do you believe in God?".
In 2005 the Eurobarometer Poll found that 38% of people in the UK believed in a god.
In the UK overall, a Guardian/ICM poll in 2006 found that 33% describe themselves as "a religious person" while 82% see religion as a cause of division and tension between people.
The Tearfund Survey in 2007 found 53% of people in the UK identifying themselves as Christian and only 7% as practising Christians. 10% attend church weekly and two-thirds had not gone to church in the past year. The Tearfund Survey also found that two thirds of UK adults (66%) or 32.2 million people have no connection with The Church at present (nor with another religion). These people are evenly divided between those who have been in the past but have since left (16 million) and those who have never been in their lives (16.2 million).
A December 2007 report by Christian Research showed that Roman Catholicism had become the best-attended services of Christian denominations in England, with average attendance at Sunday Mass of 861,000, compared to 852,000 attending Anglican services. Attendance at Anglican services had declined by 20% between 2000 and 2006, while attendance at Catholic services, boosted by large-scale immigration from Poland and Lithuania, had declined by only 13%. In Scotland attendance at Church of Scotland services declined by 19% and attendance at Catholic services fell by 25%.
A Tearfund survey on prayer found in 2007 that 42% of adults in the UK pray (outside church or religious services).
British Social Attitudes Surveys have shown the proportion of those in Great Britain who consider they "belong to" Christianity to have fallen from 66% in 1983 to 48% in 2006.
The disparity between the 2001 census data and the above polls has been put down to both the decline in religious adherence in the UK since 2001 and a phenomenon of cultural religiosity, whereby many who do not believe in gods still identify with a religion because of its role in their upbringing or its importance to their family.
Religions in United Kingdom, 2001
| Religion/Denomination | Current religion
| Percent
% |
|---|
| Christian | 42,079,000 | 71.6 | | No religion | 9,104,000 | 15.5 | | Muslim | 1,591,000 | 2.7 | | Hindu | 559,000 | 1.0 | | Sikh | 336,000 | 0.6 | | Jewish | 267,000 | 0.5 | | Buddhist | 152,000 | 0.3 | | Other Religion | 179,000 | 0.3 | | All religions | 45,163,000 | 76.8 | | Not Answered | 4,289,000 | 7.3 | No religion +
Not Answered | 13,626,000 | 23.2 | | Base | 58,789,000 | 100 |
Source: UK 2001 Census.
Denominations in Great Britain
| Religion/Denomination | Percent
% |
|---|
| Church of England | 22.2 | | Roman Catholic | 9.0 | | Presbyterian/Church of Scotland | 2.4 | | Methodist | 1.8 | | Other Protestant | 2.3 | | Christian (no denomination) | 9.6 | | Other Christian | 0.3 | | Muslim | 3.3 | | Hindu | 1.4 | | Jewish | 0.5 | | Sikh | 0.3 | | Other Religion | 0.6 | | No religion | 45.8 | | Refused / NA | 0.6 |
Source: BSA Survey 2006.
Religions by ethnic group
| Ethnic group | Christian | Buddhist | Hindu | Jewish | Muslim | Sikh | Other | No religion | Not stated |
|---|
| White British | 75.94% | 0.11% | 0.01% | 0.48% | 0.14% | 0.01% | 0.24% | 15.45% | 7.62% | | White Irish | 85.42% | 0.19% | 0.02% | 0.18% | 0.14% | 0.02% | 0.26% | 6.35% | 7.42% | | Other White | 62.67% | 0.33% | 0.09% | 2.39% | 8.61% | 0.04% | 0.57% | 15.91% | 9.38% | | Mixed | 52.46% | 0.70% | 0.87% | 0.47% | 9.72% | 0.42% | 0.58% | 23.25% | 11.54% | | Indian | 4.89% | 0.18% | 45.00% | 0.06% | 12.70% | 29.06% | 1.75% | 1.73% | 4.63% | | Pakistani | 1.09% | 0.03% | 0.08% | 0.05% | 92.01% | 0.05% | 0.04% | 0.50% | 6.16% | | Bangladeshi | 0.50% | 0.06% | 0.60% | 0.05% | 92.48% | 0.04% | 0.01% | 0.43% | 5.83% | | Other Asian | 13.42% | 4.85% | 26.76% | 0.30% | 37.31% | 6.22% | 0.93% | 3.44% | 6.79% | | Black Caribbean | 73.76% | 0.17% | 0.29% | 0.10% | 0.79% | 0.02% | 0.59% | 11.23% | 13.04% | | Black African | 68.87% | 0.07% | 0.21% | 0.05% | 20.04% | 0.09% | 0.21% | 2.31% | 8.14% | | Other Black | 66.61% | 0.20% | 0.36% | 0.13% | 5.97% | 0.07% | 0.65% | 12.09% | 13.93% | | Chinese | 21.56% | 15.12% | 0.07% | 0.05% | 0.33% | 0.03% | 0.49% | 52.60% | 9.75% | | Other | 32.98% | 15.49% | 1.32% | 1.05% | 25.68% | 1.02% | 0.90% | 14.08% | 7.48% |
Source: UK 2001 Census
See also
External links
- History of minority religions in London with objects and images
Christianity
Islam
Hinduism
Sikhism
Buddhism
Sources
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