Fwd: Census on Faith
Mark Barrett
Paths to faith
All the faiths offer salvation, community, discipline and self-knowledge, but the perception of these ‘selling points’ differs
Sir, The census highlights which faiths in Britain are growing and declining overall (report, May 17), but what is equally significant is that all of them are gaining adherents — albeit at different rates compared to their losses — because of the contrasting appeals they hold. Christianity is seen as offering salvation, Judaism community, Islam discipline and Buddhism self-knowledge. In reality, all the faiths contain all these characteristics, and share a common code of ethics, but the perception of their key “selling points” differs markedly.
What is striking about Islam today is that, unlike other faiths, it manages to attract converts from both sexes in equal numbers, appealing to males as strong and females as protective.
Those who do not belong to any faith group are not necessarily non-religious, but often do not care for worship. Until now, the attempted solution has been to change services to attract them back (using modern music or inclusive language); but maybe it would be better to concentrate less on prayers and more on the characteristics above, turning religious buildings into centres with a holistic approach to faith and where God can be met in non-liturgical ways.
Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain
Maidenhead Synagogue, Berks
Britain is losing its faith in church, census shows
The number of British-born Christians is falling steeply while a youthful Muslim population is on the rise, according to census figures published yesterday.
The average age of Christians in England and Wales is almost double that of Muslims. Overall, Christians have the oldest age profile of all the main faiths while Muslims have the youngest.
The census showed that the fall in the number of Christians is concentrated among the under-60s as the young abandon the faith of the older generation.
The figures suggest Christianity is in long-term decline, with secular groups estimating that less than half the population of England and Wales will belong to the faith by 2018.
David Coleman, Professor of Demography at the University of Oxford, said that the findings showed how Christianity was declining with each generation. “Each large age group, as time progresses, receives less inculcation into Christianity than its predecessor ten years earlier,” he said.
Professor Coleman contrasted the decline of the Christian faith through the generations with what happens among Muslims. “We have a Muslim faith where most studies suggest adherence to Islam is not only transmitted through the generations but appears to get stronger,” he said.
“Indeed, there seems to be some evidence that the second generation Muslims in Britain are more Muslim than their parents.”
More detailed analysis of census figures showed that immigration has helped mask the steep fall in UK-born Christians while at the same time fuelling an overall rise in Muslims.
British-born Christians fell by 15 per cent to just under 30 million but those who were foreign-born increased by 1.2 million in the decade to 2011.
This meant that overall Christian numbers fell by 10 per cent to 33 million, representing 59 per cent of the overall population. Meanwhile the number of Muslims almost doubled to 2.7 million in the same period, boosted by 600,000 from overseas.
The median age of Christians is 45 compared with 25 for Muslims, the census showed. Almost half of Muslims were under 25 compared with a quarter of Christians. Nine out of ten Muslim were under 50, the census found. Previous figures released by the charity Christian Research have suggested that there will be more Muslims worshipping in mosques than Christians in churches by 2035.
Secularists said the latest figures made the case for an established church unsustainable but the Church of England said the data indicated that traditional religious identities are no longer taken for granted by people. Andrew Copson, chief executive of the British Humanist Association, said: “The new analysis confirms that the future for the UK is a non-religious one.
“Most young people are non-religious and the religious proportion of the population is only being topped up by older people whose religion is generation-related rather than age-related and patterns of immigration which are unlikely to continue.
“Our social institutions, public policy and the way we think about our society and national identity has to catch up with this massive cultural shift.”
A spokesman for the Church of England said: “One of the reasons may well be fewer people identifying as ‘cultural Christians’, that is those who have no active involvement with churches and who may previously have identified as Christian for cultural or historical reasons.
“They indicate a changing pattern of religious life in which traditional or inherited identities are less taken for granted than they used to be.”
marknb...@googlemail.com
Don't forget the pagans!
Yeah there's a natural mystic blowing ..! http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VkndVzfOeRc&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DVkndVzfOeRc
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