Britain: Religious belief in decline

[Modem Butterfly]

This article is written oddly. I tried to find the "meat" of the story in contiguous paragraphs rather than by bouncing around. Here 'tis.

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/08/17/nrelig17.xml

"The dip in religious belief is not temporary or accidental, it is a generational phenomenon - the decline has continued year on year," he said. "The fact that children are only half as likely to believe as their parents indicates that, as a society, we are at an advanced stage of secularisation."

The findings appear to contradict the commonly accepted theory that people "believe without belonging" - the idea that religious belief is robust even though churchgoing is in longer-term decline.

According to the survey, which was based on 14 years of data from 10,500 households, the importance of belief in God fell by 5.3 per cent to 32.5 per cent between 1991 and 1999.

This compared with a fall of 3.5 per cent in the proportion of people who attended church services over the same period and a 2.9 per cent decrease in the proportion who said they were affiliated to a particular religion.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Some Anglican ministers have doubts about the existence of God these

days.

[maxsolomon]

2. mankind will never be free

until the last aristocrat is strangled with the entrails of the last priest
-diederot

or something like that. go brits! advance secularization!

[SteppingRazor]

3. Thank God -- so to speak.

:evilgrin:

The sooner we can put superstition behind us, the quicker we can move ahead as a society.
Of course, this study is based in Great Britain. I doubt the findings would be replicated in America.

[ThumperDumper]

5. I think it would...

Atheists don't feel the need to TALK about it like religious people do, so it SEEMS like there are fewer of us (atheists) than there really are.

.

[revree]

7. You win for second best name on DU...

after Underpants, of course, who reigns at number one!

[ThumperDumper]

9. Hey...

THANKS! I'm truely honored.
It took me a while to think that one up. You're the first person who's said anything.
: )

.

[movonne]

4. Now if that would only start here...

[LisaLynne]

6. You know, my mother who is in her 60's

claims that when she was, say in her 20s, people were much less religious in this country. She knew this because she was a part of a religious fundamentalist sect that was (and is) heavily into proselytizing. She said it seems to her that she rarely spoke to anyone who said they went to church regularly. Now, she realizes this is vastly different today.

I wonder if anyone else has noticed this or if it is just her perception...Somebody should do a study. Or maybe they have. :)

In any case, it would be interesting if the US has become more religious while, say, Britain has been becoming less.

[ThumperDumper]

8. I think...

it's a reaction lately because they feel threatened so theyr'e becoming more and more vocal.

Now a days people have the guts to stand up against people who impose their religion on others in ways that they've been afraid of in the past and they're WINNING rulings and getting things changed and religious people are being forced to mind their own business.

Consequently, they've gotten more and more unruley and forceful in their impositions.

.

[sybylla]

10. I hope it's highly contagious

We could use a little secularization here.

[mr blur]

11. We must be doing something right then. (nt)

[noonwitch]

12. Is it Bill Clinton's fault or John Lennon's?

I blame Henry VIII for establishing a separate church just so he could divorce his first wife. He undermined people's faith with his ungodly purposes.

[Mr Creosote]

13. I'm always shocked

at what a very religious society you seem to be compared to us. Evem on the Simpsons everyone goes to church. I dont know hardly anyone that goes to church.

[jonnyblitz]

14. it's all for show, along with flag waving...

public piety is in vogue here. they are all out there aborting fetuses and buggering like the rest of us, they just try to hide it and lead double lives..

[Mr Creosote]

17. I find that strangely reassuring

[onager]

15. No wonder. Check out the Anglicans' last big PR campaign...

The Jesus-as-Che-Guevera poster was just one more pathetic attempt to make their superstition 'relevant' to modern times:

http://www.ely.anglican.org/advertising/

Naturally, it was a big flop. You'll notice the web site dates from 1999. Church attendance in the UK continued to decline, despite the cheery predictions that this sort of hokum would bring the Brits...and their checkbooks...swarming back into the pews.

[Mr Creosote]

19. I like the bit

"What people are saying about the poster". What we were probably saying was "What poster is that then? The "hello boys" one?"

[arwalden]

16. This Trend Needs To Start In The US... Only I'll Be DEAD Before...

... it has a chance to make any difference. Until then I still have to put up with the fundie Christians being in charge. (Man! I hate those people!)

[GoneOffShore]

18. Huzzah!!!!

We need a whole lot less Jaysus and a lot more rock n'roll!