Annex II
Polls and Surveys on Belief
1. Populus poll on churchgoing (Nov 2004)
| More than weekly | 2 per cent
|
| Weekly | 10 per cent |
| Monthly | 5 per cent |
| A few times a year | 36 per cent
|
| Never | 47 per cent |
2. Young People in Britain: The Attitudes and Experiences
of 12 to 19 Year Olds.
DfES Research Report RR564, National Centre for Social Research
2004—ISBN 1 84478 291
3. Do you regard yourself as belonging to any particular
religion?
IF YES: Which?
| None | 65 per cent |
| Christian | 27 per cent |
| Muslim | 5 per cent |
| Hindu | 1 per cent |
| Jewish | 1 per cent |
| Sikh | 1 per cent |
Survey of 13,000 young people by Revd Professor Leslie Francis
and Revd Dr William Kay, Trinity College Carmarthen (Teenage
Religion and Values, Gracewing, 1995). 61 per cent of 14-16
year olds described themselves as atheist or agnostic.
4. ICM poll for The Guardian Weekend 27 November
2004 (510 16-year-olds)
Do you believe in God?
| Yes | 35 per cent |
| No | 45 per cent |
| Don't know | 20 per cent |
5. YouGov poll for Daily Telegraph (1981 adults
aged 18+ throughout Britain online between 16 and 18 December
2004)
Do you believe in God?
| Yes | 44 per cent |
| No | 35 per cent |
| Don't know | 21 per cent |
6. Marriages (ONS 4/2/2005)
| 1991 |
2003 |
| Religious | 0.7 per cent
| 32.2 per cent |
| Civil | 49.3 per cent
| 67.8 per cent |
7. Mori poll (4,270 respondents) for The Tablet May 2005
| Atheist or agnostic | 24 per cent
|
| aged 18-34 | 36 per cent |
| aged 65+ | 11 per cent |
8. YouGov poll for Daily Telegraph (3,505 adults
aged 18+ throughout Britain online between 20 and 22 July 2005)
Below is a list of phrases which might be used to describe
or define Britain and what it is to be British. For each one,
please indicate how important you think that word or phrase is
in defining Britishness.
The Church of England
| Very important | 17 per cent
|
| Fairly important | 28 per cent
|
| Not very important | 29 per cent
|
| Not at all important | 23 per cent
|
| Don't know | 3 per cent |
9. ICM poll for The Guardian 23 August 2005
Q9. The government is expanding the number of state
funded faith schools, including Muslim schools. Which one of the
following do you most agree with?
25 per cent Faith schools are an important part of our
education system and if there are Anglican and Jewish state-funded
schools there should also be Muslim ones.
8 per cent Faith schools are an important part of our
education system but the government should not be funding Muslim
schools.
64 per cent Schools should be for everyone regardless
of religion and the government should not be funding faith schools
of any kind.
4 per cent Don't know
10. Home Office Research Study 274: Religion in England
and Wales: findings from the 2001 Home Office Citizenship Survey
(March 2004)
Table 3.1: Which of the following things would say something
important about you, if you were describing yourself?
| Your religion | 9th of 10 factors at 20 per cent
|
Table 3.2: Top 10 things that would say something important
about the respondent—by ethnicity
| White: | religion ranked |
10th of 10 factors |
| Black: | | 3rd
|
| Asian: | | 2nd
|
| Mixed ethnicity: | | 7th
|
11. Poll for BBC Heaven & Earth Show (7 September
2003) of 1001 British adults, aged 16+
Q.1a From the following list, which two or three things,
if any, have the most influence on your views or outlook on life?
| Your own experience of life | 62 per cent
|
| Your parents | 56 per cent |
| Your education | 30 per cent
|
| Friends | 26 per cent |
| Newspapers and TV | 17 per cent
|
| Religious teachings | 17 per cent
|
| Books | 12 per cent |
| Politicians | 3 per cent |
| Celebrities you admire | 2 per cent
|
| None | 1 per cent |
| Don't know | 1 per cent |
Q.2a Which, if any, of the following would you say
best describes you?
| I am a practising member of an organised religion
| 18 per cent |
| I am a non-practising member of an organised religion
| 25 per cent |
| I am spiritually inclined but don't really belong to an organised religion
| 24 per cent |
| I am agnostic (not sure if there's a God) |
14 per cent |
| I am atheist (convinced there's no God) |
12 per cent |
| None of these | 7 per cent |
| Don't know | 1 per cent |
| |
12. Census 2001
|
| Religion (per cent) | England
| Wales | Scotland
| N. Ireland | UK
|
|
| Christianity | 71.74
| 71.90 | 65.08
| 85.83 | 71.58
|
| Islam | 3.10
| 0.75 | 0.84
| 0.12 | 2.71
|
| Hindu | 1.11
| 0.19 | 0.11
| 0.05 | 0.95
|
| Sikh | 0.67 |
0.07 | 0.13
| 0.01 | 0.57
|
| Jew | 0.52 |
0.08 | 0.13
| 0.02 | 0.45
|
| Buddhist | 0.28
| 0.18 | 0.14
| 0.14 | 0.26
|
| Other Religions | 0.29
| 0.24 | 0.53
| 0.07 | 0.30
|
| No Religion | 14.60
| 18.53 | 27.55
| 2.72 | 15.56
|
| Not Stated | 7.69
| 8.06 | 5.49
| 11.15 | 7.62
|
| TOTAL | 100.00
| 100.00 | 100.00
| 100.00 | 100.00
|
|
| 
