After General Synod, Religion and Health

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Clive D. Field

In today’s news round-up, BRIN covers a poll of public attitudes to current issues in the Church of England, following General Synod’s narrowest of rejections of women bishops, and some interesting research into the relationships between religion and health.

Church of England after General Synod

Last Tuesday’s failure of the Measure for Women Bishops to gain the necessary two-thirds majority in all three houses of General Synod (it fell short in the House of Laity) seems to have impacted negatively on the image of the Church of England. In the first test of public opinion since the synodical vote, 76% of adults say that the Church is out of touch with society. The proportion varies relatively little by demographics (even by age), ranging from a low of 71% among professing Anglicans to 81% of Liberal Democrats (whose party policy is to disestablish the Church). Just 8% believe the Church to be in touch (and no more than 12% of Anglicans), with 16% uncertain.

Support for women bishops in the Church of England now runs at 78%, virtually unchanged from the 77% recorded by YouGov in its poll on 8-9 November 2012. The strongest backing again comes from Liberal Democrats (90%), with Labour voters on 84%, and Conservatives on 73%. Women are slightly more in favour than men, and non-manual than manual workers. The regional spread is from 71% in London to 81% in Northern England. Anglican endorsement (77%) runs near the national average. Opposition to women bishops stands at 10% (peaking at 13% in the Midlands and Wales and among Conservatives), with 11% undecided.

Some politicians and commentators have suggested that Parliament should intervene to force the Church of England to accept women bishops; this would involve the removal of the Church’s exemptions under the Equality Act 2010. One-third (34%) of Britons endorse such intervention, Londoners and the over-60s (29%) being the least enthusiastic and Labour voters the most (39%). On the other side, 49% say that it is a matter for the Church to decide and that it would be an attack on religious freedom for Parliament to become involved. Anglicans (57%), the over-60s (57%), and Conservatives (55%) are most inclined to take this position. The remaining 17% have no firm view.

It has also been speculated that the failure of the Measure for Women Bishops will undermine the credibility of the Church of England in opposing impending Government legislation for same-sex marriage in England and Wales. Almost one-half (48%) of Britons criticize the Church for this opposition, rising to two-thirds of the 18-24s and Liberal Democrats. A further 38% support the Church’s stance, peaking at 54% of the over-60s, 53% of Conservatives, and 50% of Anglicans. The don’t knows number 13%.

Source: Online survey by YouGov of 1,812 adult Britons aged 18 and over on 22-23 November 2012, on behalf of The Sunday Times. Detailed tables available on p. 9 of:

http://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/lmlmhdqllh/YG-Archives-Pol-ST-results%20-%2023-251112.pdf

Religion and health in Scotland

BRIN readers will be relieved to know that recent Scottish research concluded ‘there was no significant association between toothache and religion’. However, a complex set of other relationships between health and religion was demonstrated. So, pursuing the dental line of enquiry, we find that ‘Religious faith appears to have a strong association with how many natural teeth respondents have. Only 69% of Roman Catholics had 20 or more natural teeth, which was significantly lower than the national average of 72%. Muslims were the most likely to have twenty or more natural teeth (95%) followed by Hindus (93%) and Buddhists (89%).’

On alcohol, those professing no religion were the most likely to drink excessively, and Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists the least likely. Smoking was also more prevalent than average among the nones, and among Roman Catholics as well, and most uncommon with Muslims and Protestant Christians beyond the Kirk. On the other hand, the nones were most likely and Muslims the least likely to meet the recommended level of physical activity. Buddhists and Hindus had the lowest prevalence of obesity and Church of Scotland adherents the most. Muslims had a much higher incidence of diabetes than the norm but the second lowest experience of cardio-vascular disease, the latter particularly affecting Catholics and Buddhists. Buddhists, Muslims, and Hindus were well above the national average in meeting the 5-a-day guideline intake of fruit and vegetables. 

In terms of overall self-assessed health, 76% of Scots evaluated it as very good or good. For the various faith groups, the range was from 70% for Buddhists and Muslims to 92% for Hindus, with the Church of Scotland on 78%, Roman Catholics on 72%, other Christians on 77%, and those of no religion on 75%. Hindus also had the highest levels of positive mental well-being.

The report on the research mostly confines itself to documenting the two-way correlations between religion and health. There are obviously limits to what can be achieved in putting forward possible explanations of these relationships without proceeding to some form of multivariate analysis. Clearly, it seems probable that the patterns will be differentially affected by such factors as the age, socio-economic, and ethnic profiles of each of the faith groups. Neither is there any control for religious practice, which would have been particularly interesting given existing research (disproportionately American) suggesting a positive link between churchgoing and health.  

Source: Aggregate analysis of the last four years (2008-11) of the Scottish Health Survey, in which data were collected on 28,770 Scottish adults aged 16 and over and resident in private households by means of face-to-face interview and self-completion questionnaire. Fieldwork was undertaken by ScotCen Social Research on behalf of the Scottish Government and NHS Health Scotland. The religious profile of the sample was found to be: no religion (41%), Church of Scotland (32%), Roman Catholic (15%), other Christian (9%), non-Christian (3%). However, sub-samples of non-Christians were relatively small (220 Muslims, 63 Buddhists, 59 Hindus, and 418 others). Detailed tables of results appear on pp. 71-88 of Paul Whybrow, Julie Ramsay and Karen MacNee, The Scottish Health Survey: Topic Report – Equality Groups, published by the Scottish Government on 30 October 2012 and available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/0040/00406749.pdf

 

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Dimensions of Religious Prejudice

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Clive D. Field

Two reports have been published in the last couple of days which shed light on the scale of religious prejudice in contemporary society:

Religious discrimination in the European Union

Discrimination on the grounds of religion or beliefs is perceived as more pervasive in the UK than in many other European countries. One-half of UK adults say that it is very or fairly widespread here, 5% more than when the question was last asked in 2009. The figure is well above the European Union (EU) average of 39% and only exceeded by five other EU countries (peaking in France on 66%). The proportion falls to 38% (compared with the EU average of 33%) when confined to discrimination outside the workplace, with 14% contending that insufficient is being done to advance religious diversity at work. Three in ten regard the economic recession as a contributory factor in the increase in discrimination in the labour market based on religion or beliefs.

At the same time, only 3% of UK citizens say that they felt personally discriminated against or harassed on the basis of religion or beliefs during the previous twelve months, although more (10%) claim to have witnessed or heard of somebody suffering such treatment in the same period. Friends and acquaintances across the religion or belief divide are reported by 84% in the UK, up by 5% since 2009 and 17% above the EU average. However, some 13% still feel uncomfortable at the prospect of a member of a minority religion being elected as prime minister, albeit a decrease on 21% in 2009 and lower than the EU norm, while 15% consider that wearing a visible religious symbol could put an employment candidate at a potential disadvantage.

A background question on religious affiliation revealed that 32% of UK citizens describe themselves as atheists or agnostics, 2% more than two years ago, and 9% more than in all EU nations combined (the country range being from zero in Cyprus and Romania to 59% in the Czech Republic). Of the remainder of UK adults, 15% are categorized as Catholic, 1% as Orthodox, 23% as Protestant, 19% as other Christian, 6% as non-Christian, 2% of another religion, and 2% undecided.   

Source: Face-to-face interviews with 1,301 adults aged 15 and over in the UK, conducted by TNS UK between 2 and 17 June 2012 as part of wave 77.4 of Eurobarometer, and on behalf of the European Commission. Interviews were also carried out in the other 26 member states of the EU. Topline analysis of the survey can be found in Discrimination in the EU in 2012, Special Eurobarometer Report 393, published on 22 November 2012 and available to download at:

http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/eb_special_399_380_en.htm#393

BRIN’s coverage of the European Commission’s 2009 discrimination survey can still be read at:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/2010/religious-discrimination-in-the-european-union/

Religiously aggravated offending in Scotland

There was an increase of 26% in the number of charges with a religious aggravation recorded in Scotland in 2011-12 compared with 2010-11. The rise is thought to be partly attributable to greater awareness and reporting of such crimes. The main charges were breach of the peace (42%) and threatening or abusive behaviour (47%). Court proceedings were initiated in 88% of charges, some of which were ongoing at the end of 2011-12. In cases which were concluded and resulted in a conviction, punishments comprised fines (43%), community penalty (22%), and custodial sentences (20%), with 15% classified as other (such as a warning).

Two-fifths of all charges were in the city of Glasgow (albeit down from 51% in 2010-11), with 10% in North Lanarkshire. The overwhelming majority (93%) of the accused were men, and 58% were aged between 16 and 30, with 35% aged 31-50. In 57% of cases the offences were judged to be alcohol-related, 9% drug-related, and 31% football-related. Roman Catholics were the targets of abuse in 58% of charges and Protestants in 40%. Relatively few offences, 2% each, were derogatory of Islam (19 out of 876) or Judaism (14). Police officers were the most common victims (51%), with a community rather than individual abused in 30% of instances.

Source: Analysis of 876 charges with a religious aggravation brought by police in Scotland in the financial year 2011-12 under Section 74 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003. Summarized in Amy Goulding and Ben Cavanagh, Religiously Aggravated Offending in Scotland, 2011-12, published by Scottish Government Social Research on 23 November 2012, and available to download from:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/0040/00408745.pdf

 

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Humanist Marriages in Scotland

Posted on August 3, 2012 by Clive D. Field

Humanist marriages, permitted in Scotland since 2005 (but not elsewhere in the UK), were the second most common form of ‘religious’ wedding ceremony in Scotland in 2011, with 2,486 marriages by Humanist celebrants compared with 5,557 conducted by Church of Scotland ministers and 1,729 by Roman Catholic clergy.

The figures are contained in Scotland’s Population, 2011: The Registrar General’s Annual Review of Demographic Trends, 157th Edition, which was published on 2 August 2012 and is available at:

http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/files2/stats/annual-review-2011/rgar-2011.pdf

There were 18.8% more Humanist marriages in 2011 than in 2010, against more modest increases of 2.3% in all Scottish marriages and 0.1% in religious marriages. Excluding Humanist ceremonies, there were actually 3.2% fewer religious marriages.

Scottish Humanist marriages grew by an astonishing 472.8% in the five years since they were first fully recorded in 2006. There were 434 in the latter year, 710 in 2007, 1,026 in 2008, 1,544 in 2009, and 2,092 in 2010.

The overall proportion of religious marriages in Scotland in 2011 was 48.2%, the remainder being civil weddings, performed by registrars and with no religious references. If Humanist ceremonies are removed, then religious marriages constituted 39.7% of the national total.

Neither does it follow that religious ceremonies are always performed in places of worship. Far from it, in fact, the annual review stating that ‘around 48 per cent of religious marriages were celebrated in places of worship’.

This was very similar to the percentage of civil marriages occurring in registration offices. Other approved (mostly secular) premises, permitted in Scotland since 2002, are evidently as attractive to couples wishing to have religious as civil weddings.

It should be noted that Scottish marriage statistics are somewhat skewed by the large number (23.4% in 2011) of ‘tourism’ marriages in which neither party resides in Scotland, almost half of which take place in Gretna Green.

In particular, the apparent rise in religious marriages in Scotland between 1997 and 2002 was largely associated with a growth in these ‘tourism’ marriages. The tourism effect has been less marked since, religious marriages falling by 16.9% between 2003 and 2011.

 

 

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New Poll Findings

Posted on June 24, 2012 by Clive D. Field

There have been no substantive polls on religion in Britain during recent weeks, but here are a few findings from disparate surveys which BRIN has yet to report and which some of our readers may have missed:

Religious affiliation

56% to 58% of Britons consider themselves to be a ‘member’ of Christianity, and 7% to 9% of a non-Christian faith, while 32% to 33% claim they have no religion. 18-24s are most likely to say they have no religion (42% to 47%) and over-65s the least (20% to 24%). Non-Christians are most prevalent among the 18-34s and in London (where they form one-fifth of the population).

Source: Three Populus polls on (respectively) executive pay, the monarchy and the European Union commissioned by various clients, and undertaken online on 11-13 May, 25-28 May and 8-10 June 2012 among samples of approximately 2,000 adults aged 18 and over. Detailed statistics will be found in the classification section of the respective data tables at:

http://www.populus.co.uk/uploads/Populus%20Executive%20Pay_Shareholder%20Rights%20Results(1).pdf

http://www.populus.co.uk/uploads/May%202012%20monarchy.pdf

http://www.populus.co.uk/uploads/European%20Union%20Referendum%20Poll.pdf

Interfaith matters

Religious ignorance is an issue in the UK, according to 64% of Britons. In seeming confirmation of this, only 43% know that Christians, Jews and Muslims believe in the same God (dropping to 29% of the 18-24s, compared with 57% of over-65s). Less than one-third understand that Jesus is recognized as a major prophet in Islam, with almost half thinking this to be untrue. 51% (including 60% of 18-24s) admit to making an initial judgment of a person based on their religion.

Source: Populus poll of adult Britons aged 18 and over, conducted for the Maimonides Foundation. Headline results were published on 29 May 2012 and featured in Church Times (1 June), Jewish Chronicle (1 June), Church of England Newspaper (3 June), and Daily Telegraph (9 June). Full tabulations and methodological details have not yet been disclosed, but BRIN has requested them. 

Religious education

Of those expressing an opinion, 58% of Britons agree that it is beneficial for pupils to study religious education (RE) at school, and 53% want it to remain a compulsory subject. Among 18-24s, with the most recent direct experience of school RE, the figure rises to 63% in each case. Again excluding the don’t knows, 50% of all adults regard RE as an essential component of a multi-faith society, against 9% who see RE as harmful and 13% who think it should not be taught in schools at all.

Source: YouGov poll for the Religious Education Council (REC) of England and Wales, undertaken online among 1,825 adults aged 18 and over in England and Wales on 9-12 March 2012. The REC tells BRIN that full data will not be available until the autumn. Meanwhile, a press release from the REC – dated 11 June, and the basis of various print and online media coverage – can be found at:

http://www.religiouseducationcouncil.org/content/view/246/46/

Same-sex marriages

68% of Scots agree that religious organizations should have the right to decide for themselves whether or not to perform same-sex marriages, with 21% disagreeing and 10% uncertain. Agreement is higher among women (72%) than men (64%), the over-55s (72%) than the 18-24s (64%), and Conservative voters (76%) than Scottish Nationalists (64%).

Source: Ipsos MORI poll for the Equality Network, conducted by telephone among 1,003 Scottish adults aged 18 and over on 7-13 June 2012. A press release and charts were published on 17 June and are available at:

http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/2978/Majority-of-Scots-support-gay-marriage.aspx

 

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Religious Education in Scottish Schools

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Clive D. Field

Scottish schools are failing to make parents aware of their statutory rights concerning religious and moral education and religious observance, according to new research by YouGov for the Humanist Society Scotland, and published on 30 April 2012.

One thousand Scottish parents of children aged 5-16 were interviewed online between 29 March and 4 April 2012. They were predominantly aged 35-54. A six-page report on the survey, together with a spreadsheet of the full data, is available at:

http://www.humanism-scotland.org.uk/content/education_research/

All Scottish schools are required, by the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, to communicate to parents their right to remove a child from any aspect of religious education and observance, if they wish. Schools are also required to offer a suitable alternative activity.

But in this poll only 20% of Scottish parents claimed they had originally learned of their rights through the school. 41% found out through another route, and the remaining 39% were unaware of their rights at all.

Of the 77% of parents who reported that their child participated in religious education and observance at school, 67% stressed the importance of children learning about a variety of religious beliefs as the reason, while just 15% cited their own religiosity for wanting their child to learn about religion at school. 18% wanted their child to stay with their classmates, 13% did not know that they could withdraw their child, and 11% stated that the alternative options were not spelled out by the school. Multiple answers were possible to this question.

Asked about the best approach to teaching religious education and observance at school, 18% of the full sample argued for the complete removal of the subject from schools. 71% supported a pluralistic approach (with 39% favouring equal time being spent on all main religions, and 32% coverage of all main religions but with a focus on the faith held by the majority of pupils). 4% felt that schools should concentrate on one religion.

Prompted about the specific topics which religious education and observance should cover at school, 16% of all parents thought that no religious or spiritual area should be included. 68% elected for Christianity, 48% Islam, 46% Judaism, 45% Hinduism, 43% Buddhism, 40% Sikhism, 39% philosophy, 38% atheism and secularism, and 21% Jainism.

In sum, therefore, fewer than one-fifth of Scottish parents wish to see the abolition of religious education and observance in schools, albeit this number might conceivably increase if there was more universal awareness of the parental right of withdrawal of their child from religious education and observance. 

As things stand, the overwhelming majority of Scottish parents appear to support the continuation of religious education and observance in schools, but on the implicit understanding that the delivery reflects all major world belief systems.

 

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Religiously Aggravated Offending in Scotland, 2010-11

Posted on November 20, 2011 by Clive D. Field

The Justice Committee of the Scottish Parliament is meeting next Tuesday to consider Stage 2 amendments to the (relatively controversial) Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill, nicknamed the ‘Football Act’, which will give Scottish police more powers to clamp down on football-related and other forms of sectarianism.

Coincidentally (or, there again, perhaps not), the Scottish Government published last Friday (18 November 2011) a report on Religiously Aggravated Offending in Scotland, 2010-11 by Ben Cavanagh and Angela Morgan (Scottish Government Social Research, ISBN 978-1-78045-515-0). This can be downloaded from:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/362943/0122956.pdf

The document provides a much fuller analysis of the 693 charges with a religious aggravation in Scotland in 2010-11, as defined by Section 74 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003, than was given in an earlier, more generic report on Scottish hate crime for that year, which was covered by BRIN at:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=1245

Headline findings from the new report include the following:

  • The number of charges with a religious aggravation in 2010-11 was 10% greater than in 2009-10 and the highest since 2006-07 (696)
  • 95% of the charges related to men
  • 93% of the accused were under 50, including 58% aged 16-30
  • Although charges with a religious aggravation occurred in 27 of Scotland’s 32 local authority areas, the majority of incidents took place in the west of the country, including 79% in the Strathclyde police force area and, within that, 51% in Glasgow city
  • 21% of offences were located in a main street, 19% in a police car/station, 13% on public transport, 13% in a football stadium, 12% in a residential area, 19% in a domestic dwelling, 5% in a pub or club, 2% in a hospital, and 7% elsewhere
  • 33% of charges were linked to football but only 5% to marches or parades
  • 58% of charges targeted Roman Catholicism, 37% Protestantism, 2% Judaism, and 2% Islam
  • 42% of victims were actually police officers, 33% members of the community, 23% members of the public, and 11% workers – the boundaries between these groups are somewhat ill-defined
  • 61% of charges were alcohol-related and 6% drugs-related
  • In 73% of cases the main charge to which a religious aggravation was added was for breach of the peace, in 14% for threatening or abusive behaviour, and in 6% for assault
  • Of the 693 charges, court proceedings were initiated for 587, with 85% of cases concluded so far resulting in convictions (albeit only a minority in a custodial sentence)

The report may be compared with an earlier analysis of data for the period January 2004 to June 2005 in Kathleen Doyle, Use of Section 74 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 – Religiously Aggravated Reported Crime: an 18 Month Review (2006), which is still available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/155706/0041794.pdf

For a recent public opinion poll in Scotland on attitudes to sectarianism, conducted by TNS-BMRB in July and August 2011, see:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=1421

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Sectarianism in Scotland

Posted on September 24, 2011 by Clive D. Field

The recent resurgence of sectarianism in Scottish football is overwhelmingly condemned by Scots, according to a poll commissioned by the Scottish Government, and published on 4 September to coincide with the commencement of Scottish parliamentary scrutiny of the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill.

Fieldwork for the study was undertaken by TNS-BMRB between 27 July and 3 August 2011, by means of face-to-face interviews in the home with 1,028 Scots aged 16 and over. Data tables can be found at: 

http://www.tns-bmrb.co.uk/assets-uploaded/documents/sectarianism-poll-aug-11_1315215048.pdf

Roughly nine in ten Scots agreed with the four propositions in the survey: 89% that sectarianism is offensive; 89% that it is unacceptable in Scottish football; 91% that stronger action needs to be taken to tackle sectarianism and offensive behaviour associated with football in Scotland; and 85% that sectarianism is a criminal offence. Disagreement on each measure ranged from 3% to 5%, with the balance neutral.

Variations by demographic sub-groups were relatively limited, but there was a definite tendency for endorsement of the propositions to be lowest among those aged 16-24 years. In particular, only 75% of this cohort regarded sectarianism as a criminal offence and 78% as unacceptable in Scottish football. Likewise, agreement with the statements was below par among the DE social group (semi- and unskilled manual workers).

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Scottish Social Attitudes Discrimination Module

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Clive D. Field

The level of religious prejudice in Scotland in 2010 was much the same as in 2006, notwithstanding significant legislative and other activities to counter it by both the UK and Scottish Governments during the intervening years.

Moreover, Scottish attitudes to Muslims continued to be more negative than to other religious groups, despite a 7% rise in those having Muslim acquaintances over the four-year period.

These are among the headline findings from the report on the discrimination module in the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey, which was published by Scottish Government Social Research on 11 August 2011.

Written by Rachel Ormston, John Curtice, Susan McConville and Susan Reid of the Scottish Centre for Social Research (ScotCen), Scottish Social Attitudes Survey, 2010: Attitudes to Discrimination and Positive Action can be downloaded from:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/355716/0120166.pdf

The module was funded by the Scottish Government and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (Scotland). Fieldwork was undertaken by ScotCen by means of face-to-face interview and self-completion questionnaire between June and October 2010. Interviews were achieved with a representative sample of 1,495 Scottish adults aged 18 and over, a response rate of 54%.

Answers to questions of particular interest to BRIN (mainly affecting Muslims, since Protestant/Catholic sectarianism was not covered in the module) appear below, but readers should note that no attempt has been made to summarize the important multivariate regression analyses which appear in Annex B of the report.

49% of Scots agreed that Scotland would begin to lose its identity if more Muslims came to settle there (compared with 46% who said the same about Eastern Europeans and 45% about blacks and Asians). The proportion was similar to the 50% recorded in 2006 but well up on 38% in 2003. It was highest among the over-65s (67%), those with no educational qualifications (62%), and residents of the most deprived areas (62%).

46% of Scots did not know anybody who was a Muslim (slightly reduced from 52% in 2006), with 9% unsure and 45% reporting some acquaintance, overwhelmingly in a non-familial context. Those acquainted with a Muslim were less likely to say there is sometimes good reason to be prejudiced than those with no Muslim contacts (23% versus 35%).

23% of respondents indicated that they would be unhappy about a family member marrying or forming a long-term relationship with a Muslim (rising to 45% among the over-65s and 39% with no educational qualifications), compared with 18% for a Hindu, 9% for a Jew, and just 2% (of non-Christians) for a Christian. The equivalent figures for a Muslim in 2003 and 2006 were 20% and 24% respectively. The extent of unhappiness varied inversely with income, falling from 31% for those who brought in less than £14,300 per annum to 14% for those earning over £44,200. Religion also made a difference, the proportion being 28% for those with a religious affiliation and 17% for those without.

15% of Scots claimed that a Muslim would make an unsuitable primary school teacher, the same figure as in 2006. The proportion climbed with age, from 6% among the 18-24s to 28% with the over-65s. It stood at 27% among Scots with no educational qualifications but at only 8% for the most highly qualified; at 23% for those on the lowest incomes and 9% on the highest; and at 23% for those who did not know any Muslims and 8% for those with Muslim acquaintances. 55% said a Muslim would be suitable, with 24% neutral.

69% of all respondents (and 83% of over-55s) felt that a bank should be able to insist that a female Muslim employee remove a veil, but only 23% said the same about a female Muslim employee wearing a headscarf. 24% considered a bank should be able to require a Sikh male employee to remove his turban and 15% a Christian woman employee to remove a crucifix.

32% of Scots felt that it would be a bad or very bad use of Government money for funds to be channeled to organizations which helped Muslims find work, increasing to 43% of over-65s, 45% of those with no formal educational qualifications, and 48% of those thinking that there is sometimes good reason to be prejudiced.

Muslims apart, there were some correlations between religiosity and discriminatory attitudes as a whole. For example, those considering themselves belonging to any religion were more likely to say that there is sometimes good reason to be prejudiced than the non-religious (31% and 25% respectively). Similarly, those who attended religious services at least once a week were twice as likely as Scots in general to believe that same-sex relationships were always or mostly wrong (57% versus 27%).

Scottish attitudes to Muslims and Islam were also explored in last year’s Ipsos MORI Scotland and British Council Scotland research on Muslim Integration in Scotland, which we have covered at:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=515

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Hate Crime in Scotland, 2010-11

Posted on May 19, 2011 by Clive D. Field

Crimes motivated by religious prejudice rose by 10% in Scotland last year, representing the highest number of charges in that category since 2006-07, according to the report on Hate Crime in Scotland, 2010-11, published yesterday by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). The paper can be found at:

http://www.copfs.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Hate%20Crime%20-%20publication%20-%20final%20version.pdf

There were 693 charges with a religious aggravation in Scotland in 2010-11, as defined by Section 74 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003. This compared with 4,165 charges related to race crime (4% down on 2009-10), 50 to disability, 448 to sexual orientation, and 14 to transgender identity.

85% of the religious cases in 2010-11 resulted in court proceedings, 9% were not separately prosecuted (meaning that other charges for the accused within the same case were), 2% were dealt with by direct measures (such as fines and warning letters), no action was taken in 3% of cases, and 1% still await a decision.

Of the 20 religious cases where no action was taken, seven were judged not to be a crime, in six there was insufficient evidence, in five further action was considered to be disproportionate, and in one there were mitigating circumstances. Other (unspecified) reasons applied to the final case.

It should be noted that the statistics relate to the number of charges rather than the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges. Where a charge had more than one hate crime aggravation, it is included in the overall figures for each type of hate crime into which it falls.

These data are highly topical, given the apparent recent resurgence of sectarianism in Scotland, including a spate of incidents against individuals connected with Glasgow Celtic Football Club. The Roman Catholic Church in Scotland has claimed that Scottish Catholics are six times more likely than Protestants to be a victim of bigotry.

Following a meeting of the Scottish Cabinet on 15 March, COPFS is committed to taking forward new research into the ‘religious context of religiously aggravated offences in Scotland’. Proposals for this project are currently being developed. The last study, in 2006, found two-thirds of reported offences were anti-Catholic in nature and a third were football related.

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Census Question Under Fire

Posted on March 21, 2011 by Clive D. Field

There are just six days to go before UK residents have to complete the household and individual questionnaire for the decennial population census.

But humanists are still simultaneously maintaining their attack on the voluntary question on religion while paradoxically encouraging people to answer it, ideally (from the humanist perspective) by registering as of no religion.

In a press release on 20 March the British Humanist Association (BHA) described the census question as ‘highly misleading’ and ‘fatally flawed for its intended purpose of planning public services’. The BHA’s evidence for this claim comes from new opinion polls conducted online by YouGov in England and Wales and in Scotland.

The English and Welsh survey, commissioned by the BHA, was undertaken on 9-11 March 2011 among a representative sample of 1,896 adults aged 18 and over. The Scottish poll was sponsored by the Humanist Society of Scotland and conducted on 10-14 January 2011 among 2,007 adults.

In England and Wales, when asked the census question ‘What is your religion?’, 61% ticked a religious box and 39% declared themselves to be of no religion. However, when asked ‘Are you religious?’, just 29% said ‘yes’ and 65% ‘no’, ‘meaning over half of those whom the census would count as having a religion said they were not religious’.

Responses varied somewhat according to demographics, most notably by age. Whereas 56% of 18-24s had no religion, the proportion fell steadily throughout the age cohorts, to stand at 25% among the over-55s. Similarly, while 70-73% of the three under-45 cohorts stated that they were not religious, this was the case with 68% of those aged 45-54 and 56% of the over-55s.

Marital status also appeared to make a difference, although this pattern doubtless conceals an age-related effect. The number professing no religion was highest among the never married (53%) and those living as married (52%). It was substantially lower among those who were currently married or in a civil partnership (31%) or had formerly been, 27% among the separated or divorced and 25% with the widowed.

The 53% of the English and Welsh sample who professed to be Christian were additionally asked: ‘Do you believe that Jesus Christ was a real person who died and came back to life and was the son of God?’ Fewer than half (48%) said that they did so believe, with 27% disbelieving and 25% unsure, BHA’s unspoken point presumably being that many so-called Christians have rather a shallow or unconventional faith.

It is also a generally inactive faith, in terms of attendance at a place of worship for religious reasons. Only 15% of the entire sample claimed to have been within the past month, with a further 16% going within the past year, 43% more than a year ago and 20% never. The never category was largest among the 18-24s (28%), with 32% for full-time students.

In Scotland, one-half of the sample was asked the Scottish census question: ‘What religion, religious denomination or body do you belong to?’ In reply, 56% of Scots professed some affiliation (with write-in responses available) and 42% none.

The other Scottish half-sample was initially asked: ‘Are you religious?’ 35% said that they were and 56% that they were not, with 8% uncertain. Those who answered that they were religious or who did not know were then asked: ‘Which religion do you belong to?’ At this point, 22% said that they did not belong to any organized religion.

The BHA press release and links to the data tables for both England and Wales and Scotland will be found at:

http://www.humanism.org.uk/news/view/771

These statistics serve to illustrate what is already generally well-known, that surveys on religious (and – indeed – all other) topics are inevitably informed or perhaps even shaped by question-wording.

The Office for National Statistics, which is overseeing the census, is fully aware of the sensitivities and ambiguities of investigating religion. It has gone to some considerable lengths to research and trial the merits of alternative wordings during its census preparations.

For fuller information about these deliberations and experimentation, see the October 2009 ONS report on Final Recommended Questions for the 2011 Census in England and Wales: Religion, which is available on the ONS website.

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