Honour Crimes

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Clive D. Field

Almost two-thirds (69%) of young British Asians aged 16-34 consider that families should live according to the concept of ‘honour’ or ‘izzat’. The proportion is lowest among Asian Christians (62%) and Hindus (64%) and greatest for Muslims (70%) and Sikhs (79%).

This is one of the findings of a ComRes poll undertaken on behalf of the BBC as background for a Panorama special on ‘Britain’s Crimes of Honour’, being broadcast tonight (BBC One, 8.30 pm). 500 young Asians living in Britain were interviewed by telephone between 23 and 27 February 2012. Data tables are available at:

http://www.comres.co.uk/polls/BBC_Blakeway_Honour_Crime_Feb12.pdf

A similar number of respondents (66%) argued that, while ‘izzat’ exists in some sections of society, its extent has been exaggerated by the media. This was particularly felt by young Asian Muslims (73%) and Sikhs (72%), less so by Christians (65%) or Hindus (53%).

Backing for the extremer manifestations of ‘izzat’ was small. Thus, only 6% of all young Asians believed that, in certain circumstances, it could be right to punish physically a female member of the family if she brought dishonour to it or the community. No Sikhs agreed with this, but 9% of Hindus, 8% of Christians, and 6% of Muslims did so.

Notwithstanding, three times this number (i.e. 18%) in the entire sample selected one or more of five ‘reasonable justifications’ for physical punishment of female members of the family. The figure was highest among Asian Christians (23%), followed by Muslims (20%), Sikhs (14%), and Hindus (13%).

The relative weight attached to each of the five justifications varied somewhat, but generally disobeying paternal wishes was the top concern for Asian Christians (10%), going out in the evening unaccompanied most perturbed Muslims (9%), and wanting to terminate an existing or prearranged marriage preoccupied Sikhs (9%).

The ultimate punishment of ‘honour killing’ was sanctioned by 3% of young Asians, including the same number of Muslims and Hindus, but rising to 4% of Sikhs and Christians. Support for ‘honour killings’ has thankfully fallen since 2006 when, in a similar survey of young Asians aged 16-34, 8% overall justified such killings, peaking at 14% among Hindus and Christians.

‘Izzat’, therefore, does not appear to be the preserve of any particular faith but seems to reflect the wider cultural inheritance of many young British Asians. Presumably, the same is likely to be true of older Asians, among whom the concept may be stronger, and perhaps endorsement of ‘honour killings’ slightly higher.

However, the ComRes poll strikingly illustrates that ‘izzat’ is not just a generational attitude, which will eventually die out as the older and less ‘westernized’ British Asian cohorts pass on. It is clearly a concept which has been successfully transmitted by their parents to young British Asians of all faiths, albeit in a somewhat attenuated form.

The Crown Prosecution Service is quoted as saying that there are between 10 and 12 honour killings a year in this country. A recent analysis of police force statistics identified over 2,800 honour crimes annually, but experts suspect this to be a significant underestimate.

 

 

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Loyal Subjects

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Clive D. Field

Churchgoing Christians are mostly (81%) convinced that there is such a thing as a ‘British’ identity, and they retain a strong sense of commitment to the monarchy in general, and the present Queen in particular, according to a Cpanel survey by ComRes for Premier Christian Radio, which was published on 20 January 2012.

Fieldwork was conducted online between 2 and 14 December 2011 with a sample of 559 UK Christians. The full data tables, the third set from this poll (others, previously featured on BRIN, have covered attitudes to Christmas and the Occupy London movement), have been posted at:

http://www.comres.co.uk/polls/Premier_C-Panel_Monarchy_Dec11.pdf

74% of churchgoers said that they were proud of the monarchy as a whole, the proportion being below average for the 16-44 age cohorts and peaking at 85% among the over-65s. Denominationally, one of the lowest figures (69%) was recorded by Roman Catholics. 24% of the whole sample said that they were not proud of the monarchy.

As with the general public, attitudes to the monarchy are largely conditioned by positive views of Queen Elizabeth II. 85% of Christians were proud of her (including 96% of the over-65s but only 72% of Catholics) and 13% not proud.

Her son, Prince Charles, is much less highly regarded. Just 41% of churchgoers were proud of him and 58% not proud. This relatively poor rating is probably a legacy of hostile reactions to his adultery and divorce in the 1990s. His son, Prince William, fared better, with 77% proud and 17% not proud of him.

Despite this admiration for the monarchy, no more than 31% thought that the monarch should continue to be head of the Church of England, with 55% opposed. The main groups registering a small majority in favour of the status quo were the over-65s (45% for, 42% against) and Anglicans (44% versus 38%). 61% of non-Anglicans, 64% of men and 67% of the 35-44s wanted the current arrangement to cease.

Opinion was more balanced when it came to the question of disestablishment, 43% of Christians supporting it and 45% negative. Not unexpectedly, Anglicans strongly favoured an established church (by 59% to 30%) and non-Anglicans slightly backed disestablishment (by 48% to 40%). Women (51%) also endorsed establishment more than men, and the over-65s (55%) more than the young.

 

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December 2011 Cpanel

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Clive D. Field

ComRes released two tranches of data from its latest Cpanel survey on 20 and 24 December. The study was undertaken among an online sample of 559 practising UK Christians aged 18 and over between 2 and 14 December 2011.

One set of tables featured the attitudes of churchgoers to Christmas. They were in fairly downbeat mood, to judge by the proportion agreeing with specific statements about the festival:

  • 93% that the true meaning of Christmas has been devalued
  • 88% that Christmas today is more about presents than Jesus
  • 86% that Christmas in the UK is seen as a cultural rather than religious holiday

Although 70% concurred that Christmas should be for everyone and not just Christians, only a minority (36%) argued that more should be done to include people of other faiths in the celebration of Christmas, with 45% dissenting.

The Christmas tables can be found at:

http://www.comres.co.uk/polls/C-Panel_Christmas_questions_Dec11_(2).pdf

The second set of questions, posed on behalf of Premier Christian Media Trust, related to the anti-capitalist Occupy London tent city which has been outside St Paul’s Cathedral since 15 October. Judgment of the courts has been reserved until at least 11 January on the City of London Corporation’s legal action to evict the protestors.

51% of practising Christians sympathized with the sentiments of Occupy London (against 29% who did not), albeit just one-quarter (27%) were certain that Jesus would have supported the movement (with 37% in disagreement and 36% unsure). 

But 56% contended that, by camping outside St Paul’s Cathedral, the protestors were actually targeting the Church of England, rather than the financial services sector. The same number disagreed that the protestors had the right to stay adjacent to the Cathedral.

Notwithstanding, Christians were divided about what action should be taken. While 44% agreed that the police should clear the protest camp, 37% said the opposite. Backing for forcible eviction stood at just 24%, compared with 56% who opposed any such step.

The Anglican establishment was criticized by churchgoers for its response to Occupy London. 66% accused it of mishandling the affair, and 56% of poor communication with the media about it.

Just 10% believed that Jesus would have endorsed the Church of England’s response to the protests (38% disagreeing and 51% uncertain), with 63% calling for it to speak out more strongly against the financial services sector.

The relatively small size of the sample means that breaks by demographics, which are reported by ComRes, should be interpreted with caution.

Replies by the 159 Anglicans do not seem to differ radically from those of non-Anglicans. However, older churchgoers were notably less well-disposed to Occupy London than younger ones. 

The Cpanel Occupy London tables are available at:

http://www.comres.co.uk/polls/Premier_St_Pauls_Survey_Dec11.pdf

Variations in question-wording and fieldwork dates make it difficult to compare churchgoers’ views about Occupy London with those of the general public, the latter already covered by BRIN in three posts which may be traced through:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/2011/occupy-london-londoners-speak-out/

 

 

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Christian Research’s Christmastide Pot-Pourri

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Clive D. Field

A rather improbable 53% of Britons claim they will be observing Christmas as a religious festival in some way this year, 2% more than actually affiliate as Christians, according to an opinion poll published today (23 December 2011).

Fieldwork was undertaken online by ComRes on behalf of Christian Research between 9 and 11 December 2011. The sample comprised 2,009 British adults aged 18 and over. The data tables are available at:

http://www.comres.co.uk/polls/Christian_Research_Morality_Dec11.pdf

Abbie Heath has also blogged about the survey on the Christian Research website at:

http://www.christian-research.org/christian-research-blog/2011-12-22-15-59-40.html

Respondents were given a list of nine forms of Christmas religious observance and asked which of them they intended to do this Christmas. In descending order, the answers were:

  • Watch or listen to a broadcast Christmas service – 27%
  • Send a religious-themed Christmas card – 22%
  • Attend a carol service – 19%
  • Attend a nativity play – 16%
  • Pray – 15%
  • Attend a church service on Christmas Eve – 14%
  • Attend a church service on Christmas Day – 7%
  • Go carol-singing – 6%
  • Read the Bible – 6%

Predictably, Christians expected to be far more observant than non-Christians. Women were also planning to be more religiously active than men, the elderly more than the young (although the peak for frequenting nativity plays was 25% among the 35-44s), and – less consistently – the top social group (ABs) than the bottom one (DEs).

The 47% of the population who thought they would do none of these things were especially located among non-Christians (72%), 18-24s (62%), private-sector workers (54%), skilled manual employees (54%), and men (53%).

For 24% of adults (31% of Christians) the consumerist and commercial emphasis surrounding Christmas had supposedly made them more likely to think about ‘faith-based moral values’. But most (69%) said that they had been unaffected in this way.

It was a similar story when six other experiences of 2011 were raised. Only about one-quarter claimed they had prompted their mind to turn to ‘faith-based moral values’, rising to one-third for Christians and the over-65s.

The experiences concerned were: the summer riots; global financial instability; potential job insecurity; the Arab uprisings; personal circumstances; and the Occupy London protest (which triggered moral thoughts for just 19%).

Reviewing the past year more generally, Christians did not differ hugely from non-Christians in their assessments. There was most negativity about the state of world affairs (60% among Christians) and of British society (56% with Christians).

Looking ahead to 2012, Christians scored more highly than non-Christians on each of six measures of anticipated social activism. Nevertheless, only 34% of Christians said they would look out for the welfare of their neighbours and 30% donate regularly to charity.  

The largest numbers of Christians were found among the over-55s (69%), the ABs (58%), public-sector workers (57%), and women (53%). The biggest concentration of non-Christians was in the 18-24 cohort (69%).

This will probably be the last news post on BRIN before Christmas, but we will be back soon afterwards. Whatever your faith, or none, the BRIN team extends our warmest seasonal greetings to all users of our site.

 

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Occupy London – Londoners Speak Out

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Clive D. Field

The anti-capitalist protesters who have been camped out in Paternoster Square next to St Paul’s Cathedral since 15 October, having been thwarted in their original plan to occupy the London Stock Exchange, continue to divide public opinion.

This is according to an online poll of 1,001 adult residents (aged 18 and over) of inner and outer London undertaken between 23 and 27 November 2011 by ComRes for the Evening Standard, ITV’s London Tonight programme and LBC.
Continue reading →

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Personal Moral Standards

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Clive D. Field

Churchgoers seem far more willing than the general public to vote with their feet when it comes to politicians and journalists found wanting in their personal moral behaviour.

This is according to a third tranche of results from the latest Cpanel survey by ComRes in which 544 practising UK Christians aged 18 and over were interviewed online on 25-31 October 2011. The data tables can be found at:

http://www.comres.co.uk/polls/Cpanel_Personal_moral_standards_tables_Nov11_(2).pdf
Continue reading →

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Seasonal Good Intentions

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Clive D. Field

One-quarter of Britons expect to attend a church service over the Christmas period this year, according to a YouGov poll on Christmas commissioned by The Sun newspaper and published in today’s issue under the heading of ‘We’re Dreaming of a Tight Christmas’.

A representative sample of 1,723 adults aged 18 and over was interviewed online on 27-28 November 2011. The full data tables, with breaks by demographics, have been made available at:

http://cdn.yougov.com/cumulus_uploads/document/90fr0t7zbi/Sun%20Results%20111202%20Christmas.pdf

While 65% do not think they will go to a church service over Christmas, 24% do, broken down into 6% who said they might worship on Christmas Day itself (a Sunday this year), 11% on Christmas Eve, and 7% on another Day around Christmas.

The proportion of putative attenders was identical to a YouGov poll a fortnight before last Christmas. It has varied somewhat since the question was first asked in British public opinion polls in 1964, sometimes reaching two-fifths (albeit not recently).

However, these intentions will often prove aspirational, not translated into reality. Unfortunately, it is hard to know what actually happens since the Church of England is the only major body to collect Christmas attendance data, and then just since 2000.

In an article in the Church of England Newspaper for 11 November 2011, Peter Brierley estimated that the Church of England accounts for 40% of Christmas attendance, rather than its more usual share of 28%. On this basis, he forecast that 11% of the entire population of the UK could be at church this Christmas.

The highest rate of anticipated Christmas churchgoing was found by YouGov among Londoners (35%) and the lowest among manual grades (18%, against 28% for ABC1s), but otherwise there was little variation by sub-group (from 20% to 26%).

Other highlights from this YouGov poll include:

  • 36% anticipated spending less on Christmas presents than last year, 49% about the same, and 10% somewhat more
  • 4% will be spending Christmas Day on their own, 51% with their spouse or partner, 44% with their children, 36% with their parents, and 21% with their siblings
  • 44% will definitely or probably watch the Queen’s speech on Christmas Day
  • 58% will log on to the Internet on Christmas Day (mostly to check email or Facebook)
  • 29% do not find Christmas stressful at all, but 30% get anxious about its cost, 20% about gift-shopping, and 7% about spending time with extended family
  • 25% expected to have a hangover some time over the Christmas period

Meanwhile, a separate TNS survey, carried out online between 29 November and 1 December 2011, has revealed that 21% of a sample of 1,064 adult Britons aged 16-64 plan to go to a carol service this month.

The proportion was higher for women (25%) than men (18%), ABC1s (26%) than C2DEs (14%), parents with children resident in the household (28%) than those without (18%), and for those who were not working (25%) than in employment (19%).

It also increased with age, from 14% among the 16-24s to 27% among the over-55s. Regionally, Scots (16%) and Londoners (13%) were least likely to attend a carol service, with Wales and Western England (29%) and the North-West (25%) scoring highest.

Data tables for the TNS poll are available at:

http://www.tns-ri.co.uk/_assets/files/December_Activity_Tables.pdf

Finally, for now (there will doubtless be other religion-related Christmas polls over the next few weeks), we may note a Christmas survey published by Theos, the think-tank, on 1 December, and based upon online interviews by ComRes with 2.032 adults aged 18 and over on 7-9 October 2011.

Respondents were asked to react to six statements about the meaning of Christmas. One of these was that ‘Christmas is about celebrating that God loves humanity’. 41% agreed with the proposition, 24% disagreed, and 35% were neutral.

Agreement increased with age, from 30% of the 18-24s to 52% of the over-65s. It was greater among women (45%) than men (37%), and public sector workers (42%) than in the private sector (36%). Unsurprisingly, it was much higher among Christians (58%) than those without any religion (12%).

The level of agreement with this statement was much less than the 83% who thought Christmas was about spending time with family and friends, and the 62% who believed it was about being generous to people less fortunate than ourselves.

40% contended that Christmas is a good excuse for taking time off but does not really have any meaning today. Just 19% saw the festival as an opportunity to challenge political oppression around the world and 34% poverty and economic injustice.

The data tables for the ComRes study, undertaken in conjunction with the launch of a new Theos report on The Politics of Christmas by Stephen Holmes (ISBN 978-0-9562182-7-8, £5), can be found at:

http://campaigndirector.moodia.com/Client/Theos/Files/ChristmasPoll.pdf

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Marginalized Christians?

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Clive D. Field

The All Party Parliamentary Group ‘Christians in Parliament’, chaired by Conservative MP Gary Streeter, is currently conducting the ‘Clearing the Ground’ inquiry, which seeks to establish whether changes to the law and recent court decisions have adversely affected Christian freedoms in the UK.

Premier Christian Media Trust (PCMT) is one of the bodies which have been giving evidence to the inquiry. In this connection, PCMT has prepared a report on the ‘Marginalisation of Christianity in British Public Life, 2007-2011’, which draws extensively upon PCMT and other polling evidence. The document does not yet appear to be available on the internet, but its contents are outlined in an article in Christian Today, which is at:

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/christians.still.feel.marginalised.report/28872.htm

The latest in this series of PCMT polls was commissioned from ComRes and carried out on the online Cpanel on 25-31 October 2011. Questions were put to 544 practising UK Christians aged 18 and over. The detailed results can be found at:

http://www.comres.co.uk/polls/Premier_Marginalisation_data_tables_Nov11.pdf 

According to this survey, a majority of churchgoing Christians felt that the marginalization of Christianity in British public life is increasing. 71% claimed that it was in the media, 68% in public, 66% in the Government, and 61% in the workplace. The remainder was fairly evenly divided between those who considered that marginalization is staying the same or is decreasing.

The figure for the Government was 7% up on a similar Cpanel poll in November-December 2010, but the other three spheres recorded a lower proportion of perceived increase than a year ago, not ‘more or less the same’ as stated in a PCMT press release on 14 November 2011. These comparative 2010 data are at: 

http://www.comres.co.uk/polls/Premier_Cpanel_Tables_Nov10.pdf

Female Christians were more likely than men to believe that marginalization of Christianity is increasing. The greatest concern by age tended to be among churchgoers from 35 to 64 years, with the very youngest and the very oldest Christians recording somewhat lower figures.

Denominationally, except for the workplace, Roman Catholics seemed most preoccupied about marginalization, perhaps influenced by Benedict XVI’s observations on the matter during the course of his 2010 papal visit. However, the difference between them and other Christians was still relatively slight, especially when the smallness of the sub-samples is taken into account.

Three-quarters (74%) of respondents contended that there is greater discrimination against Christians in the UK than against people of other faiths, up from 66% in the October-November 2009 Cpanel. This view was particularly held by the over-65s (83%), Independents (85%), and Pentecostals (90%).

16% of practising Christians thought that all faiths endure discrimination equally, 7% that other religions suffer more than Christianity, and 2% that there is little or no discrimination against people of faith in the UK.

Other findings from this latest Cpanel survey, relating to attitudes to the legalization of gay marriage, have already been covered by BRIN at:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=1474 

There are numerous sources of public opinion about religious discrimination in general and discrimination against Christians in particular. These can best be traced through keyword searching the BRIN sources and news databases.

Overall, the public seems to show less anxiety about discrimination than the churchgoing Christians in Cpanel, but some polls, especially those sponsored by Christian lobbying groups, have apparently uncovered some concern about Christianophobic behaviour.

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Faith in the Financial Services Sector

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Clive D. Field

The Archbishop of Canterbury may have intervened in the controversy surrounding the Occupy London protest, as noted in our post at http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=1477, but financial services professionals emphatically reject the Church’s role in high finance.

This is the very clear message from an online survey of 515 finance professionals in the City of London conducted by ComRes between 30 August and 12 September 2011, on behalf of the St Paul’s Institute at St Paul’s Cathedral. 88% of respondents were aged 25-54 and 65% were men.

The research is summarized by Rita Duarte of ComRes on pp. 8-19 of Value and Values: Perceptions of Ethics in the City Today, a report and reflections from the St Paul’s Institute published on 7 November. This can be downloaded from:

http://www.stpaulsinstitute.org.uk/Reports

Additionally, ComRes has released the full data tables from the study, with breaks by gender, age, and length of working in the financial services sector. These can be found at:

http://www.comres.co.uk/polls/St_Pauls_results_Sep11.pdf

Asked whether the City of London needed to listen more to the guidance of the Church, only 12% agreed, 76% disagreed, with 12% uncertain. Men (79%) were more likely to disagree than women (70%), with dissent reaching 80% among those who had worked longest in the sector (for fifteen years or more).

Nor can such attitudes be entirely attributed to an absence of faith. Belief in God ran at 41% and at virtually one-half for the over-55s and those who had been in the sector for fewer than five years. 38% disbelieved, but one in two of them said that they believed in a higher power or were a spiritual person. 21% did not know what to think about God.

16% of financial services professionals claimed to attend religious worship at least once a month, 37% less frequently, and 47% never. Total non-attendance peaked at 54% for the 25-34 cohort and 60% for those who had worked in the sector from six to ten years.

More generally, the poll discovered that: ‘professionals in the financial services sector believe that City bond traders, FTSE chief executives and stock brokers are paid too much, teachers are paid too little and that there is too great a gap between rich and poor in the UK.’

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Occupy London, Act II – Enter the Archbishop

Posted on November 6, 2011 by Clive D. Field

Occupy London’s anti-capitalist campsite outside St Paul’s Cathedral has now been there for three weeks and seems dug in for the long haul. The Dean and Chapter and the wider leadership of the Church of England have been increasingly challenged by its presence, not simply in terms of how to respond to it as a physical ‘neighbour’ but what line to take about the morality of capitalism and the world of high finance.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, finally entered the fray early last week in a statement on the resignation of the Dean of St Paul’s, an article in the Financial Times, and an interview with BBC News. In these utterances he stressed the importance of addressing the urgent issues raised by the protesters, put forward some solutions of his own for doing so (notably the Tobin Tax), and conceded that the Church had failed ‘to square the circle of public interest and public protest’ in dealing with Occupy London.

How has the public reacted to the Archbishop’s belated intervention? In an attempt to answer this question, YouGov covered the Occupy London movement in its poll for today’s issue of The Sunday Times. A representative sample of 1,561 British adults aged 18 and over was interviewed online on 3 and 4 November 2011, and the results have been posted at:

http://cdn.yougov.com/cumulus_uploads/document/2011-11-04/YG-Archives-Pol-Sun-results-041111.pdf

Asked to rate how Williams had dealt with the Occupy London campsite and subsequent events at the Cathedral, 41% said that he had handled the matter badly, 26% well, with 33% expressing no opinion (rising to 57% of the 18-24s). The groups most critical of the Archbishop were Conservative voters (54%), men (48%), and the over-60s (53%).

It is hard to interpret these findings, since the question was rather unspecific, gave no context about Williams’s views or actions, and thus will have been answered from diverse perspectives. In particular, was he being criticized by interviewees for the fact that he had intervened at all or because he had sat on the fence for so long before declaring his hand or a combination of both reasons?

Some clues may be implicit in replies to the next question about whether, regardless of this instance, senior clergy should comment on political matters. 45% said that it was wrong for them to do so, including 56% of Conservatives and 52% of over-60s. 38% accepted that the Church had a contribution to make to political debates, increasing to 45% among Labourites and Liberal Democrats and 44% of Londoners and Scots. 16% did not know what to think.

44% wanted the Cathedral and the Corporation of London to take legal action to remove the campsite from outside St Paul’s, 3% less than the figure in YouGov’s poll of 27-28 October, since when the threat of legal action has (in fact) been temporarily lifted. Conservatives (67%), men (51%), and the over-60s (53%) especially favoured invoking the law. 38% opposed legal action, with 18% undecided.

Support for Occupy London’s protest outside St Paul’s was only 20%, well down on the 39% who had endorsed the aims of the protesters in a somewhat different question the week before. 26% had then opposed the movement, whereas in the current poll 46% were hostile to it, particularly Conservatives (75%) and the over-60s (60%). But one-third expressed no views.

It is probably the case that the public is tiring of such physical occupations, on account of their disruptive effects on everyday life and what Williams has described as the dramatic ‘cataract of unintended consequences’ at St Paul’s, but the public perhaps does often continue to share the frustrations about the morality of the financial system which gave rise to the occupations.

It is noteworthy that, in an ICM telephone poll for The Guardian on 21-23 October (after Occupy London commenced its sit-in around St Paul’s on 15 October), 51% of 1,003 adults agreed that the worldwide protests were ‘right to want to call time on a system that puts profit before people’, whereas 38% believed there is no practical alternative to capitalism.

The flames of discord in the affair seem likely to be fanned tomorrow (7 November) by the publication of a report from the St Paul’s Institute on the moral standards of the City of London. This is based upon a ComRes survey of 500 workers in the City’s financial institutions conducted during the summer.

The report, previewed in today’s The Independent on Sunday, was originally due to appear on 27 October but was deferred when Dr Giles Fraser, Director of the Institute, resigned from his post of Canon Chancellor at St Paul’s Cathedral, the first of three ‘victims’ of the controversy at the Cathedral to date.

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