Legalization of Gay Marriage

Posted on November 5, 2011 by Clive D. Field

The Conservative Party risks losing Christian votes if it goes ahead with legalizing gay marriage, as advocated by David Cameron at the Party’s recent conference in Manchester, a ComRes survey published on 4 November 2011 has revealed.

The poll was undertaken on behalf of Premier Christian Media Trust among the ComRes CPanel of UK churchgoing Christians aged 18 and over. 544 were interviewed online between 25 and 31 October 2011. Results are available (albeit with inadequate labelling of data tables for Question 2) at:

http://www.comres.co.uk/polls/Premier_Gay_Marriage_data_tables_Nov11.pdf

Asked how they viewed the Conservative proposal to legalize same-sex marriages, only 11% of Christians supported it, while 83% were opposed (three-quarters of them strongly).

Hostility was particularly concentrated among the over-65s (90%), compared with 26% support in the 18-34 cohort. Denominationally, Independents, Pentecostals and Roman Catholics were most critical.

Overwhelmingly, these churchgoers foresaw negative consequences in the event of the law being changed in respect of gay marriage:

  • 85% were concerned that the value of marriage would be further undermined
  • 78% that it would be harder to argue against ‘other novel types of relationship’ such as polygamy
  • 88% that schools would be required to teach the equal validity of same-sex and heterosexual relationships
  • 93% that clergy would have to conduct gay marriages against their consciences

Absolutely nobody claimed that Cameron’s commitment to legalizing same-sex marriages would make them more likely to vote Conservative. 37% said that it would make no difference to their political behaviour.

But 57% were clear that they would be less disposed to back the Tories in future, this being especially true of Pentecostals (69%) and Roman Catholics (75%).

This CPanel study does not appear to have covered a related and similarly topical issue, the Government’s plan to permit civil partnerships in England and Wales to be celebrated in religious buildings. General public opinion on this matter was summarized in our previous BRIN post at:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=889

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Perceived Threats to Christianity

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Clive D. Field

Forced to choose, churchgoing Christians in the UK are far more likely to think that secularism rather than Islam is the greater threat to Christianity, according to poll data made available to BRIN by ComRes but not yet posted on the company’s website.

Briefly noted in the Baptist Times and Church of England Newspaper of 12 August, the results derive from the Cpanel survey for Premier Christian Media undertaken by online interview between 6 and 18 July 2011 with 529 Christians aged 18 and over.

46% of respondents identified secularism as the greater threat to Christianity, 13% Islam, and 30% both equally, meaning that, in all, 76% had concerns about secularism and 43% about Islam.

A mere 10% of the sample thought that neither secularism nor Islam posed any threat to Christianity. This rose to 18% among the 18-34s and Baptists, dwindling to 4% for Roman Catholics and 3% for Pentecostals. However, unweighted cell sizes were small.

The number concerned about secularism alone declined with age, falling from 68% for churchgoers aged 18-34 to 45% among the over-65s. Denominationally, Roman Catholics (68%) showed most anxiety about secularism, partly following the Pope’s lead.

Women churchgoers (82%) were more preoccupied with secularism on its own or in combination with Islam than men (71%). In terms of churchmanship, catholics (87%) and low churchpeople (91%) recorded the highest figures on this aggregated measure.

The 18-34s were least worried about Islam alone (3%) or about Islam in parallel with secularism (14%). 55% of over-65s viewed Islam alone or Islam in conjunction with secularism as a threat, as did 73% of Pentecostals, 54% of Independents, and 50% of women.

Other data from the same Cpanel study which have entered the public domain, concerning campaigning issues for Christians, have already mostly been covered by BRIN at:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=1375

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Christmas Starts with Christ

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Clive D. Field

It is a well-known fact that for retailers and their prospective customers Christmas starts in August, but even the Churches, it seems, have to gear up early for the festive season, with ChurchAds.Net having recently launched its 2011 Christmas advertising campaign.

ChurchAds.Net, previously known as the Churches Advertising Network, was established as an ecumenical body in 1992, following an experimental Christmas advertising campaign in the Church of England Diocese of Oxford in 1991. It has since run many high-profile (and sometimes controversial) campaigns, particularly around Easter and Christmas, employing poster and other print media, radio and – most recently – television advertising.

All this has been made possible by the Broadcasting Act 1990, which permitted broadcast advertising on religious themes; funding from the Jerusalem Trust; the pro bono work of some of the UK’s top award-winning advertising executives and designers; and a dedicated council of reference, trustees and executive team drawn from a range of denominations.

The 2009 Christmas campaign was the first to run under the ‘Christmas starts with Christ’ banner, a theme intended to last for five years. The 2010 campaign introduced alongside this the message of ‘He’s on His way’, accompanied by an image of an ultrasound scan of a haloed foetus Christ in the womb.

The 2010 Christmas campaign report estimates that 30 million people had an opportunity to see or hear the poster and radio advertising, with posters displayed on 1,400 sites and radio commercials on 175 stations. In addition, there were 150,000 page views on the ChurchAds.Net website, 14,000 downloads of the MP3 radio commercials, 10,000 downloads of the A3 poster, and 93,000 items of campaign merchandise sold. The report is available at:

http://churchads.net/2010/pdfs/report_2010.pdf

In the wake of the 2010 campaign, ChurchAds.Net commissioned ComRes to undertake a post-campaign market impact survey, with 2,050 adult Britons aged 18 and over interviewed online between 29 December 2010 and 1 January 2011. ChurchAds.Net has kindly made these data available to BRIN, and selected results appear below.

The survey revealed that 26% of all respondents had seen or heard the strapline ‘Christmas starts with Christ’, with a peak of 35% among the 25-34s. Of the strapline-conscious, 37% had seen or heard it at church (particularly the over-55s), 49% through some form of advertising, with 33% unable to remember where they had seen or heard it (multiple answers were evidently possible).

Although only 9% recalled seeing the 2010 campaign poster, 61% overall liked its message ‘Christmas starts with Christ’ (rising to 70% among the over-65s). This was 14% more than approved of ‘He’s on His way’. Taking the 2010 poster as a whole, 40% considered it original, 39% thought-provoking, 32% clever, 25% effective, 21% controversial, 20% striking, 10% disrespectful, 6% out-of-date, and 5% shocking.

The 2011 Christmas campaign slogan reads ‘However you dress it up … Christmas starts with Christ’. The poster portrays a modern-day nativity crib, surrounded by characters representing contemporary professions and fashions. Thus, the wise men are depicted as successful entrepreneurs whose gifts are iconic treasures from today’s culture. As ChurchAds.Net says, ’It’s the meeting of Christianity and high street consumerism, with Christ in the middle.’ For the first time, ChurchAds.Net plans to place advertisements in regional and national newspapers. See the 2011 campaign page at:

http://churchads.net/2011/index.html

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Collective Worship in Schools

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Clive D. Field

New research for the BBC indicates that the law requiring a daily act of collective worship in state-maintained schools in England appears to be widely ignored and to command relatively limited public support. The obligation was originally laid down by the Education Act 1944 and has been carried forward, with some amendment, into subsequent legislation.

The survey, published on 6 September, was conducted by ComRes by telephone among a sample of 1,743 adults aged 18 and over in England between 15 and 24 July 2011. They included 500 parents of children of school age living in the household. The study was commissioned to coincide with a series of faith-based programmes on BBC local radio. Full results can be found at:

http://www.comres.co.uk/polls/BBC_Religion_Worship_in_schools_results_(plus_regions)_July11.pdf

Parents with school-age children were asked whether, to the best of their knowledge, their children attended a daily act of collective worship at school. Only 28% said that they did, with 64% replying in the negative, and 1% reporting that they had withdrawn their children from such worship (as they are legally entitled to do). 8% were unsure of the situation. There was some variation in the replies by demographic groups, although small cell sizes necessitate that the disaggregated data should be treated with caution.

The mean was somewhat brought down by the inclusion of parents with children aged under 5. 37% of parents of children aged 5-10 reported that their children attended a daily act of collective worship at school, compared with 33% of those aged 11-15 and 30% of those aged 16-18. It has long been known that secondary schools have struggled to comply with the law, but these statistics imply that primary schools are also failing, at least in the understanding of parents.

The full sample, comprising parents and non-parents, was asked whether the requirement for a daily collective act of worship in state schools should be enforced. Three-fifths said that it should not be, rising to two-thirds among parents of school-age children. Proponents of enforcement numbered 36% overall, being greatest among the over-55s and the bottom (DE) social group. 4% expressed no views.     

These findings are likely to fuel the growing campaign among secularists, teachers and even some faith leaders to persuade the Government to repeal the legislation. The National Secular Society has been especially strident, condemning compulsory collective worship as a breach of human rights.

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Campaigning Christians

Posted on August 10, 2011 by Clive D. Field

Churchgoing Christians in the UK have a strong campaigning streak, according to a ComRes Cpanel poll commissioned by Premier Christian Media and published on 1 August. Online interviews were conducted with 529 Christians aged 18 and over on 6-18 July 2011.

Asked how important they considered various socio-religious issues to have a campaign on, the number of Christians replying ‘very important’ or ‘important’ ranged from 85% on abortion to 95% on parenting and the family.

93% each opted for campaigns on care of the elderly and freedom of religious expression, 92% for marriage, 91% for the persecuted Church, and 87% for lobbying on euthanasia or assisted suicide.

A press release accompanying the survey, and the basis for a report in the Church of England Newspaper for 5 August, claimed that ‘it revealed a staggering gulf between what young and older generations of believers regard as issues of importance.’

In particular, ‘pro-life and end of life issues were of greater concern to young people aged between 18-34 years compared with those over the age of 65’, whereas ‘youth related issues were of greater concern to over 65s compared to young people (under 35s)’.

However, these differences emerged when considering only those who said ‘very important’ in relation to each issue. If the figures for ‘very important’ and ‘important’ are summed, then the age margins narrow considerably.

In terms of gender, the single most notable variation was over attitudes to abortion, 79% of male and 91% of female Christians regarding it as very important or important to campaign on this topic. There were smaller gaps (84% versus 92% and 89% versus 95% respectively) on euthanasia and marriage.

Breaks were also provided by region, denomination and churchmanship, but individual cell sizes are too small to permit meaningful analysis. There was likewise disaggregation for those in a church leadership role, attendees at Alpha courses, and members of a Christian organization.

The data tables are available to download, but – for some unexplained reason – they do not include the answers about campaigns on youth work and young people in prison. The tables will be found at:

http://www.comres.co.uk/polls/Premier_tables_Q5_Aug11.pdf

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Britons, Islamophobia and the Qur’an

Posted on July 30, 2011 by Clive D. Field

One-quarter of adult Britons blame Muslims for the existence of Islamophobia in the UK, according to a ComRes poll of 1,004 adults aged 18 and over undertaken by telephone between 8 and 10 July 2011, and published on 21 July.

The survey was commissioned by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, in the run-up to its annual convention on 22-24 July, ‘in order to inform its plans to counter the tide of prejudice against Islam and highlight strategies to promote better community relations’.

The media were the group most likely to be blamed for Islamophobia, by 29% of the entire sample, rising to 40% among those aged 18-24 (against 18% of over-65s). Far-right political movements were cited by 13%, and politicians and government by 10%.

Muslims abroad (14%) were seen as more responsible for domestic Islamophobia than Muslims in the UK (11%). 1% mentioned the police, 4% other causes, 1% denied that Islamophobia existed in the UK, and 17% expressed no opinion. 

Asked whether the Qur’an justified the use of violence against non-Muslims, only 14% agreed that it did, with 65% disagreeing and 21% uncertain. Dissentients were particularly found among the 18-24s (75%) and Scots (72%).

Although replies were disaggregated by religious affiliation, Christians and those professing no religion alone were sufficiently numerous for analysis. The latter were more well-disposed to Muslims than the former, but the difference on both questions was not substantial.

The computer tabulations for the poll, and the associated press release from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, are available at:

http://www.comres.co.uk/poll/499/ahmadiyya-muslim-association-uk-islamophobia-survey.htm

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Religious Education and the English Baccalaureate

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Clive D. Field

The campaign (RE.ACT) to persuade the Coalition Government to change its mind about excluding GCSE Religious Education (RE) from the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) in secondary schools hotted up on 24 June with the simultaneous publication of two new surveys accompanied by rather alarmist press releases.

The first was a report by the National Association of Teachers of Religious Education (NATRE), based on an online (Survey Monkey) poll of RE teachers in 1,918 schools over a 10-day period commencing 22 May 2011. These schools represented 53% of the maintained secondary school sector in England.

The report was launched with a joint release by NATRE and the Religious Education Council of England and Wales with the key message that ‘Religious education in schools is being killed off’. Government’s ‘rapidly implemented plans to shake up the educational system are set to shake out RE. This may not be deliberate but is the inevitable unintended consequence of other actions.’

Informing these headlines was the fact that, according to the NATRE survey, 20% of schools were already failing to meet the legal requirement to provide RE for all pupils at Key Stage 4, with 24% expecting to fall short in 2011/12. Even at Key Stage 3 9% of schools did not meet the obligation. Neither were faith schools immune from non-compliance.

Moreover, 32% of schools had experienced a drop in GCSE entries for 2011/12 in the full RE course and 22% in the short course, the EBacc being the single commonest reason cited for the decline.  More than one-quarter of academy, community and grammar schools also anticipated specialist RE staff reductions for 2011/12.

The NATRE report is available at:

http://www.retoday.org.uk/media/display/NATRE_EBacc_Survey2_report_final.pdf

The second study was a ComRes poll, commissioned by Premier Christian Media Group (which has organized a petition of over 140,000 signatures to press for the inclusion of RE in the EBacc), and undertaken among an online sample of 2,005 Britons aged 18 and over on 10-12 June 2011.

The press release accompanying the results was entitled ‘Teach young people about other religions or risk religious extremism, warns new public poll’. This was a reference to the findings that:

  • 81% of respondents believed that, without education, people become intolerant of different cultures and religions;
  • 77% were convinced that knowledge of different religions helped promote community cohesion;
  • 71% predicted that British society would become more divided, unless children and young people are taught about different cultures and religions; and
  • 57% envisaged such teaching would reduce extremism and fundamentalism in Britain

Additionally, 88% of the sample agreed that learning about different cultures and faiths in Britain and the rest of the world is important, and 84% that it contributed to an understanding of modern society. 68% judged that children and young people did not know enough about religions and cultures other than their own. 

The full computer tabulations for the ComRes poll, with a range of breaks (gender, age, social grade, region, employment sector, knowledge of world religions, level of RE at school), can be downloaded from:

http://www.comres.co.uk/premierextremismpoll24jun11.aspx

It could be argued that these high values in favour of RE are somewhat misleading in that, in the ComRes poll, RE was not in contention with other curriculum subjects. It is therefore instructive to examine the ComRes outcomes alongside a survey by YouGov among 1,374 Britons aged 18 and over, interviewed online on 15-16 June 2011.

Although this did not expressly mention the EBacc, it did ask which of twenty GCSE subjects should count towards the construction of school performance league tables. RE came only sixteenth in the rank order, scoring 21%, with just Latin, media studies, drama and dance below it.

The subjects topping the YouGov list were mathematics, English, science, modern languages, and history/geography – precisely the disciplines included in the EBacc. So perhaps public support for school RE is not quite so strong as the RE lobbyists would wish to be the case? The YouGov statistics can be found at:

http://today.yougov.co.uk/sites/today.yougov.co.uk/files/yg-archives-yougov-gcses-240611.pdf

This YouGov poll was a replication of an earlier one, conducted on 11-12 January 2011, which ranked RE as the fifteenth most important GCSE subject in the construction of school league tables, with 22% support. See our coverage at:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=833

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Influence of the Bible

Posted on May 14, 2011 by Clive D. Field

In this special year of celebration (the quatercentenary of the Authorized or King James Version), a slim majority (54%) of Britons think the Bible is an important book, even though nearly seven in eight of them freely admit that they do not read it that often.

This is one of the principal findings from an opinion poll released on 13 May and carried out by ComRes for the Bible Society. Fieldwork was conducted online on 1-3 April 2011, among a representative sample of 2,379 adults aged 18 and over throughout Great Britain.

Asked how significant the Bible was to them personally, 8% said that it is a very important book, which they claimed to read often and which enriched their lives. The proportion was highest with 18-34s (14%), Londoners (17%), and those from the public sector (15%, virtually twice the figure for the private sector).

46% described it as an important book, which they read infrequently but which had some valuable things to say. The percentage rose steadily with age, from 29% among the 18-24s to 61% for the over-65s.

42% considered the Bible to be unimportant, not really affecting their lives, with a regional high of 55% in Wales and a low of 32% in London, albeit the over-65s (29%) recorded the smallest figure for any demographic sub-group.

4% branded the Bible a dangerous book which should be ignored, the 18-24s (12%) particularly taking this line.

Rather fewer than the 54% acknowledging the significance of the Bible felt that knowledge of it was important in appreciating specific aspects of daily life. 48% judged it relevant to an understanding of the visual arts, 46% to classic English literature, 45% to British history, 42% to everyday phrases, 29% to politics, and 24% to classical music. In other words, majorities of varying sizes consistently said that the Bible was not relevant in these contexts.

Actual knowledge of the Bible was measured by asking respondents to identify the source of five quotations, all of which came from the Bible. While 56% knew that ‘my brother’s keeper’ (Genesis 4:9) derived from the Bible, only 19% could identify it as the source of ‘the writing on the wall’ (Daniel 5:5-6), 10% ‘filthy lucre’ (1 Timothy 3:3), 9% ‘eat, drink and be merry’ (Luke 12:19), and 7% ‘a drop in the bucket’ (Isaiah 40:15).

Between one-fifth and one-half could not even guess the origin of each quotation, but others happily plumped for the offered options of Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, The Beatles or Tony Blair. Biblical literacy was especially low among the under-34s and manual workers, and high among the over-65s and AB social group.

The full data tables from the poll, disaggregated by gender, age, social grade, region and employment sector, are available at:

http://www.comres.co.uk/biblesocietyinfluenceofthebiblemay11.aspx

These results come as Bible Society in England and Wales and the Scottish Bible Society prepare to launch The People’s Bible.  This will be touring the UK between June and November, providing the opportunity to re-engage or engage with the Bible for the first time. See:

http://www.thepeoplesbible.org

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By George!

Posted on April 23, 2011 by Clive D. Field

Today, 23 April, is St George’s Day, the traditionally accepted date of his Christian martyrdom in the fourth century AD. This remains the case in most diaries, even though the Anglican and Roman Catholic calendars have moved the English national saint’s feast day to 2 May this year, to avoid a clash with Holy Saturday (Easter being so late in 2011).

Concerted attempts have been made in recent years, including by some politicians and ecclesiastics, to raise the profile of St George and his day, as part of a more general campaign to celebrate a positive spirit of ‘Englishness’. Unfortunately, new surveys demonstrate that public consciousness of St George still remains quite low.

For example, in an online poll by Opinium Research conducted among 2,012 UK adults, only 48% of English residents could name the date of St George’s Day, even though 57% knew when St Patrick’s Day is (17 March).

This contrasted with four-fifths in Wales knowing the date of St David’s Day (1 March) and everybody in Northern Ireland being aware of when St Patrick’s Day falls. [Sources: Daily Express and Daily Mail, 23 April 2011]. 

Things were even worse in a survey by OnePoll for This England magazine. One in ten of the 2,000 English adults quizzed online thought that St David rather than St George was England’s patron saint. [Source: Daily Express, 18 April 2011].

Notwithstanding, 64% of Britons backed the Archbishop of York’s call for St George’s Day to be observed as a public holiday, in an online poll by ComRes last month for Premier Christian Media, among a sample of 2,064 adults.

The proportion rose to 71% among professing Christians and 69% for people living in England. The Welsh (45%) and Scots (28%) were less enthusiastic about the idea. [Sources: Church of England Newspaper and Church Times, 8 April 2011; and http://www.comres.co.uk].

For 2009 and 2010 polls about St George, see BRIN’s coverage at:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=235

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Britain as a Christian Country

Posted on April 16, 2011 by Clive D. Field

The recent census question on religion sparked some debate about the persistence of cultural Christianity. That phenomenon can be defined both at the level of the individual and in terms of national character – whether Britain remains a ‘Christian country’.

One-half of the British population seemingly still regards Britain as a Christian country and wants it to remain so, according to a ComRes poll undertaken for the campaign group Christian Concern and published on 8 April.

Fieldwork was conducted by telephone between 18 and 20 March 2011 among a representative sample of 1,002 adults aged 18 and over. The data tables are available at:

http://www.comres.co.uk/christianconcernequalitiespollapr11.aspx

Asked whether it was preferable for Britain to be regarded as a Christian rather than an atheistic country, 52% agreed, 37% disagreed and 11% expressed no opinion.

Views varied considerably by age. Whereas among the 18-24s only 20% agreed and 67% disagreed, among the over-65s the figures were 72% and 19% respectively.

Social class also made a difference, the top (AB) social group recording a margin of just 8% in favour of a Christian country (49% versus 41%) while among the DEs those in agreement outnumbered dissentients by two to one (62% against 29%).

Respondents were then faced with the statement ‘It does not matter whether or not Britain remains a Christian country in terms of its legal and cultural heritage’. 48% disagreed, 43% agreed and 9% were undecided.

Demographic variations were not quite as marked as for the first statement, but there was still some age effect. Those in disagreement peaked at 55-56% among the 35-44s and over-55s, with 60% of 18-24s and 55% of 25-34s agreeing that it did not matter whether Britain remained a Christian country.

Interviewees were not asked on this occasion whether Britain could actually be described as a Christian country, but this question was put in an earlier ComRes/Christian Concern poll on 26-29 November 2010. 50% then replied in the affirmative and 47% in the negative. See our previous post at: http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=804 

The four remaining statements in this year’s survey dealt with public attitudes to equality legislation. These were informed by the recent High Court case involving Owen and Eunice Johns, Christian foster-carers from Derby who hold that homosexual activity is morally wrong.

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