Occupy London Impact

Posted on March 10, 2012 by Clive D. Field

Almost three-quarters (71%) of Britons believe that the Occupy London anti-capitalist campsite outside St Paul’s Cathedral, evicted by police and bailiffs in the early hours of 28 February 2012, did not achieve much or anything at all, against 18% who consider that it did accomplish a lot or quite a lot.

This is the finding of a YouGov survey conducted online on 28 and 29 February 2012, in the immediate aftermath of the eviction, among a sample of 1,778 adults aged 18 and over. Detailed data tables were posted on the internet on 8 March at:

http://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/vb5ebifzi7/Copy%20of%20Results%20120229%20Occupy%20London.pdf

Conservative voters (86%), Liberal Democrats (79%), and the over-60s (78%) were most likely to dismiss the protest as ineffective. Labour voters (29%) and Londoners (25%) were most inclined to think it had achieved something, in terms of raising awareness or influencing opinions and policies.

Two-thirds (66%) of respondents considered that the Corporation of London had been right to take legal action to evict the protestors, rising to 89% of Conservatives and 80% of the over-60s. 21% disapproved of the action, including 36% of Labour voters and 34% of the 18-24s. 13% expressed no opinion.

Notwithstanding these verdicts, 43% of the sample said that they supported the aims of the protestors (as opposed to their actions), 4% more than in late October 2011, when the St Paul’s campsite had been newly established. Such support was very strong among Labour voters (62%). 26% opposed the aims, with 32% unsure what to think.

 

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Inclusivity of Faith Schools

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Clive D. Field

‘England’s faith state schools are on average failing to mirror their local communities by shunning the poorest pupils in their area, an analysis by The Guardian of the latest government figures shows’, Simon Rogers wrote on the newspaper’s datablog on 5 March 2012.

‘The Roman Catholic Church, which has repeatedly insisted that its schools are “inclusive”, comes out as particularly unrepresentative of the local communities it serves. Three-quarters of Catholic primary and secondary schools have a more affluent mix of pupils than their local area … The same is the case for Church of England primary and secondary schools.’ Non-religious schools, by contrast, tended to reflect their neighbourhoods.

The findings, which cover 16,781 primary and 2,753 secondary schools (excluding special needs schools), ‘will fuel claims that faith schools have been picking pupils from well-off families by selecting on the basis of religion’.

These conclusions derive from a database created by The Guardian by merging, at both local authority and postcode levels, elements of two datasets published by the Department for Education: a criterion of inclusivity (pupil eligibility for free school meals, a key measure of poverty) extracted from the Department’s spending database; and address and school type derived from the ‘spine’ (the Department’s official list of schools). Analysis focused on a comparison of Anglican, Catholic and non-religious schools (there being too few state schools of other denominations or faiths).

As Rogers notes, the research does pose certain methodological challenges, which will doubtless be picked up by proponents of faith schools in the coming days. In particular, ‘one big area of disagreement is whether you take the postcodes for where pupils actually live, or you do what we did, which is to compare each school to all the schools in their area. We decided to go for the latter as we wanted to see how each school compares to its peers in the area.’

We can probably expect both Anglicans and Roman Catholics to come out of the corner fighting on the issue. Only recently, as noted by BRIN, the Catholic Education Service for England and Wales has trumpeted (drawing on data from a Department for Education study in 2009-10) that a higher proportion of pupils at its schools come from the 10% most deprived areas than those attending English schools as a whole. See:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/2012/catholic-school-statistics-2011/

The Guardian’s datablog, with further commentary and access to the full database, can be found at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/mar/05/faith-schools-admissions

An article about the research, by Jessica Shepherd and Rogers, was also published in The Guardian of 6 March 2012, including reactions from Anglican and Catholic spokespersons and the British Humanist Association. This is at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/mar/05/church-schools-shun-poorest-pupils?INTCMP=SRCH

 

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Islamophobia in the West

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Clive D. Field

Islamophobia in the West: Measuring and Explaining Individual Attitudes, edited by Marc Helbling (of the Social Science Research Centre, Berlin) was published by Routledge on 16 February 2012 (ISBN 978-0-415-59444-8, hardback, £80). The book comprises 13 essays exploring the views of ordinary citizens toward Islam and Muslims as revealed by survey evidence.

Following an introduction by the editor (chapter 1), including discussion of the complex definitional issues, there are case studies of Islamophobia in the United States (chapters 2 and 12), Great Britain (3, 11 and 13 – each summarized below), Norway (4), Sweden (5), Spain (6), Switzerland (7), and The Netherlands (8, 9 and 10). The full contents table can be viewed at:

http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415594448/

Chapter 3 (pp. 39-55): Erik Bleich and Rahsaan Maxwell, ‘Assessing Islamophobia in Britain: where do Muslims really stand?’

This is a study not merely of national attitudes to Muslims but also of Muslim attitudes toward British society. The principal source is the Government’s Citizenship Surveys from 2001 to 2009, with some subsidiary use of the Pew Global Attitudes Surveys and Eurobarometers. The authors conclude that ‘Islamophobia may be a real challenge and an obstacle to intergroup harmony but is not yet the most significant cleavage defining the nature of group divisions in British society’. They likewise highlight that ‘despite the tense atmosphere in contemporary British society, Muslims have remarkably high levels of positive national identification and political trust’.

Chapter 11 (pp. 147-61): Clive Field, ‘Revisiting Islamophobia in contemporary Britain, 2007-10’

The attitudes of ordinary Britons towards Muslims and Islam are reviewed through 64 opinion polls conducted in 2007-10. Comparisons are also drawn with 2001-06 (the subject of an earlier article by the author). Islamophobia is shown to be multi-layered, affecting one-fifth to three-quarters of adults, the actual level depending on topic. It is said to be undoubtedly increasing, albeit still less pervasive than other western European countries, and is by far the commonest form of religious prejudice in Britain. Muslims are seen as slow to integrate, to have a qualified patriotism and, sometimes, to be drawn to extremism. Negativity is found to be disproportionately concentrated among men, the elderly, the lowest social groups and Conservative voters.

Chapter 13 (pp. 179-89): Marco Cinnirella, ‘Think “terrorist”, think “Muslim”? Social-psychological mechanisms explaining anti-Islamic prejudice’

The author ‘draws upon an eclectic mix of different theoretical traditions from social psychology’, in particular social representations theory, terror management theory, social identity theory, self-categorization theory, and intergroup threat theory. Their aggregate applicability to Islamophobia is demonstrated by two small-scale research projects among British students, in 2006 and 2008. The first project revealed that ‘exposure to media social representations of Muslims is likely to be a causal factor in Islamophobia’. The second discovered that perceived cultural threat from Muslims, realistic threat from Islamist terrorism and strength of British national identity were all predictors of Islamophobia.

This post’s inevitable focus on the three chapters affecting Islamophobia in Britain is not to imply that the remainder of the volume should be ignored by BRIN users. Several authors provide invaluable comparative insights, while chapter 2 offers us an Anti-Muslim Prejudice scale developed for the American context. This can be compared and contrasted with the equivalent scales which have been proposed in the UK by Adrian Brockett, Andrew Village and Leslie Francis (the Attitude toward Muslim Proximity Index in 2009 and the Outgroup Prejudice Index in 2010).

 

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YouGov’s Religion Barometer

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Clive D. Field

Twice as many adults think that Britain today is too secular as deem it too religious, but just over one-half believe that religion in Britain is in terminal decline and that religion in general is more often a cause of evil than of good in the world.

These are some of the key findings from the latest YouGov survey for The Sunday Times, and published today. Online interviews were conducted with a sample of 1,772 Britons aged 18 and over on 16 and 17 February 2012. Data tables can be found at:

http://cdn.yougov.com/cumulus_uploads/document/6195qkb1kr/YG-Archives-Pol-ST-results-17-190212.pdf

The first of eight questions on religion was ‘Do you think that religion is more often the cause of good or evil in the world?’ Only 12% elected for good, and no more than 17% in any demographic sub-group. 58% opted for evil, with the main variation being by gender (61% of men, 54% of women). 27% said that neither answer applied or both equally.

With regard to religion in Britain, 17% viewed Britain today as too religious, 36% as too secular, 31% as balanced between religious and secular, and 17% expressed no opinion. Men and the under-40s were marginally more likely to describe Britain as too religious, Conservatives, the over-60s and Londoners as too secular.

49% agreed that religion still provides critical guidance for our everyday lives, with 40% dissenting and 12% unsure. The age cohort with the lowest level of agreement was 25-59 years (43%). While the peak of 61% among the over-60s was to be expected, less predictable was the 50% recorded for the 18-24s.

Respondents were next asked whether the Church of England continues to carry out a valuable role, a question obviously prompted by Her Majesty the Queen’s speech at Lambeth Palace on 15 February.

YouGov’s respondents were split on this issue, with 42% agreeing, 41% disagreeing, and 16% unsure. Most support for the Church came from Conservative voters (55%), partially justifying ‘the Tory Party at prayer’ sobriquet; least backing was found in Scotland (32%).

Since the Church of England is established (albeit only in England), it might seem slightly odd that 67% contended that religion should have no place in public life, being entirely a personal matter. Even Conservatives showed no deviation from this norm. 24% wanted religion to have a role in the public square, including 28% of the 18-24s.

51% assessed that religion in Britain is in terminal decline, with no great fluctuation by demographics. 24% disagreed and 26% did not know what to think, the largest proportion of undecided for any of the questions in this survey.

Belief in God stood at 38%, with 21% unsure, and 33% disbelieving. Believers were twice as numerous among Conservatives (45%) as Liberal Democrats (22%), and they were also somewhat concentrated in the over-60s (44%) and in Scotland (45%).

The final topic, triggered by the Bideford case, was whether local councils should be able to hold prayers at the beginning of their meetings. 53% of adults thought that they should (peaking at 66% of Conservatives and 65% of over-60s), 32% that they should not, with 15% undecided.

The pro-prayer lobby of 53% is consistent with the 55% figure obtained in another recent poll on the same subject, covered by BRIN at:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/2012/council-prayers/

All in all, this YouGov survey for The Sunday Times exemplifies the continuing hybrid of religiosity and secularity which characterizes British life. While the proponents of faith and non-faith progressively ‘up the ante’, public opinion declines to be completely and consistently polarized between the rival camps.

 

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Council Prayers

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Clive D. Field

In yet another paradox of public attitudes to religion, 55% of Britons agree that local councils should be allowed to hold prayers as part of formal council meetings, even though an identical proportion personally believe that councils should not hold such prayers, according to new research by YouGov and posted at:

http://cdn.yougov.com/cumulus_uploads/document/pe06bnkf18/YG-Archives-YouGov-ChristianCountryPrayers-160212.pdf

The online survey, in which 1,828 adults aged 18 and over were interviewed on 14-15 February 2012, was conducted in the aftermath of the recent (10 February) High Court judgment against Bideford Town Council that prayers held as part of its official business are not permitted under the Local Government Act 1972. The Council has voted to appeal the decision.

Meanwhile, Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, has fast-tracked an Order under the Localism Act 2011 which will effectively nullify the High Court ban by authorizing councils to exercise a ‘general power of competence’. The National Secular Society, which was a party in bringing the action against Bideford, is consulting its lawyers and apparently contemplating a fresh legal challenge.

Asked whether councils should hold prayers during their formal meetings, only 26% of YouGov’s respondents were in favour, 55% against, and 20% uncertain. Support for prayers was strongest among the very/fairly religious (52%), Christians (46%), the over-60s (40%), those considering that Britain should be a Christian country (40%), and Conservatives (34%).

However, irrespective of their personal view about whether councils should hold prayers, 55% thought that they should definitely be allowed to hold them, rising to 78% of Christians, 76% of the very/fairly religious, 72% of those wanting Britain to be a Christian country, 67% of over-60s, and 66% of Conservatives. Just 34% argued that councils should not be allowed to have prayers, with 11% expressing no opinion.

Another seeming contradiction surfaced in the poll was that, although only 24% of the sample described themselves as very or fairly religious and 43% regarded themselves as belonging to a religion, 56% agreed that Britain is a Christian country and 61% that it should be a Christian country.

Endorsement of the proposition that Britain should be a Christian country was highest among professing Christians (88%), the very or fairly religious (79%), over-60s (79%), and Conservative voters (77%). Dissentients numbered 22%, with 18% undecided.

What was especially interesting was that even 37% of those who considered themselves as not at all religious and 44% of those having no religion wanted Britain to be a Christian country. 41% and 43% respectively agreed that it already is such a country. 36% and 40% also thought that councils should be permitted to hold prayers before their formal meetings.

The irreligious, it therefore seems, can be just as equivocal about their ‘belief’ as the many self-identifying Christians whose lack of commitment to the faith was exposed in the Ipsos MORI poll for the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (UK), and published last Tuesday.

As the proponents of faith on the one hand and secularism and rationalism on the other assume increasingly entrenched positions about the place of religion in national life, perhaps all parties need to understand that the great British public do not see things in quite such black and white terms.

The reality of public opinion is that religious beliefs and attitudes can be messy, fuzzy and – sometimes – contradictory, as they probably have been for generations past. The simplistic rhetoric of much current ‘debate’ may be in danger of obscuring this empirical complexity.

 

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Census Christians

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Clive D. Field

‘UK residents who think of themselves as Christian show very low levels of Christian belief and practice’ and ‘are overwhelmingly secular in their attitudes on a range of issues from gay rights to religion in public life’, according to research released yesterday (14 February 2012) by the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (UK).

The study was conducted for the Foundation by Ipsos MORI through face-to-face interviews with UK adults aged 15 and over between 1 and 7 April 2011, immediately after the decennial population census schedules had been completed, including the voluntary question on religious profession, which was being posed for the second time.

Ipsos MORI’s main questionnaire was directed to the 1,136 individuals (equivalent to 54% of the full screening sample of 2,107) who said that they were recorded as Christians in the census by the person completing the household schedule – or would have recorded themselves as Christians if they had answered the question themselves. The Foundation characterizes them as ‘Census-Christians’, and the following topline data relate exclusively to this sub-sample.

RELIGIOUS IDENTITY

45% regarded themselves as a religious person, but 50% did not. More nuanced answers emerged from another question in which 30% considered themselves to have strong religious beliefs and to be a Christian, 29% to be a Christian but not to have strong beliefs, 19% to have been brought up to think of themselves as a Christian but not to have strong religious beliefs, 12% not to be religious at all, and 8% as spiritual rather than religious.

Asked why they were recorded, or would have recorded themselves, as Christian in the 2011 census, 41% said that they tried to be a good person and associated that aspiration with Christianity, 31% that they genuinely attempted to follow the Christian religion, 26% that they had been brought up as Christian even though they were not religious now, 6% that they had ticked the option automatically without thinking, 5% that they felt uncomfortable about the growing influence of other religions, and 4% that Christian was another way of expressing their Britishness.

In reply to a different question, 40% equated being a Christian to being a good person, against 24% who mentioned upbringing, and 22% who spoke in terms of belief in Jesus Christ.

Quizzed more generally why they identified themselves as Christian, 72% cited baptism, 38% parental affiliation, 37% their Sunday school attendance as a child, 28% their belief in the teachings of Christianity, 21% their education in a Christian school, 19% their previous churchgoing, 19% their current churchgoing, and 13% their partner’s Christianity (multiple responses were possible).

35% said that, as a child, they had learned most about Christianity from a church or Sunday school, 30% from their parents or family, and 29% from their school.

Although 60% claimed that Christianity was important in their life, 81% said that it had no influence on their social networks, 69% no influence on their choice of marriage partner, and 78% no influence on which candidate they would vote for in a general election. 

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

54% believed in God (two-thirds of whom said that Christianity is just one way, rather than the only true way, of knowing Him), 32% thought of God in terms of the laws of nature or some kind of supernatural intelligence, and 6% disbelieved.

44% regarded Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the saviour of mankind, 32% as a man and role model, 13% as a mere man, with 4% disbelieving in His existence.

32% believed in the physical resurrection of Jesus, 39% in His spiritual but not physical Resurrection, with 18% disbelieving in the Resurrection.

20% did not believe in heaven and 40% did not believe in hell, versus 63% and 41% who did believe (completely or to some extent). There was a strong attachment (64%) to fate and, to a lesser extent, to other alternative belief systems.

RELIGIOUS PRACTICE

29% claimed to have attended a Christian church service (other than a rite of passage) at least once a month during the previous year, but 49% had not worshipped during the year (two-thirds of whom had not been to church within the past five years or had never been).

27% stated that they had participated in some religious activity remotely during the past month, for example by watching or listening to a religious broadcast on television, radio or the internet, or by receiving a home visit from a member of their church pastoral team. 17% had so participated between one month and one year previously, but 53% not at all during the past twelve months.

35% prayed independently and from choice (i.e. when not at church) once a week or more, 25% less frequently, and 37% never or almost never. 21% did not even believe in the power of prayer compared with 63% who did.

15% had read the Bible independently and from choice within the last week, 32% within the last month or up to three years ago, 36% more than three years ago, and 15% never. Reflecting this limited acquaintance with the scriptures, just 35% of these Christians correctly named the first book of the New Testament.

ATTITUDES TO MORALITY

23% viewed the Bible as a perfect guide to morality, 42% as the best guide even though some of its teachings are inappropriate today, and 24% argued that there were better ways of knowing right from wrong.

In determining right from wrong, 54% mostly looked to their own inner moral sense, 25% to family and friends, and only 10% to their religion.

On specific matters of morality more of these self-identifying Christians took a ‘liberal’ than a ‘traditional’ stance, with 63% endorsing abortion, 61% full legal equality between homosexuals and heterosexuals, 59% assisted suicide, 57% extra-marital sex, and 46% homosexual relations.

ATTITUDES TO RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

54% supported state-funded faith schools for their denomination, 53% for any Christian denomination, and 44% for any religion (opponents numbering 16%, 15%, and 23%). However, almost as many opposed (36%) as endorsed (39%) the statutory requirement that children in state-funded schools should participate in a daily act of broadly Christian worship.

15% wanted religious education in state-funded schools to teach children to believe Christianity, 8% to teach children to believe whatever faith the school subscribed to, 7% to teach knowledge of Christianity but not of other faiths, and 57% to teach knowledge of all world faiths even-handedly.

38% did not want creationism to be taught in science lessons in state-funded schools against 31% who took the contrary line, with 29% uncertain.

ATTITUDES TO RELIGION IN PUBLIC LIFE

78% agreed that religion should be a private matter and that governments should not interfere in it, while 74% did not want religion to have any special influence on public policy. Nevertheless, 32% still agreed (and 46% disagreed) that the UK should have an official state religion. 92% contended that the law should apply to everybody equally, regardless of their religious beliefs.

Only 26% favoured the continuing presence of Anglican bishops in the House of Lords (32% against) and 32% the cost of hospital chaplains being met from NHS budgets (39% opposed).

SUMMATION

These results suggest that there may have been a dramatic ten-year fall in the number of professing Christians in the UK, from 72% in the 2001 census to 54% today. It remains to be seen whether this finding will be validated by the 2011 census data when they are eventually published. As BRIN has consistently noted, the measurement of religious profession is notoriously difficult, and differing methodologies and question-wording produce different results. Other Government sources, such as the Integrated Household Survey, still point towards quite high levels of ‘cultural Christianity’.

The ‘revelation’ that many who claim to be Christian fall short of Christian ideals in terms of their practices, beliefs and attitudes is not especially surprising. It has been documented in a wealth of studies since sample surveys began in Britain. Mass-Observation’s report into Puzzled People in Hammersmith in 1944-45 was one of the first to document some of these inherent contradictions in popular religion. Nonetheless, the Ipsos MORI data are helpful in quantifying systematically, and within a census context, the wide variation in the extent to which Christianity impacts upon, and has real meaning in, the everyday lives of Christians in the UK.

Ipsos MORI’s press release, topline results, and full computer tabulations (extending to 366 pages!) will be found at:

http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/2921/Religious-and-Social-Attitudes-of-UK-Christians-in-2011.aspx

Two press releases about the survey from the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science are available at:

http://richarddawkins.net/articles/644941-rdfrs-uk-ipsos-mori-poll-1-how-religious-are-uk-christians

http://richarddawkins.net/articles/644942-rdfrs-uk-ipsos-mori-poll-2-uk-christians-oppose-special-influence-for-religion-in-public-policy

A commentary on the statistics by the think-tank Ekklesia is at:

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/16278

and by the National Secular Society at:

http://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2012/02/poll-reveals-majority-of-christians-support-secular-outlook

Coincidentally, the Ipsos MORI results appeared on the same day that the Conservative Muslim peer, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, who is currently leading the largest ministerial delegation from the UK to the Vatican (reciprocating the papal visit to Britain in 2010), wrote an article in the Daily Telegraph entitled ‘We Stand Side by Side with the Pope in Fighting for Faith’ and criticizing ‘militant secularisation’.

The newspaper took the opportunity to run an instant online poll of its readers (obviously, being a self-selecting sample not necessarily representative of that readership, still less of the national population). By 10 pm on 14 February 13,493 votes had been cast, with the following (and perhaps surprising) pattern of responses to the question ‘Are you worried by the threat of militant secularism in Britain?’:

  • Marginalising religion is a form of intolerance seen in totalitarian regimes – 17.3%    
  • People should worship in private and not display religious symbols in public – 14.6%    
  • People should feel proud to worship in public and display their faith – 12.7%   
  • Secularisation is not a threat to this country – 55.4%   

 

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Pray and Display

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Clive D. Field

Cash-strapped local authorities are looking at every conceivable way of trimming their costs, and some of their measures have been impacting and aggravating faith communities in recent months, such as through the withdrawal of free transport for pupils attending faith schools.

Since last summer, when Westminster led the way (albeit it was forced to rescind its own plans on 19 January 2012 in the face of strong opposition, including from Churches), city councils up and down the land have been planning to raise additional revenue from car parking charges, both on street and in car parks, especially in the evenings and on Sundays.

The trend was highlighted in the Sunday Times of 22 January 2012 in an article entitled ‘Councils Cash in on Sunday Parking’. This was underpinned by a YouGov poll commissioned by the newspaper in which 70% of the 1,711 adult Britons interviewed online on 19 and 20 January said that councils were not justified in charging for parking on Sundays. Opposition rose to 78% among the over-60s, the age cohort which contains a disproportionate number of churchgoers (although it is naturally not suggested that this was the sole or main motive for this oldest group objecting to paying for parking on Sundays).

The problem for the Churches is that there are still many historic places of worship in city centres, whose congregations are not primarily local, but come from a distance, often by private transport. Sunday parking charges, therefore, may conceivably affect both the quantum of worshippers they attract and the amount of money in the ‘collection plate’. It is sometimes alleged that Sunday car parking fees are ‘a tax on churchgoing’.

Are these fears well-founded? Unfortunately, there is little evidence to show, as yet, since the planned charges have often not come into operation. One small piece, however, derives from Nottingham, where charges for Sunday parking were introduced on 20 November 2011. A report in the Catholic Herald for 3 February 2012 quotes the Dean of St Barnabas Roman Catholic Cathedral as saying that, as a direct result of the parking fees, its congregations are down 10% and its monthly income by £2,000. 

Some towns, of course, have long charged for the use of their car parks on Sundays. A row of a different sort erupted last year when it emerged that Woking District Council had been allowing worshippers at three central churches to park in its Victoria Way and Brewery Road car parks on Sundays for free since 2003, even though shoppers had to pay. A request under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that £55,864 had thereby been saved by these worshippers between 1 January 2009 and 30 June 2011. The scheme, which was denounced by the National Secular Society as a potential breach of the Equality Act, is currently under review by the council.  

 

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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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