Christmas and Other Themes

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Clive D. Field

Today’s ‘bumper’ round-up of religious statistical news features seven stories. Two are Christmas-themed; two summarize public attitudes to the religious dimensions of the same-sex marriage debate; two report on new research among Roman Catholics; and the last highlights reflections on the 2011 religion census of England and Wales by the Director of the AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society programme.

Churchgoing at Christmas

One-quarter of the national population claims they will attend a church service over the Christmas period this year (5% on Christmas Day itself, 11% on Christmas Eve, and 8% on another day around Christmas). The range is from 20% of men and residents of the Midlands and Wales to 30% of Londoners. Two-thirds say that they will not worship at Christmastide with one-tenth uncertain what they will do. Interestingly, when asked to indicate which of a list of Christmas Day activities they would pursue, an additional 2% (making 7% in all) mention going to church. Even so, apart from going to work (4%), this is the least favoured pastime on Christmas Day. Two-thirds anticipate singing Christmas carols over the festive period, women the most (51%) and men (31%) the least, closely followed by Scots on 32%. Among those with children under the age of ten, 45% expect them to take part in a nativity play, and 30% not. If past form is anything to go by, actual religious practices at Christmas will be significantly less than these aspirations.

Source: Online survey by YouGov for The Sun among 1,729 adults aged 18 and over in Great Britain on 9-10 December 2012. Data tables published on 14 December at:

http://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/tmd6ug984b/YG-Archive-Pol-Sun-results-101212-Christmas.pdf

Nativity knowledge

Britons’ knowledge of the nativity story is somewhat variable, according to a new survey. Asked ten specific questions about the first Christmas, on average they scored six out of ten, with 22% of parents and 18% of children scoring eight out of ten or more. The best-known facts about the nativity are that Jesus was born in Bethlehem (98%), Mary put the baby Jesus in a manger (89%), and that the Angel Gabriel told Mary she would give birth (83%). At the other end of the spectrum, only 14% knew that the three wise men travelled West following the star, 26% that Mary and Joseph were espoused (and thus not married) when she found out she was going to have a baby, and 32% knew that Immanuel means God is with us. A notable feature of the incorrect answers was the not infrequent appearance of Father Christmas, especially among parents’ responses. Over half of families (52%) said they planned to go to a school nativity play this year.

Source: Online survey by ICM Research on behalf of the Bible Society, undertaken between 6 and 12 December 2012 among approximately 1,000 parents of children aged 12 and under and 1,000 children. Full data tables are not yet available, but headline findings were reported on 17 December, notably in the online edition of the Daily Telegraph at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/9748554/Scandal-of-Mary-and-Joseph-passes-most-Britons-by-as-they-place-Father-Christmas-by-the-manger.html

The Bible Society’s press release is at:

http://www.biblesociety.org.uk/news/children-and-parents-6-out-of-10-score-on-nativity-knowledge/

Same-sex marriage (1)

Three-quarters of the British public (73%) are in favour of the legalization of same-sex marriages, but they divide over whether religious organizations should be required to provide religious weddings for gay couples. Some 28% of the population feels that these organizations should be put under such an obligation, and this is especially the view of the 18-24s (44%) and Liberal Democrat voters and public sector workers (37% each). Legalization of same-sex marriage but without requiring faith bodies to offer religious ceremonies is backed by 45%, while 17% oppose same-sex marriage but countenance civil partnerships, and a further 7% are hostile both to same-sex marriage and civil partnerships.

Source: Telephone survey of 1,023 adults aged 18 and over in Great Britain, undertaken by Ipsos MORI on 8-10 December 2012 on behalf of Freedom to Marry. Full data table published on 11 December and available at:

http://www.ipsos-mori.com/Assets/Docs/Polls/gay-marriage-poll-tables-december-2012.pdf

Same-sex marriage (2)

The British public is evenly divided about whether ‘marriage is a sacred act between a man and a woman and cannot be a sacred act between same-sex couples’; 42% say yes and exactly the same number no, albeit over-55s (56%) and Conservative voters (52%) are more inclined to take the former view and under-35s (52%) and Liberal Democrats (50%) the latter. This is notwithstanding that 60% (and 73% of under-35s) indicate that they support the legalization of same-sex marriage (in a question worded differently to that in the Ipsos MORI poll, above), albeit it is not generally regarded by the public as a priority for Parliament.

A majority (53%) backs same-sex marriages in churches, provided that churches are willing to conduct such ceremonies, rising to 63% of under-35s and 61% of Liberal Democrats; 39% are hostile, including 53% of over-55s, and 9% undecided. Only 35% endorse the Government’s proposal to prohibit the Church of England from conducting same-sex religious marriages, the majority (54%, including 60% of under-35s and the AB social group) wanting to see Anglican clergy offering such ceremonies if in accordance with their individual consciences. At the same time, 58% believe the Church of England is entitled to oppose the whole concept of same-sex marriage (with 26% disagreeing and 16% unsure). 

Source: Online survey of 1,003 adults aged 18 and over in Great Britain, undertaken by Survation on behalf of The Mail on Sunday on 14 and 15 December 2012. Summarized in Simon Walters, ‘Britons Vote in Favour of Same-Sex Marriage’, The Mail on Sunday, 16 December 2012, p. 13, available at:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2248833/Britons-vote-favour-sex-marriage-Public-backs-PM-gay-marriage-says-hes-doing-trendy.html

Full data tables located at:

http://survation.com/2012/12/same-sex-marriage-public-opinion-political-fall-out-survation-for-the-mail-on-sunday/

Bible engagement

Roman Catholics have a relatively low level of engagement with the Bible, according to a new survey. Of those who attend Mass once a month or more, 57% do not read the Bible week-by-week outside of a church setting. This is despite the fact that around two-thirds of them contend that the Bible has something useful to contribute to contemporary life and society, and that one-third assert that a passage in the Bible directly influenced a decision they made in the past week. For Catholics who worship less frequently than monthly or not at all, 81% seldom or never read the Bible. Less than half of both groups of Catholics feel confident about describing five specific passages from the Bible, with familiarity greater among Catholics aged 18-34 than their older co-religionists.

These findings are consistent with a ‘meta analysis’ of over 150 British sample surveys relating to the Bible and undertaken since 1945, which the present writer has almost completed, one of whose findings is: ‘Protestants in general and Free Church affiliates in particular are more Bible-centric than Catholics (apart from some indicators of literalism)’. Indeed, the faith of Catholics seems to be as much underpinned by the teachings and authority of the Roman Catholic Church as by the foundational text of Christianity.

Source: Survey of 1,012 self-identifying Roman Catholics aged 18 and over undertaken by Christian Research between 17 November and 4 December 2012, and on behalf of the Bible Society, in partnership with the Home Mission Desk of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. The sample divided between 502 Catholics who said that they attended Mass once a month or more and 510 who went less frequently or never. Headline findings are contained in a press release from the Bishops’ Conference dated 7 December, two days before Catholic Bible Sunday, and available at:

http://catholic-ew.org.uk/Home/News-Releases/Catholic-Bible-Engagement

Roman Missal

It is just over a year since Catholic parishes in English-speaking countries started to use the revised English translation of the Missale Romanum edition tertia, which aimed to offer a more literal rendition of the Latin, replacing the translation introduced after Vatican II, with its emphasis on capturing the sense of the words. However, initial responses to the new Missal among the faithful seem to have been decidedly mixed, according to one local survey. In it only 22% described the general experience of their parish with regard to the Missal as positive, with 31% neutral, and 42% negative. Factoring in their personal views brought the negative total to 45%, with 28% positive, and 25% neutral. This underwhelmed reaction is despite the fact that 83% claimed to have been at least somewhat prepared for the new translation, the most common forms of catechesis being at Mass (69%), the parish newsletter (50%), and from a priest or deacon (41%). Pew cards (71%) and parish leaflets (30%) were commonly made available as ‘people’s aids’ at Mass. Qualitative data were collected alongside the statistics, it being noted that ‘concerning the language of the people’s responses and prayers, a panoply of [negative] adjectives and descriptors that would be the envy of Roget’s Thesaurus is wheeled into line’.

Source: Survey conducted by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth between 1 January and 30 April 2012. The survey form was posted on the diocesan website and was thus accessible to people from outside the diocese. Although the majority of the replies came from within the diocese, a significant number came from elsewhere (mainly Northern England). They were received, either in written form or as email attachments, from a self-selecting sample of both laity and clergy. ‘There is no indication of any particular group with an agenda “packing” or skewing the responses’. Even though statistics are cited to two decimal places, the number of respondents (307) is not specified until the very last page of Paul Inwood’s summary of the survey, which can be found at:

http://www.portsmouthdiocese.org.uk/userfiles/Diocesan%20Missal%20Survey%20analysis%20and%20narrative%20report.pdf

The weekly Catholic magazine The Tablet is currently running an online survey on the same subject. To participate, go to:

http://www.thetablet.co.uk/page/survey

Religious census

The religious life of the country is more diverse and complex than a superficial reading of the 2011 census data for England and Wales might suggest, according to the latest commentary on the initial results which were released a week ago. In particular, there is no hard-and-fast fault-line between ‘Christians’ and those professing ‘no religion’. ‘The census is a poor guide because it asks a single question about identity and offers a limited range of answers … The census still works with simple, unitary categories of religion. If forced, most of us can squeeze ourselves into one of these boxes. But if asked what we really mean, we display a heterogeneity which simplistic readings of the census ignore … Most people no longer identify with the labels of religious affiliation … Religion, like secularity, has become a matter of choice. We do not obey authority as we once did, and we no longer take our religious identities “off the shelf”. We explore for ourselves and assemble spiritual packages we find meaningful.’

Source: Linda Woodhead, ‘Faith that Won’t Fit the Mould’, The Tablet, 15 December 2012, p. 8.

 

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Eastertide Anglican News

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Clive D. Field

The Church of England issued two statistics-related press releases in the run-up to Easter, the first (on 3 April 2012) concerning the 2011 headline mission statistics for its cathedrals under the heading ‘Cathedral Attendance Statistics Enjoy over a Decade of Growth’. With a link to a five-page detailed report, this can be viewed at:

http://churchofengland.org/media-centre/news/2012/03/cathedral-attendance-statistics-enjoy-over-a-decade-of-growth.aspx

The release majored on the fact that attendance at regular weekly services in Anglican cathedrals had steadily risen since the turn of the millennium, cumulatively by 30%, although there was a 1% fall between 2010 and 2011, entirely due to a reduction in under-16s worshipping on Sundays. Midweek attendance, by both adults and children, in 2011 was at its highest level since records began in 2000.

Christmas and Easter attendances generally showed stability during the decade. While Christmas congregations were 17% up in 2011 over 2010, this was probably due to the weather being much better in 2011, and to Christmas Day falling on a Sunday that year. The increase for Advent was 14%, with the absolute figure fractionally under the decennial peak in 2008.

Turnout at Christmas was incomparably (almost three times) better than at Easter. There were 2% fewer Easter Eve/Day attendants in 2011 than in 2001 and 3% fewer communicants. 2006 and 2007 were the best years for Easter Day/Eve worshippers at cathedrals. Overall Holy Week congregations in 2011 were 4% below 2010.

The report also contains figures for cathedral-related rites of passage, specially arranged services, public or civic events, educational activities, and volunteers and visitors. Including Westminster Abbey and other Royal Peculiars, there were an estimated 12 million visitors to English cathedrals in 2011, much the same as for 2010, albeit there has been some decline since 2001.

The report naturally cannot address the extent to which changes in all the cathedral numbers reflect shifts in allegiance from parish churches to cathedrals. In other words, has there been genuine growth in cathedrals, or has it been a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul?

The second press release (5 April 2012) highlighted the findings of an online poll of 2,000 adults, conducted for the Church of England by ICM Research between 30 March and 1 April. Only one question was asked: ‘Irrespective of whether you currently pray or not, if you were to pray for something at the moment, what would it be for?’ 85% of respondents expressed a desire to pray for something, the most popular answers being:

  • A family member – 26%
  • Peace in the world – 25%
  • Healing for another – 20%
  • Less stress in my life – 17%
  • An end to world poverty – 16%
  • Guidance – 15%
  • Thankfulness – 15%
  • My partner – 14%
  • Prosperity – 14%
  • A friend – 13%
  • Healing for myself – 12%
  • Marriage or relationship – 11%
  • Forgiveness – 10%
  • Work – 8%
  • My spiritual life – 7%
  • My studies – 4%
  • My church – 4%

The survey was commissioned by the Church of England to commemorate the prayer of Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, and to promote awareness of the prayoneforme website and Facebook page. The press release can be read at:

http://churchofengland.org/media-centre/news/2012/04/church-asks-‘what-would-you-pray-for-with-jesus-in-the-garden-of-gethsemane’-as-survey-finds-85-per-cent-have-things-they-would-pray-for.aspx

 

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Lenten Observance

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Clive D. Field

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent in the Christian calendar, the forty-day period of fasting and penance ending on Easter Eve (which falls on 7 April this year), and replicating Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert prior to His crucifixion.

According to an ICM Research survey for the Church of England, conducted online among a sample of 2,024 Britons aged 18 and over on 10-12 February 2012, more than one-fifth of adults plan to observe Lent in some way this year, albeit one-third of them did not know at the time of interview precisely what they would be giving up or taking up.

Women were more likely to claim that they intended to observe Lent than men (27% versus 20%), with age-based anticipated observance peaking, perhaps surprisingly, among the 18-24s (30%). Does the latter finding suggest that Lent is making a comeback?

Of those planning to observe Lent in 2012, 32% were unsure how they would actually do so. The proportions of the remaining 68% electing for specific observances were as follows:

  • Try to do more positive/kindly acts (21%)
  • Give up chocolate or other treats (17%)
  • Stop shopping for non-essential items (17%)
  • Give money to charity (10%)
  • Take up doing something spiritual like praying or reading the Bible (9%)
  • Stop swearing (9%)
  • Give up alcohol (8%)
  • Cut back on social media/gaming (7%)
  • Volunteer for a charity (7%)
  • Stop smoking (6%)
  • Something else (4%)

Lenten preferences were strongly related to gender. For instance, women were found to be nearly twice as likely as men to want to engage in positive or kindly acts as a Lent discipline. Men were twice as likely to aim to give up alcohol, whereas women were nearly three times more likely to forego chocolate.

Similarly, men were almost twice as likely to plan to spend less time on social media and gaming, and women were nearly one-and-a-half times as likely to stop shopping for non-essential items as a form of penance.

Of course, all these figures reflect aspirations before the event, which may not necessarily translate into reality at all or become quickly broken promises (a bit like New Year Resolutions).

From this perspective, it would be good to have a more retrospective enquiry, asking how people had observed Lent after it had finished. This would doubtless still involve some degree of exaggeration, but perhaps on a lesser scale.

The Church of England press release about the survey, dated 21 February 2012 and timed to coincide with the launch of Church House Publishing’s Reflections for Lent iPhone app, will be found at:

http://churchofengland.org/media-centre/news/2012/02/one-in-three-planning-to-observe-lent-don’t-know-what-to-give-(or-take)-up-survey-finds-–-as-church-house-publishing-launches-reflections-for-lent-app.aspx

Analysis of a comparable YouGov poll from a year ago (which revealed that 27% then planned to observe Lent), together with a summary of previous Lenten survey research, is available at:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/2011/lent/

 

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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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Threats to the European Union

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Clive D. Field

Islamist terrorism is viewed as the second greatest threat to the European Union (EU) over the next few years, according to a five-nation European poll conducted online by ICM Research for The Guardian between 24 February and 8 March 2011. The sample comprised 5,023 adults aged 18-64, including 1,001 in Great Britain.

Across the weighted aggregate of the five countries 33% were concerned about increasing government debt, 32% about Islamist terrorism, 26% about immigration from non-EU countries, 24% about political and civil unrest, and 21% about the growth of China’s economy.

But in France and Poland Islamist terrorism was the number one worry, at 34% and 38% respectively. Germany also stood on 34%, Spain on 30%, with Britain (at 25%) the least anxious about Islamist terrorism. Even so, it was still the third major concern for Britons, after immigration from non-EU countries (33%) and rising government debt (32%).

For the topline national results, see table 22 of the dataset at:

http://www.icmresearch.co.uk/icmresearch/files/pdfs/guardian_march_european_poll.pdf

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Transatlantic Trends Immigration Report

Posted on February 4, 2011 by Clive D. Field

Britons emerge as one of the most sceptical of western nations when it comes to immigration, according to the third annual Transatlantic Trends: Immigration report, which was published in Washington DC on 3 February.

65% of us see immigration as more of a problem than an opportunity, 70% think the government is doing a poor job at managing the issue, and 63% say that immigration policy may affect the way we vote.

Transatlantic Trends: Immigration is a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Compagnia di San Paolo, and the Barrow Cadbury Trust, with additional support from the Fundacion BBVA.

The key findings and topline data for the 2010 study will be found at, respectively:

http://www.gmfus.org/trends/immigration/doc/TTI2010_English_Key.pdf

http://www.gmfus.org/trends/immigration/doc/TTI2010_English_Top.pdf

Fieldwork was conducted in Great Britain (by ICM between 27 August and 9 September 2010) and in France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, the United States and Canada. 1,003 Britons aged 18 and over were interviewed by telephone.

The principal interest of the 2010 survey to BRIN users lies in two questions on attitudes to the integration of Muslim immigrants. These were only posed to a half-sample (n = 496 in Britain).

A slight majority (53%) of Britons considered that Muslim immigrants were integrating poorly into British society, 16% more than believed them to be integrating well. 10% could not say one way or the other.

The other half-sample was asked about the integration of immigrants in general. 52% of Britons said that they were integrating badly and 43% well, perhaps suggesting that Muslims were likewise to the front of mind in their replies.

Those holding that Muslim immigrants were poorly integrated were more numerous in Britain than in the United States (40%), Canada (44%), Italy (49%) and France (51%) but less than in The Netherlands (56%), Germany (67%) and Spain (70%).

Views were more favourable about the integration of the children of Muslim immigrants who had been born in Britain. 59% of Britons thought they had integrated well, 30% badly, with 11% uncertain.

Canada (66%) was most positive about the integration of the Muslim second generation, followed by the United States (62%) and Italy (60%). The other four European countries had lower figures than Britain, with 57% of Germans actually stating that the children of Muslim immigrants had integrated poorly.

A more extensive, but different, set of questions about Muslim immigrants was asked in the first Transatlantic Trends: Immigration survey in 2008, the topline data for which are available at:

http://www.gmfus.org/trends/immigration/doc/TTI_2008_Topline.pdf

The 2010 study also enquired into self-assessed religiosity. This question was put to the full sample. In reply, 10% of Britons described themselves as very religious, 42% as somewhat religious and 47% as not religious at all.

The proportion claiming not to be religious was higher in Britain than in any of the other countries surveyed. In descending order, the statistics were: The Netherlands (46%), France (43%), Germany (40%), Spain (35%), Canada (34%), and the United States and Italy (16% each).

This echoes the finding of a recent Gallup Poll which placed the United Kingdom 109th in a list of 114 countries in the importance attached by its citizens to religion in their daily lives. See further:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=520

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The Ways We Say Goodbye

Posted on January 24, 2011 by Clive D. Field

Even for those not overtly religious in their everyday lives, the three rites of passage (birth/baptism, marriage and death – or, colloquially put, hatching, matching and dispatching) have traditionally been a point of contact with institutional religion.

Church of England and other religious statistics have long charted a decline in infant baptisms, while Government data (separately recorded for England and Wales and Scotland) have shown a decrease in weddings solemnized according to religious rites.

Now there are signs that the most long-standing ecclesiastical near-monopoly, over death, may also be eroding, partly in the face of a shift of focus in funerals away from an act of mourning mediated by a religious professional to a more participatory time of celebration and commemoration.

The established Church of England has experienced a fall of 19% in eight years in the number of funerals its clergy conduct, from 232,550 in 2000 to 188,100 in 2008. Expressed in terms of total deaths, the 2008 figure translated into a 39% market share.

The latest evidence about funeral customs and practices comes in a report today from Co-operative Funeralcare, the UK’s largest provider (100,000 funerals a year).

Entitled The Ways We Say Goodbye: a Study of 21st Century Funeral Customs in the UK, the document is mostly based on data gathered from funeral directors at 559 of Co-operative Funeralcare’s network of 850 funeral homes.

67% of Co-operative’s funerals still take a traditional form, in accordance with the rites of a particular religion, and generally including a service led by a recognized minister, followed by burial or cremation.

However, 21% are characterized as contemporary, where the emphasis is on celebration of an individual’s life and personalization of the funeral service, albeit an element of religion (such as a hymn or prayer) may still be retained.

12% of funerals arranged by Co-operative Funeralcare are classified by them as ‘humanist’, entirely without a religious component. They may be led by a humanist official, or by family and friends of the deceased.

In the words of one funeral director: ‘People don’t just want religion spoken about – they want the person spoken about. They’re making more of a day of it … more of an occasion.’

But the report highlighted that, such is the pace of personalization of ceremonies, it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain these somewhat arbitrary distinctions between funeral types.

Following this trend, only 36% of funerals now have purely religious music, the remaining 64% using contemporary music, classical music or a mixture of styles. So, in this and other respects, even religious ceremonies are being modernized and ‘secularized’.  

The top three funeral songs in 2009, according to a separate Co-operative study, were My Way (Frank Sinatra, Shirley Bassey), Wind Beneath My Wings (Bette Midler, Celine Dion) and Time to Say Goodbye (Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli).

Additional information came from an online poll conducted by ICM Research on behalf of Co-operative Funeralcare among a representative sample of 2,002 Britons aged 18 and over interviewed on 22-24 September 2010.

This revealed that 54% of respondents would prefer their funeral to be a personalized celebration of their life, with just 27% opting for a traditional funeral such as a church service with hymns. The latter figure ranged from 20% in the case of the 18-24s to 40% of the over-65s.

In a separate question, 49% wanted their funeral to be individualized in a specific way, most commonly in terms of their favourite music but, for some, even to reflect their favourite hobby, colour or football team.

The Ways We Say Goodbye can be downloaded from:

http://www.co-operative.coop/Funeralcare/PDFs/Ways%20We%20Say%20Goodbye%20Brochure.pdf

There is also a Co-operative press release, containing topline findings from the ICM poll, at:

http://www.co-operative.coop/funeralcare/about-us/News/First-ever-report-into-UK-funeral-customs-highlights-major-change/

This is by no means the first piece of research by Co-operative Funeralcare in this area. For instance, in October 2001 its forerunner produced a report Taking Fear out of Funerals, informed by a survey from BMRB the preceding March.

This showed that, even at that point, Britons sought funerals which were more cheerful, colourful and personal, with seven-tenths saying that non-religious ceremonies were perfectly acceptable.

One of the last major studies of attitudes to death more generally was by ComRes for Theos in April 2009 in the wake of the early death from cancer of Jade Goody, the ex-Big Brother contestant. The tables from this study are still available at:

http://www.comres.co.uk/resources/7/Social%20Polls/Theos%20Death%20Poll%20results%20Apr09.pdf

37% then expressed a wish for a Christian funeral, 4% for another form of religious funeral, 17% for a non-religious funeral, with the remaining 43% having no clear preference.

30% of the ComRes sample agreed that their religious faith helped them to deal with the death of a loved-one or to prepare for their own death, but 38% disagreed, with 32% undecided or refusing to answer.

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I Believe in Angels – The Reality Behind the ABBA Lyrics

Posted on December 28, 2010 by Clive D. Field

It can often be an uphill struggle to engage the news media in positive stories about religion, especially where statistics are also involved! However, the Bible Society and Christian Research were clearly on to a real winner with their press release on 23 December about popular belief in angels.

Thanks to a Press Association wire, and the inclusion of some city results (albeit based on small cell sizes), the story was picked up by local and regional newspapers the length and breadth of the UK, and by some national and international media, also.

The original release is not yet available on the Bible Society’s website, so this post draws upon coverage in the Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Independent, The Yorkshire Post and The Scotsman, as well as on the full data tables generously made available to BRIN by Christian Research.

The enquiry reported on was an online survey commissioned by the Bible Society and conducted by ICM Research on 15 and 16 December among a representative sample of 1,038 adult Britons aged 18 and over.

Reminded that the Bible states that angels were used to communicate with various characters in the Christmas narrative, 31% of Britons said that they believed in angels, 51% disbelieved, while 17% did not know what to think.

The number of believers was identical to a YouGov enquiry in October 2004 but rather less than the two-fifths recorded by TNS in July 2007 and Ipsos MORI in August 2009.

As reported by ICM, belief was notably greater among women (40%) than men (23%), and it was also somewhat higher among the over-45s than those aged 18-44 and with manual workers rather than non-manuals. The regional high was in London (40%).

Slightly fewer (29%) thought that they had a guardian angel watching over them personally. 54% disagreed and 17% did not know. Demographic variations were similar to the first question, with believers most prevalent among Londoners (37%) and women and the 55-64s (36% each).

This figure of 29% was lower than obtained in four Ipsos MORI polls about guardian angels, between February 1998 and August 2009, in which belief ranged between 31% and 46%.

Despite the relative incidence of belief in angels, only 5% of respondents claimed that they had actually seen or heard one. No demographic sub-group attained double figures, apart from the East Midlands (12%), including 17% of those whose nearest city was Nottingham. 88% were certain that they had not experienced an angel, with 7% unsure.

Canon Dr Ann Holt, the Bible Society’s Programme Director, interpreted the findings as ‘a sign of a spiritual need within many of us’.

The ICM survey also included a question about nativity plays at school, in the face of mounting evidence that a combination of secularization and political correctness is slowly killing them off.

Only a minority (44%) of schools in England and Wales were planning one at Christmas 2004, according to an Ipsos MORI poll for The TES, and the proportion is thought to have declined further during the past six years.

79% of Britons interviewed by ICM favoured such plays being performed in schools, rising to 88% for those aged 45-54 or living in Eastern England. The lowest levels of support were found in multicultural London (68%) and among the 18-24s (71%).

According to a study by Research Now for the Bible Society and Christian Research in December 2009, about one-fifth of the population attends a nativity play each year, peaking with the 35-44s (the cohort most likely to have children of primary school age).

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Take Your Bible to Work Day

Posted on October 28, 2010 by Clive D. Field

In case you did not notice, last Monday (25 October) was the Bible Society’s ‘Take Your Bible to Work Day’, when Christians were asked to take a Bible to their place of employment as a statement of personal faith.

The day was conceived by the Society following a number of high-profile cases in which Christians found themselves in trouble for encouraging people to think about faith in God or for offering to pray with people in the workplace.

Ann Holt, the Society’s Director of Programmes, was quoted as saying: ‘while we recognise the plural nature of our culture, we are inviting people to take their Bible to work because we believe it is their right to do so in a free society. We believe the Bible’s message provides a framework for living the whole of life, and is not simply a resource for personal piety or a support for those who like religion.’

In connection with the day, the Society commissioned Christian Research and ICM to undertake an online survey among a representative sample of adult Britons. Fieldwork dates and sample size have not yet been reported by the Society.

According to the poll, while most Christians said they would feel fine in having their Bible at work, 43% would feel uncomfortable about actually getting it out to read during breaks and at lunchtimes, and almost a third were worried what work colleagues might think.

In fact, the survey found that only 14% of all workers expressed concern about Christian colleagues reading their Bible at work. Even 75% of atheists questioned said they would not consider it to be a problem. As many as half the workers claimed they would be happy to talk about the Bible with Christian workmates.

This post has been extracted from the limited information contained in the Society’s press release, available at:

http://www.biblesociety.org.uk/news/89/284/Take-Your-Bible-to-Work-Day/

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Faith Schools

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Clive D. Field

ICM Research has just posted on its website the results of a ‘faith schools survey’ undertaken by telephone between 25 and 27 June 2010 among a representative sample of 1,003 adult Britons aged 18 and over. They were randomly selected from the BT database of domestic telephone numbers.

A somewhat incomplete set of detailed computer tabulations, with breaks by standard demographics, can be found at:

http://www.icmresearch.co.uk/pdfs/2010_august_c4_FaithSchools.pdf

The survey was commissioned by Barnes Hassid Productions, seemingly in connection with their production of Faith School Menace?, presented by the renowned atheist and evolutionary biologist Professor Richard Dawkins and broadcast on Channel 4 on 18 August. He is an arch-critic of faith schools and of government’s plans to expand them.

At the same time, the schools are popular with parents, albeit often for their supposedly better track-record on educational standards and discipline as much as for their religious advantages. There is a useful guide to the literature in Elizabeth Green, Mapping the Field: A Review of the Current Research Evidence on the Impact of Schools with a Christian Ethos, London: Theos, 2009.

Question 1 is not reported on ICM’s website, but it may possibly have been about the principle of state funding of faith schools, in which case the answers can be inferred from elsewhere in the tables as: 50% for, 45% against, 5% undecided.

Question 2 is likewise not recorded in detail but shows up as a variable in analysing Question 3. It asked: ‘Which, if any, of the following would you be prepared to do in order to obtain a school place for your child at your preferred local school?’

The options, with those replying yes, were: buy a property within the school’s catchment area (52%); rent a property within the school’s catchment area (40%); regularly attend the place of worship of a religion you do believe in (50%); regularly attend the place of worship of a religion you do not believe in (7%); none of these (26%).

Question 3 related to instances where parents had pretended to belong to a religion in order to get their child into a faith school. Three-fifths of respondents thought this was wrong, while 37% said that parents could not be blamed for doing whatever they could to get their child into their preferred school.

Apart from majorities of 18-24s (51%) and students (54%) not blaming parents, demographic differences were not notable, even between those with and without a religious affiliation. However, 57% of those who were willing to attend a place of worship they did not believe in also exonerated parents for playing the system.

Question 4 tested opinions on whether children should have a daily religious assembly and prayers as part of their education (a requirement introduced for all schools by the Education Act 1944). Here views were split straight down the middle, 45% agreeing and 44% disagreeing.

Most in favour were adults aged 65 and over (65%) and those with a religion (56%). Most opposed were the irreligious (66%) and those who objected to the state funding of faith schools (55%).

Question 5 concerned government plans to expand faith schools, including Muslim ones (which were specifically mentioned). 59% felt that schools should be for everyone, regardless of religion, and that the government should not fund faith schools of any kind.

This position was held particularly by men (64%), Scots (66%), the irreligious (73%), and those who had said that the state should not fund faith schools (82%) or who disagreed that there should be a daily religious assembly (68%).

A further 27% (rising to 44% among those who supported state-funded faith schools) accepted the logic that, if there are Anglican, Catholic and Jewish state-funded schools, there should be Muslim ones, also, but 10% were hostile to Muslim schools even though they conceded that faith schools were an important part of the educational system. This 10% varied little between demographic sub-groups.

Five years ago, when ICM posed the identical question for The Guardian, 64% believed that state schools should be for everyone and opposed state-funded faith schools, 25% agreed that there should be Muslim state schools and 8% were clear that the government should not be funding Muslim schools. So, on this specific measure, there have been only marginal shifts in public opinion over time.

All in all, the role of religion in education remains somewhat divisive. As can be seen from the BRIN database, a fair number of surveys has been conducted which touch on the issue of faith schools, but their outcomes are rather dependent upon the question-wording (and, to an extent, the client paying for the poll). Not unexpectedly, people can take a different position at the level of principle than when confronted by a scenario which might directly impact their own child(ren).

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