Religious Marriages and Other News

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Clive D. Field

Seven new sources of British religious statistics feature in today’s bulletin, leading with the latest set of official annual figures on the mode of solemnization of marriages in England and Wales.

Marriages (England and Wales), 2011

The number of marriages solemnized in religious ceremonies in England and Wales dropped by 6% between 2010 and 2011, notwithstanding that the overall total of marriages increased by 2% over the same period. The decline affected all denominations and faiths, including the Church of England and Church in Wales, which conducted 7% fewer weddings in 2011 than 2010, despite the former’s push over recent years to stimulate public interest in getting married in church. The fall in religious marriages since 2001 has been 18%, in contrast to all marriages which have contracted by just one-half a percentage point. The proportion of religious marriages to the total has slumped from 99% in 1838 to 84% in 1901 to 67% in 1966 to 30% in 2011, 1976 being the year when civil ceremonies overtook religious ones.

Perhaps reflecting the struggles which many Christian denominations have had to come to terms with divorce, both partners in religious marriages continue to be more likely to be entering their first marriage than do their counterparts at civil ceremonies (82% against 60% in 2011, albeit the former figure has dipped from 95% in the late 1960s as divorce has spread even among people of faith). Couples undergoing a civil marriage are also 10% more likely to be cohabiting before marriage than those marrying in a place of worship; however, the latter figure had climbed to 78% in 2011 (compared with 41% in 1994). So, whatever their traditional teaching against it, the Churches have clearly had to accommodate themselves to a society in which living together (i.e. sex) before marriage is the norm. Were they not to turn a blind eye to it, religious marriages would simply implode.

The foregoing data (still provisional for 2011) are taken from a bulletin issued by the Office for National Statistics today (26 June 2013) and from associated reference tables, all of which may be accessed at:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/vsob1/marriages-in-england-and-wales–provisional-/2011/index.html

Global threats

Given a list of eight possible international concerns, 55% of Britons selected Islamic extremist groups as a major threat to the country, second only to international financial instability (59%), and ahead of global climate change (48%), North Korea’s nuclear programme (45%), Iran’s nuclear programme (42%), political instability in Pakistan (31%), China’s power and influence (29%), and US power and influence (22%). This is according to the latest release of data from the Pew Global Attitudes Project, with fieldwork undertaken (by Princeton Survey Research Associates International) in 39 countries in Spring 2013 (including Britain, where 1,012 adults aged 18 and over were interviewed by telephone between 4 and 27 March 2013). Nevertheless, Islamic extremist groups were even more likely to be categorized as a major threat in several other leading developed nations: Italy (74%), France (71%), Spain (62%), Germany (60%), Japan (57%), and the US (56%). In Britain an additional 33% considered Islamic extremist groups to be a minor threat and only 6% no threat at all. Topline tables were published on 24 June 2013 at:

http://www.pewglobal.org/files/2013/06/Pew-Research-Center-Global-Attitudes-Project-Global-Threats-Report-FINAL-June-24-20131.pdf

Origins of life

The creationist view of the origin and development of life on earth is held by only a minority of UK citizens, according to Wellcome Trust Monitor, Wave 2, undertaken by Ipsos MORI through face-to-face interviews with 1,396 adults and 460 young people aged 14-18 between 21 May and 22 October 2012, but not published until 17 May 2013. Just 23% of adults and 21% of young people agreed that ‘humans and other living things were created by God and have always existed in their current form’, rising to 28% of over-65s, 27% of women, and 27% of those with no educational qualifications. A further 22% of adults and 18% of young people thought that ‘humans and other living things evolved over time, in a process guided by God’. But the biggest number in both groups, 50% of adults and 57% of young people, subscribed to the theory that ‘humans and other living things evolved over time as a result of natural selection, in which God played no part’. The proportion peaked (68%) among those scoring most highly on a quiz about scientific knowledge which was a component of the research. A wide range of documentation about the survey, including data in Excel format (T146 is the relevant table for this question) and the main report (with analysis on pp. 32-3), is available at:

http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/About-us/Publications/Reports/Public-engagement/WTX058859.htm

These results are broadly consistent with those obtained in Wellcome Trust Monitor, Wave 1, conducted in 2009. They also accord with evidence from other pollsters, although variations in question-wording and methodology make strict comparisons difficult. This evidence has been summarized thus by Clive Field in an, as yet, unpublished paper: ‘the creation in Genesis is now widely rejected in favour of evolutionist interpretations. This appears to have been a relatively recent phenomenon. Two-thirds to four-fifths now accept human beings have developed from earlier species of animals, while believers in the so-called young earth creation theory (that God made human beings in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years) fell from 29% in 1995 to below one-fifth in the most recent polls (2006-12). Excluding a fairly significant number of “don’t knows”, majority opinion is unevenly split between theories of Darwinian evolution and intelligent design (the latter still admitting some possible role for God or supernatural planner). Many do not see any inherent contradiction between evolution and Christianity in accounting for the origin of life on earth and thus can believe in both, and there is broad support for all explanations of the origin being taught in schools.’

Funeral hymns

Put on the spot, a plurality (44%) of 2,427 adult Britons did not know what song, hymn or piece of music they would like to be played at their funeral, and a further 11% did not want any music to be played. The remaining 45% nominated a particular song, hymn or piece of music, but none took more than 1% of the vote. The most popular religious or allied items were Abide with Me (the choice of 30 respondents), Jerusalem (28), Amazing Grace (22), How Great Thou Art (21), and The Lord is My Shepherd/Psalm 23 (20). The poll was conducted online by ComRes on behalf of Marie Curie Cancer Care on 3-6 May 2013, in advance of Dying Matters Awareness Week (13-19 May), although the full data tables were not published until 12 June at:

http://www.comres.co.uk/polls/Marie_Curie_Gardens_Final_Data_Tables_9_May_2013.pdf

Youth and religion

A YouGov poll of 940 18- to 24-year-olds for The Sun, conducted online on 14-19 June 2013 and published on 24-25 June, confirms the relatively weak hold which religion has over Generation Y, those born in the 1980s and 1990s. A mere 8% profess membership of a church or religious group (compared with 21% who belong to a gym). One-tenth claim to attend religious services once a month or more, with 56% never going and a further 18% less than annually. Only 12% say they are influenced a lot or a fair amount by religious leaders, even less than celebrities (21%), brands (32%), and politicians (38%), and way behind friends (77%) and parents (82%). Just 14% recognize religion as more often the cause of good in the world against 41% who agree that it is mostly the source of evil, the remainder being neutral or uncertain. No more than 25% believe in God, although another 19% accept that there is some kind of spiritual greater power; 38% believe in neither and 18% are undecided. And only 38% identify with a religion, 56% with none. Full data tables (with breaks by gender, age, and education) are available at:

http://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/jgdvn3vm4b/YG-Archive-Pol-Sun-results-190613-youth-survey.pdf

while commentary on the survey can be found at:

http://yougov.co.uk/news/2013/06/24/british-youth-reject-religion/ and

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/4981030/yougov-survey-on-britains-young-adults.html

Methodist statistics

The Methodist Church of Great Britain has recently made available its statistics for mission report for the connexional year 2012/13 (representing the position as at October 2012, and based on a 98% response from local churches). Comparing with the year before, the picture which emerges is one of continuing decline on most performance indicators, with significant annual decreases in those with the loosest attachment to the Church, reflected in the figures for the community roll and rites of passage (the fall in membership and attendance was less marked). The following table has been compiled from data available at:

http://www.methodist.org.uk/ministers-and-office-holders/statistics-for-mission

 

2011

2012

% change
Members

All

221,879

219,359

-1.1
New

3,183

2,903

-8.8
Died

6,889

6,938

+0.7
Ceased to meet

4,734

4,052

-14.4
Community roll

513,671

453,990

-11.6
Attendances

All age weekly average: Sunday

202,573

197,592

-2.5
All age weekly average: midweek

33,035

32,814

-0.7
Adult weekly average

199,626

196,365

-1.6
Children/young people weekly average

33,794

33,736

-0.2
Rites of passage

Baptisms/thanksgivings

11,227

10,505

-6.4
Marriages/blessings

3,710

3,570

-3.8
Funerals

22,327

21,505

-3.7

Psychological type and churchmanship of Anglican clergy

The relationship of psychological type preferences to three forms of self-assigned churchmanship (Anglo-Catholic, Broad Church, evangelical) is explored by Andrew Village in ‘Traditions within the Church of England and Psychological Type: A Study among the Clergy’, Journal of Empirical Theology, Vol. 26, No. 1, 2013, pp. 22-44. The sample comprised 1,047 Anglican clergy ordained in the United Kingdom (mostly into the Church of England) between 2004 and 2007 who responded to a self-completion postal questionnaire. The majority of clergy were found to prefer introversion over extraversion, but this preference was more marked among Anglo-Catholics than evangelicals. Anglo-Catholics also showed preference for intuition over sensing, while the reverse was true for evangelicals. Clergy of both sexes exhibited an overall preference for feeling over thinking, but this was reversed among evangelicals. These variations could not be wholly explained by differences in the level of conservatism or charismaticism across the traditions, suggesting that they were linked to preferences for different styles of religious expression in worship. In short, Village argues, people gravitate to traditions that match their psychological type, especially in respect of the perceiving function. The analysis is preceded by a fairly extensive literature review of psychological type and religion. The abstract and full-text access options for the article are at:

http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/10.1163/15709256-12341252

 

Posted in church attendance, News from religious organisations, Official data, Rites of Passage, Survey news | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pope Benedict Departs and Other News

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Clive D. Field

Benedict XVI leaves the papal office today following his resignation earlier in the month, and it is fitting that he should be the lead story in our latest BRIN post. This mostly derives from YouGov’s February 2013 Eurotrack survey, but space has been found for a couple of miscellaneous items, too.

Pope Benedict departs

YouGov has taken the opportunity of Benedict XVI’s departure to ask the publics of six Western European countries (Great Britain, France, Germany, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden) how they rate his pontificate. Questions were included in the regular online Eurotrack undertaken between 21 and 27 February 2013, with 1,704 Britons aged 18 and over being interviewed (among them 117 professed Roman Catholics). Results have been disaggregated by religious affiliation within country (but not by other demographics) at:

http://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/auqvjc212x/Eurotrack-February-2013.pdf

A press release about the survey has also been issued and can be found at:

http://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/onzs1ox195/Pope_press_release.pdf

Asked whether Benedict had been right or wrong to resign as pope, 68% of Britons said right, similar to Denmark (67%), but lower than in Finland (71%), Sweden (72%), France (75%), and Germany (82%). In Britain 77% of the religious contended that he had made the right decision, including 79% of Catholics, compared with 64% of the religiously unaffiliated (29% of whom did not know what to think). Only 8% of Britons said that Benedict had been wrong to resign.

When it came to assessing how well or badly Benedict had done during his eight years as pope, a plurality of Britons (41%) expressed no view, with 36% thinking he had done well, and 23% badly. The positive figure was better than Sweden (18%), Denmark (24%), and France (33%), but nowhere near as good as in Germany (52%, the country from which he hails). Benedict’s performance was rated as good by 72% of British Catholics, 50% of all those professing a religion, 28% of non-Christians, and 26% of people without faith.

On specific aspects of his pontificate, Benedict was often judged to have been too conservative and to have changed things too little. In Britain 43% said that this had been true of theological issues such as women priests; 47% of moral issues such as birth control, abortion, and homosexuality; and 33% of social issues such as wealth and poverty. Catholics were as inclined to reach this verdict as the rest of the population. Otherwise, a principal difference by religious affiliation was the large number of ‘don’t knows’ to be found among non-Christians and those without religion.

In terms of Benedict’s political clout, only 9% of Britons considered that leading politicians in Britain had paid a great deal or a fair amount of notice to the views of Benedict and the British Catholic hierarchy, less than in Germany (33%) or France (18%), but fractionally more than in the Scandinavian countries. The overwhelming majority of Britons (71%), and even 78% of British Catholics, accepted that politicians had paid little or no notice to the pope and his bishops. Moreover, three-fifths of all Britons and 72% of the irreligious thought that politicians had been right not to have taken such notice, albeit 57% of Catholics disagreed.

More generally, respondents were asked whether four groups of religious leaders play a positive or negative role in the life of each country. In Britain (as can be seen from the table, below) a majority in three cases and a plurality in the other selected neither of these options, replying instead that they did not know or that the leaders made a limited impact on national life or that their role was equally positive and negative. 

 

Positive

Negative

Other
Protestant bishops and archbishops

21

22

57
Roman Catholic bishops and archbishops

16

33

51
Leading Jewish rabbis

19

17

64
Leading Muslim clerics

10

44

46

Among those expressing a clear opinion, Roman Catholic and Muslim leaders were especially seen in a critical light. Not unexpectedly, people who espoused a religion tended to be disproportionately more positive about religious leaders and the irreligious disproportionately more negative; however, when it came to Muslim leaders, both religious and irreligious were similarly negative. Catholics were most positive about their own bishops and archbishops.

On the characteristics of the next pope, many Britons could not get hugely exercised. They became most animated (in the sense of 44% saying they would be delighted) at the prospect of a pope who wanted to permit Catholic couples to use contraception. The proportion expressing delight at other scenarios was: a pope who advocated much stronger action to redistribute money within countries from rich to poor (24%); a pope who advocated that rich countries should spend far more on overseas aid (17%); a pope from Africa (11%); and a pope from South America (9%).

Religion and the current politico-economic situation

The YouGov Eurotrack study also included questions about current political and economic issues in Europe, the answers to which will be of interest to BRIN readers because they have been broken down by religious affiliation. Here we report on some of those for Britain alone, albeit the same level of detail is also available for the other five countries included in the survey.

Although most Britons (60%) disapprove of the Coalition Government’s record to date, the proportion is notably higher among those without a religion (65%) than those who profess some faith (56%), apart from Roman Catholics (68%, whose politics tend to be left-of-centre – see the next item, on the religious right). There is a corresponding gap in approval ratings of the Government: 32% by the religious (rising to 35% of non-Catholic Christians) and 20% of the faithless, with a national mean of 24%.

These judgments on the Government do not appear to correlate with perceived changes to the financial situation of respondents’ households during the previous twelve months. Whereas the religious are relatively more positive about the Government than the irreligious, it is the former whose households have suffered most: 60% reported that their finances had worsened a lot or a little against 51% of the religiously unaffiliated, with the number observing an improvement standing at 9% and 12% respectively.

On Britain’s membership of the European Union, people without religion (41%) were more likely than those with (33%) to say that they would vote in favour of continuing membership, in the event of a referendum being held, the national average being 36%. Nationally, 42% stated that they would vote to leave the European Union, comprising 49% of the religious and 38% of the irreligious. Among the religious, Catholics were most in favour of leaving (55%) and non-Christians the least (34%, with 43% wishing to stay in membership).

Naturally, it cannot be assumed that this spread of opinions is solely the function of the religion/irreligion factor, which is the only variable to be included in the YouGov tables. We know from other surveys that both religion and politics are independently impacted by secular demographics, and they will doubtless explain some of the variance noted above.

Religious right

In a new report from the Theos think-tank, Andy Walton (with Andrea Hatcher and Nick Spencer) asks Is There a ‘Religious Right’ Emerging in Britain? The question is answered in the negative, in the sense of there not being an American-style religious right at present, and the judgment being that there is little chance of one developing in the immediate future. Part of the evidence base for this conclusion is a ‘brief foray’ (pp. 34-45) into relevant social surveys, particularly the British Social Attitudes Surveys and the British Election Studies, although some use is also made of BRIN.

The findings which the authors particularly highlight are: a) the number of committed Christians in Britain is a relatively small proportion of the electorate, particularly in terms of evangelicals and Catholics, who form the backbone of the US religious right; b) only 9% of Britons with a religious affiliation say religion is very important in making political decisions, with less fixation with some of the specific issues which dominate the US political scene; and c) practising believers, albeit socially conservative, disproportionately espouse economic views which are left-of-centre, especially among Catholics. Is There a ‘Religious Right’ Emerging in Britain? can be found at:

http://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/files/files/Reports/IS%20THERE%20A%20RELIGIOUS%20RIGHT%20(NEW).pdf

Religion and education

The December 2012 issue (Vol. 33, No. 3) of Journal of Beliefs & Values is a special number, guest-edited by Elisabeth Arweck and Robert Jackson, devoted to religion and education. Specifically, it comprises a dozen articles reporting research projects which have been funded by the AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme. Although the majority of contributions are of a qualitative nature, several authors deploy quantitative methods to varying degrees. From this standpoint, BRIN readers will probably be most interested in the two articles on young people’s attitudes to religious diversity by Leslie Francis and members of his research group (pp. 279-92, 293-307), which apply techniques from the psychology of religion and empirical theology. The papers include details of the theoretical underpinning, design and scope, and preliminary results of a study of approximately 10,000 years 9 and 10 pupils (aged 13-15) in state-maintained secondary schools in London, England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. They report, respectively, on interim datasets of 3,020 and 5,993 cases.

An interesting revelation from the first paper is that ‘a negative view of Muslims is more prevalent among secular young people than among young people who are practising members of Christian churches. In this sense, Christianity is seen to promote acceptance, not rejection, of adherents of Islam.’ The second article illustrates how empathic capacity (in terms of attitudes to other religious groups) is more strongly related to God images than to religious affiliation or religious attendance. Secular factors (such as gender, neuroticism, and psychoticism) also make a difference in predicting the empathy of individuals. For titles, abstracts, and access options for all the articles in this special issue, go to:      

http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cjbv20/33/3

 

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Should Ethics be Taught?

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Clive D. Field

While church connection helps to promote moral and ethical behaviour and worldviews among young people, religious schools do not have a consistently positive impact in that regard.

This is the inference which can be drawn from the charts and summaries contained in a somewhat skeletal report entitled Should Ethics be Taught? Published a few months back, it is available to download at:

http://www.moneyandmorals.org/resources/userfiles/Jabe%20MM%20Survey%20Web%202011%20-%20Printed%20version.pdf

Commissioned by the Money & Morals secondary school programme, a project of the Jewish Association for Business Ethics, the underlying data in the report derive from questionnaires completed by 10,000 year 9 and 10 pupils (aged 13 to 15) at schools in England and Wales in 2008-10. They were compiled by Jemma Penny, of the St Mary’s Centre in Wales, in association with Professor Leslie Francis of the University of Warwick.

Churchgoing students were found to be less likely to condone cheating in examinations, fare-dodging on public transport and shoplifting than their non-worshipping counterparts. However, pupils at religious schools were actually more tolerant of all three moral failings than those at county schools. 

Churchgoing students also tended to be more positive about their future life in the workplace than non-church-attenders. But differences between pupils at religious and county schools on these questions were less conclusive, albeit the former were 3% more optimistic about the contribution which they could make to the world than the former (69% versus 66%).

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Alcohol, Young People and Religion

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Clive D. Field

Young people who profess no religion are significantly more likely to have had an alcoholic drink than those with a faith. Indeed, religion is one of the most important factors affecting the likelihood of youth’s consumption of alcohol. This is according to bivariate and multivariate analytical research published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on 17 June.

Details of the study are to be found in Pamela Bremner, Jamie Burnett, Fay Nunney, Mohammed Ravat (all of Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute) and Willm Mistral (University of Bath), Young People, Alcohol and Influences: A Study of Young People and their Relationship with Alcohol and in the associated technical document. These may be downloaded from:

http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/young-people-alcohol-and-influences

Fieldwork was undertaken by means of self-completion questionnaire administered by Ipsos MORI, in invigilated classroom conditions, to a representative sample of 5,785 teenagers aged 13-14 (year 9) and 15-16 (year 11) attending all types of secondary schools in England (apart from special schools). The fieldwork dates were 9 February to 22 May 2009.

In year 9 30% of pupils had never had an alcoholic drink and 70% had, but the latter proportion stood at 81% for those with no religion and dropped to 62% among those with a faith. Drinkers in year 11 numbered 89%, 94% of those without religion and 84% with one.

Among believers, Christians were far more disposed to have drunk alcohol than Muslims, 71% and 13% respectively in year 9, 91% and 26% in year 11. Thus, 87% of year 9 and 74% of year 11 Muslims had not drunk. In fact, across both age groups, the odds of Muslims having had alcoholic drink were 25 times lower than for non-Muslims.

Of those who had never consumed alcohol 25% in year 9 and 34% in year 11 gave religious reasons for not drinking, and these were disproportionately Muslims. In general, however, young people mostly rationalized their abstinence in secular terms, such as lack of interest and potential damage to health, more than on religious grounds.

One-half of both years 9 and 11 identified with a religion, four-fifths of them with Christianity. The number professing no religion edged up from 44% to 48% between years 9 and 11, while those saying their religious beliefs were important to them fell from 26% to 20%. Many believers were apparently fairly nominal. Listeners to religious music were only 7%, and they were three times less likely to have drunk alcohol than non-listeners.

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Baptist Union Statistics, 2010

Posted on February 11, 2011 by Clive D. Field

‘The latest returns show a mixed but broadly positive picture for churches in the Baptist Union of Great Britain (BUGB)’, according to the lead story in today’s issue of The Baptist Times.

Both church membership and (adult) baptisms, the traditional measures of Baptist strength, fell between 2009 and 2010, to stand at 135,536 (-1%) and 3,566 (-5%) respectively in 2010.

However, during the same period, the number of children attending Baptist churches rose by 2%, to reach 78,648, and of young people by 3½% to 39,602.

As noted last week (http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=868), ministry among children and young people is also one of the few areas in the Church of England to show some encouraging signs.

Overall Baptist attendance figures have apparently not yet been analysed, but The Baptist Times states that ‘they are expected to show an increase, continuing the trend of the last decade’.

Commenting on the statistics, Revd Ian Bunce, head of BUGB’s mission department, noted that the drop in baptisms is ‘the biggest issue we need to face’, highlighting the fact that the Union is failing to retain its children and youth as they move into adulthood. The department is currently undertaking a major piece of research into this topic.

The Baptist Times also reports that there is an ongoing small net growth in the number of BUGB churches after decades of decline and closure.

Since 2005 there have been more than 70 church plants, of which 17 were ‘resurrections’ of churches which had closed or been reduced to only a handful of worshippers and 14 were ethnic minority churches, mainly in London.

The Baptist Times article can be read at:

http://www.baptisttimes.co.uk/news1.htm

BRIN’s coverage of the equivalent news story last year is still available at:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=69

The full BUGB statistics will appear in the 2011 edition of the Union’s annual Directory, whose publication should be reasonably imminent. Regrettably, the data do not normally find their way on to BUGB’s website.

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Faith of Generation Y

Posted on October 9, 2010 by Clive D. Field

The Faith of Generation Y is a new book by Sylvia Collins-Mayo, Bob Mayo and Sally Nash, with Christopher Cocksworth (Church House Publishing, 2010, xii + 153pp., ISBN 978 0 7151 4206 6, £14.99). Generation Y was born from about 1982 onwards, in succession to Baby Boomers (born 1946-63) and Generation X (born 1964-81).

Collins-Mayo is a professional sociologist of religion, at Kingston University. But, as the name of its publisher might suggest, the volume is aimed mainly at a practitioner rather than academic audience – church leaders, youth workers, missioners and teachers. It seeks to capture the mindset of today’s young people and to spell out the implications (and opportunities) for contemporary Christian witness.

The book is divided into two not quite equal sections, sociological perspective (pp. 1-89) and theological reflection (pp. 91-136). The former derives from research conducted over the last five years with young people aged 8-23 (but mostly 11-18) in England who participated in 34 Christian (Protestant or non-denominational) youth and community outreach projects. Respondents comprised 297 who completed questionnaires and 107 who were interviewed. They included a balance of frequent and infrequent churchgoers, although the authors were particularly interested in the latter. 

The main empirical findings are set out, through a mixture of quantitative and, more especially, qualitative data, in chapters 3-5. These consider, in turn, young people’s faith and its relationship to Christianity (pp. 32-51); the processes of transmission of faith and the Christian memory (pp. 52-70); and the relevance of Christian faith to day-to-day life (pp. 71-82). Chapter 6 (pp. 83-9) summarizes the key points from the sociological research. There are six tables.

As the authors are the first to concede, their sample cannot necessarily be considered to be statistically representative of Christian youth work or young people as a whole. Therefore, from a BRIN perspective, the figures must be regarded as more indicative than conclusive. However, findings from other studies with a stronger quantitative methodological grounding are quoted throughout, including the work of Leslie Francis.

The headlines of the book will come as no great surprise. Young people have generally disengaged from Christianity and the Church (to which they are ‘benignly indifferent’), and their faith is mostly not of a religious nature, but ‘immanent’. Family, friends and self tend to provide the central axes of meaning, hope and purpose which enable the young to get on with the business of daily living. On the other hand, among the unchurched some evidence of lingering affiliation and belief was found and also for what Grace Davie has called ‘vicarious religion’.

The book is a sort of sequel to Making Sense of Generation Y: The World View of 15- to 25-Year-Olds by Sara Savage, Sylvia Collins-Mayo and Bob Mayo, with Graham Cray (Church House Publishing, 2006, ISBN 978 0 7151 4051 2), which was based on group interviews with 124 young people around England in youth clubs, colleges and universities.

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Recent Academic Journal Articles

Posted on August 28, 2010 by Clive D. Field

There follow brief reports of three recent articles in academic journals. These are subscription-based, with free access only available to institutional and personal subscribers. A pay-per-view option is also offered via the relevant publisher websites.

Journal of Beliefs & Values, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 89-92: Christopher Rutledge, ‘Looking behind the Anglican Statistic “Usual Sunday Attendance”: a Case Study’

Rutledge conducted two censuses, four years apart, of adult attendances at the main services in a suburban Anglican parish church, the first over four weeks and the second over five. He demonstrates that neither electoral roll membership nor planned financial giving is an accurate predictor of churchgoing.

Two-fifths of those on the electoral roll did not worship during the census periods, while there were numerous regular worshippers not on the roll. Likewise, many of those who supported the church through standing orders or weekly giving envelopes did not attend services during the census. Overall, usual Sunday attendance is shown to greatly underestimate the number of people engaged with the local church.

Journal of Empirical Theology, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 64-81: Lewis Burton, Leslie Francis and Mandy Robbins, ‘Psychological Type Profile of Methodist Circuit Ministers in Britain: Similarities to and Differences from Anglican Clergy’

Psychological type theory is used to profile similarities and differences between 1,004 Methodist ministers in England surveyed by Burton in 2004 and the 863 Church of England clergy profiled in an earlier study reported in Leslie Francis, Charlotte Craig, Michael Whinney, David Tilley and Paul Slater, ‘Psychological Typology of Anglican Clergy in England: Diversity, Strengths and Weaknesses in Ministry’, International Journal of Practical Theology, Vol. 11, 2007, pp. 266-84.

The two groups recorded similar profiles in many respects, especially when viewed against the profile of the UK population. However, male and female Methodist ministers were less likely to prefer intuition, and more likely to prefer sensing, compared to their Anglican colleagues. Also, male Methodist ministers were more likely to prefer feeling and less likely to prefer thinking in comparison with Anglican clergy.

The findings are interpreted to illuminate strengths and weaknesses in Methodist and Anglican ministry and to highlight areas of potential conflict, disagreement or misunderstanding in effecting cooperation between the two denominations.   

British Journal of Religious Education, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 307-20: Mandy Robbins and Leslie Francis, ‘The Teenage Religion and Values Survey in England and Wales: an Overview’

The Teenage Religion and Values Survey is by far the largest study of religious and moral beliefs and behaviours of young people in this country yet to be completed. It was conducted by Leslie Francis and associates throughout the 1990s by means of self-completion questionnaires from 33,982 13- to 15-year-olds in years 9 and 10 of 163 schools in England and Wales.

The survey has already been widely reported in the academic literature (see the entry in the BRIN database at http://www.brin.ac.uk/sources/1780). The present article opens by reflecting on the methodology of the research as regards design, measurement and sampling. It then reviews some of the insights which it generated, especially in respect of personality, spiritual health, religious affiliation, belonging without believing, and church-leaving. The major published outputs from the survey are listed and discussed, and three lessons learned are spelled out.

The research group is currently devising a new study of similar scope for the first decades of the twenty-first century and is inviting collaborators to work with them.

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Christianity in Western Europe

Posted on April 23, 2010 by Clive D. Field

On 1 April the Paris-based Roman Catholic daily newspaper La Croix published the headline findings of a poll which it had commissioned into Western European attitudes to Christianity.

The survey was undertaken online by the Institut Français d’Opinion Publique (IFOP) between 11 and 19 March 2010. Representative samples of 3,030 adults aged 18 and over were interviewed in France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Spain, including 505 Britons.  

IFOP’s full 57-page report (in French), including breaks by gender, age, occupation, urban/rural residence, region and religion, appears at:

http://www.la-croix.com/illustrations/Multimedia/Actu/2010/4/1/sondage-ifop.pdf

Asked about the visibility of Christians in society, 11% of Britons consider that Christians are too visible and 33% insufficiently visible (the highest figure for all five countries). The British proportion rises to 52% for those aged 65 and over (against 27% for the under-35s) and also exceeds one-half for Protestants (however, it is only 13% for those without any religion). 56% of all Britons think the visibility of Christians to be about right.

78% of Britons agree that Christians and the Churches are doing a poor job in reaching out to young people, much the same as in France, Germany and Spain, although significantly higher than the Italian figure of 37%. The range in Britain is from 65% of non-Christians and 69% in Greater London to 83% among men and 84% of those for whom Christians are too visible.

Only 34% of Britons believe that all religions are equally valid, the lowest percentage of the five countries (with a high of 62% in France). The figure is greatest among the under-35s (41%), Greater Londoners (40%), the irreligious (45%) and those who say Christians are too visible (69%).

69% of Britons feel that the message and values of Christianity remain relevant today, just 1% below Italy and far ahead of France, Germany and Spain. The British proportion rises inexorably with age, from 54% for those aged 18-24 to 85% among the over-65s. It stands at well over four-fifths for all groups of professing Christians but sinks to 48% for those without a religion.

Challenged to elaborate on the priorities for the Christian Churches today, 53% of Britons consider that the Churches should be available for life’s key moments, 21% more than the five-nation average. This stands at 60% for professing Anglicans, doubtless thinking of the Church of England’s traditional role as provider of the rites of passage.

38% of Britons want the Churches to agitate for world peace (a particular priority for Catholics and non-Christians), 28% to combat domestic poverty (especially important for the young), 27% to spread the message of Christ (advocated notably by Protestants and those for whom Christians are too invisible) and 14% to work for greater justice.

Beyond the Churches, in society as a whole, Britons feel that Christian values have the greatest positive role to play in respect of the family and education (44%), followed by interfaith and intercultural dialogue (40%), solidarity with the poor (25%), the moralisation of capitalism (20%), bioethics (16%), the protection of the environment (10%) and integration of immigrants (8%).

These are generally not dissimilar figures to the four other countries, although Britons assign a lower priority to poverty and a higher one to the moralisation of capitalism, the latter perhaps reflecting the fact that the economic recession has bitten deeper and lasted longer in Britain than in most other Western nations.

In Britain family and education are especially prized as a domain for Christian values by the over-65s (50%), Catholics (53%), non-Anglican Protestants (54%) and non-Christians (51%). Interfaith and intercultural dialogue are most important for the elderly and Protestants. Solidarity with the poor is a particular agenda item for the middle-aged, middle class and Catholics.

Summing up, La Croix concluded that the survey demonstrates the continuing recognition by Europeans of Christianity’s traditionally privileged position. The ‘Christian anchorage’ appears ‘too deep to be shifted by the waves stirred by current events’. However, the newspaper notes that the French have a tendency to be most critical of Christianity, while ‘for the English above all, religion is a private affair’.

Certainly, the poll reveals a fairly strong Christian undercurrent among the British people, albeit one which may be more rooted in historical and emotional legacy rather than a vibrant faith which translates into orthodox religious belief and practice.

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The RELACHS Study

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Siobhan McAndrew

It’s been a little while since I made a post here, having spent some time fixing other parts of the site. But I’ll make a dip back into the BRIN blog by flagging up the RELACHS survey.

RELACHS is not yet listed in the BRIN database, either because it’s a community survey (which are not generally in scope) or because at first sight it wasn’t a specifically religious survey. The research team are epidemiology and mental health specialists, with the East London and City Health Authority funding the first phase. It’s a longitudinal study of young people in East London, based in schools in Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Newham. The first wave was run in 2001, with 30 schools taking part, involving 2,800 students from years 7 (11-12) and 9 (13-14). The second phase followed up the students in 2003, and the third followed up the students aged 11-12 in 2001 in 2005, when they were 15 and 16.

However, the geographic area surveyed is highly diverse in ethnic and religious terms, and the questionnaires included items on religious identity, frequency of religious practice, experience of religiously or racially-motivated bullying, and on issues such as sexual behaviour and traditional dress. Researchers interested in the relationship between religiosity and health – mental health, obesity, alcohol use – will find the published outputs very useful.

For example, DCSF sponsored a paper reporting the religious and cultural factors assocaited with adolescent sexual behaviour, available here:

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/rw42d.pdf

The questionnaires and summaries of findings to date can be found on the RELACHS website at http://www.relachs.org

The published outputs so far seem very interesting, crossing the boundary between sociology and epidemiology. However, there is undoubtedly more to be gleaned, particularly by researchers interested in youth religiosity. It’s not clear whether the data have been archived yet for use by other researchers – I’ll post here when I learn more.

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Profile of Roman Catholic Youth in England and Wales

Posted on March 6, 2010 by Clive D. Field

The Catholic Youth Ministry Federation (CYMFed) has recently launched a preliminary report on the beliefs, practices and attitudes of Roman Catholic young people in England and Wales during the course of its first national congress, held in London on 27 February.

CYMFed was set up in 2009 as an umbrella body for 32 Catholic dioceses, religious orders and organizations working with young people in England and Wales. It is endorsed by the Roman Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.

Entitled Mapping the Terrain: Discovering the Reality of Young Catholics, the eight-page document can be downloaded from:

http://www.cymfed.org/CYMFEDresearchMAPPINGTHETERRAIN.pdf

The report is based upon an online survey administered by nfp Synergy in August 2009 to a sample of 1,000 young people aged 11-25 (but disproportionately aged 15-19) who either self-identify as Catholics (62%) or who attend Catholic schools/come from Catholic families (38%).  

The picture which is revealed is of a stressed and misunderstood generation whose faith is diverse, complex, multi-layered and often unorthodox. The authors of the report rationalize this in terms of ‘the tireless ability of young people to hold conflicting principles in tension’.

Headline findings include:

  • Although believing in God is ranked as an important aspect of being a Catholic by eight in ten, only 35% of self-identifying Catholics and 22% of all Catholics affirm an orthodox belief in a personally involved God
  • Of those aged 15-25 and describing themselves as Catholic, 54% recognize the importance of a Catholic going to mass regularly, but only 37% claim to go to mass or another religious service monthly or more frequently (with 17% never going) and just 16% say that going to mass is important to them personally
  • Commitment to orthodox Catholic beliefs and practices falls sharply across the age bands, with those aged 11-14 being most devout, 57% of whom believe in a creator God who is personally involved in the world, and 64% attend mass regularly  
  • 43% of self-identifying Catholics consider that religions cause more harm than good, 36% that people should keep their religious views to themselves to avoid hurting the feelings of others, and only 22% approve of somebody trying to convert another person to his or her religion
  • 83% of respondents describe the Catholic Church in terms of a cluster of adjectives such as authoritative, boring, cautious, conservative, established, exclusive or traditional

CYMFed has indicated that a fuller report on the survey will be published in autumn 2010, to include comparative national and denominational statistics.

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