Marginalized Christians?

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Clive D. Field

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=1474 

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

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

Posted in News from religious organisations, Religion in public debate, Survey news | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Scottish Social Attitudes Discrimination Module

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Clive D. Field

The level of religious prejudice in Scotland in 2010 was much the same as in 2006, notwithstanding significant legislative and other activities to counter it by both the UK and Scottish Governments during the intervening years.

Moreover, Scottish attitudes to Muslims continued to be more negative than to other religious groups, despite a 7% rise in those having Muslim acquaintances over the four-year period.

These are among the headline findings from the report on the discrimination module in the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey, which was published by Scottish Government Social Research on 11 August 2011.

Written by Rachel Ormston, John Curtice, Susan McConville and Susan Reid of the Scottish Centre for Social Research (ScotCen), Scottish Social Attitudes Survey, 2010: Attitudes to Discrimination and Positive Action can be downloaded from:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/355716/0120166.pdf

The module was funded by the Scottish Government and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (Scotland). Fieldwork was undertaken by ScotCen by means of face-to-face interview and self-completion questionnaire between June and October 2010. Interviews were achieved with a representative sample of 1,495 Scottish adults aged 18 and over, a response rate of 54%.

Answers to questions of particular interest to BRIN (mainly affecting Muslims, since Protestant/Catholic sectarianism was not covered in the module) appear below, but readers should note that no attempt has been made to summarize the important multivariate regression analyses which appear in Annex B of the report.

49% of Scots agreed that Scotland would begin to lose its identity if more Muslims came to settle there (compared with 46% who said the same about Eastern Europeans and 45% about blacks and Asians). The proportion was similar to the 50% recorded in 2006 but well up on 38% in 2003. It was highest among the over-65s (67%), those with no educational qualifications (62%), and residents of the most deprived areas (62%).

46% of Scots did not know anybody who was a Muslim (slightly reduced from 52% in 2006), with 9% unsure and 45% reporting some acquaintance, overwhelmingly in a non-familial context. Those acquainted with a Muslim were less likely to say there is sometimes good reason to be prejudiced than those with no Muslim contacts (23% versus 35%).

23% of respondents indicated that they would be unhappy about a family member marrying or forming a long-term relationship with a Muslim (rising to 45% among the over-65s and 39% with no educational qualifications), compared with 18% for a Hindu, 9% for a Jew, and just 2% (of non-Christians) for a Christian. The equivalent figures for a Muslim in 2003 and 2006 were 20% and 24% respectively. The extent of unhappiness varied inversely with income, falling from 31% for those who brought in less than £14,300 per annum to 14% for those earning over £44,200. Religion also made a difference, the proportion being 28% for those with a religious affiliation and 17% for those without.

15% of Scots claimed that a Muslim would make an unsuitable primary school teacher, the same figure as in 2006. The proportion climbed with age, from 6% among the 18-24s to 28% with the over-65s. It stood at 27% among Scots with no educational qualifications but at only 8% for the most highly qualified; at 23% for those on the lowest incomes and 9% on the highest; and at 23% for those who did not know any Muslims and 8% for those with Muslim acquaintances. 55% said a Muslim would be suitable, with 24% neutral.

69% of all respondents (and 83% of over-55s) felt that a bank should be able to insist that a female Muslim employee remove a veil, but only 23% said the same about a female Muslim employee wearing a headscarf. 24% considered a bank should be able to require a Sikh male employee to remove his turban and 15% a Christian woman employee to remove a crucifix.

32% of Scots felt that it would be a bad or very bad use of Government money for funds to be channeled to organizations which helped Muslims find work, increasing to 43% of over-65s, 45% of those with no formal educational qualifications, and 48% of those thinking that there is sometimes good reason to be prejudiced.

Muslims apart, there were some correlations between religiosity and discriminatory attitudes as a whole. For example, those considering themselves belonging to any religion were more likely to say that there is sometimes good reason to be prejudiced than the non-religious (31% and 25% respectively). Similarly, those who attended religious services at least once a week were twice as likely as Scots in general to believe that same-sex relationships were always or mostly wrong (57% versus 27%).

Scottish attitudes to Muslims and Islam were also explored in last year’s Ipsos MORI Scotland and British Council Scotland research on Muslim Integration in Scotland, which we have covered at:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=515

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Religion and Belief in Higher Education

Posted on July 16, 2011 by Clive D. Field

Fresh empirical insights into the state of religion in UK higher education are offered in a new report commissioned by the Equality Challenge Unit, undertaken on its behalf by researchers at the University of Derby, and launched on 11 July.

The topic has assumed increasing importance in recent years, as a result of the diversification of the religious background of students and staff (partly reflecting greater religious pluralism in the UK, and partly a consequence of internationalization).

Additionally, the Equality Act 2010 established religion or belief as an equality strand in mainland Britain, thereby imposing duties on higher education institutions and necessitating a stronger evidence base to demonstrate compliance.

Paul Weller, Tristram Hooley and Nicki Moore, Religion and Belief in Higher Education: The Experiences of Staff and Students explores four main aspects of the subject: participation and access, religious observance, discrimination and harassment, and good relations.

A mixed methodology was employed for the study, including – of particular interest to BRIN users – a national online survey of UK higher education academic and support staff (n = 3,077 from 131 institutions) and students (n = 3,935 from 101 institutions) between 28 October 2010 and 3 January 2011.

These ‘samples’ were essentially self-selecting, recruited through ‘key gatekeepers’, national networks and various online publicity mechanisms. Although, in certain respects, their profiles were ‘not far removed’ from Higher Education Statistics Authority data, there is no real means of assessing their typicality in religious terms.

The figures from this research are thus described by the authors as ‘indicative’ and presented with a heavy health warning: ‘It is important to note that this survey was not intended to be statistically representative, as in higher education there is a current lack of the data that would allow the necessary sampling to take place.’

‘Because of the impossibility of constructing a precise sample, readers should not attempt to extrapolate figures and percentages given in this report across the sector as a whole.’ With this significant caveat, we may note some of the key quantitative findings:

STAFF

  • 47% identified themselves as Christians, 37% as of no religion, 5% as spiritual, 3% as Muslims, and 9% as of other faiths or beliefs
  • 43% said that religion was in the foreground of their life, 23% in the background, and 32% that it did not feature in their life
  • One-half had no recollection of how, if at all, their institutions monitored staff religion or belief
  • 20% indicated that they would be uncomfortable about disclosing their religion to their university, rising to 34% of pagans, 33% of spiritual, and 28% of no religion
  • 11% (22% of Muslims and Buddhists) were members of a religion or belief society in their institution
  • 94% felt that they had not been discriminated against or harassed because of their actual or perceived religion or belief since 2003, the 6% with negative experiences (including 18% of Muslims and 10% of Jews) attributing them in roughly equal measures to immediate colleagues, other staff, and students
  • 79% felt comfortable expressing their religion or belief identity in the workplace
  • 73% had never been approached by anyone with the intention of bringing them over to their religious point of view
  • 53% agreed and only 8% disagreed that their institution valued the religion or belief identities of its employees, the rest being neutral

STUDENTS

  • 44% described themselves as Christians, 31% as of no religion, 9% as Muslims, 5% as spiritual, and 11% as of other faiths or beliefs
  • 49% said that religion was in the foreground of their life, 27% in the background, and 23% that it did not feature in their life
  • Two-fifths had no recollection of how, if at all, their institutions monitored student religion or belief
  • 16% indicated that they would be uncomfortable about disclosing their religion to their university, with twice this number for Buddhists and those calling themselves spiritual
  • 22% considered that their course content was presented in a way which was sensitive to their religion or belief, 10% disagreed (15% among Muslims and 13% for Christians), 20% were neutral, and 48% held that their religion was irrelevant to the course
  • 23% stated that the teaching on their course was conducted in a way which was sensitive to their religion or belief, 11% disagreed (16% of Muslims and 15% of Christians), 20% were neutral, and 47% argued that their religion was irrelevant to the course
  • 44% considered that campus facilities for people of their religion were adequate, 15% inadequate, with the remainder unsure
  • 27% were members of a religion or belief society in their institution, rising to 63% of Jews, 48% of Muslims and 44% of Sikhs
  • 94% felt that they had not been discriminated against or harassed because of their actual or perceived religion or belief, but Jews (27%), Sikhs (17%) and Muslims (14%) reported much higher levels of discrimination
  • 86% agreed and just 11% disagreed that harassment on the grounds of religion was dealt with as a serious disciplinary offence by their institution 
  • 68% felt their university was understanding or tolerant towards students with a specific religion, a mere 3% describing it as ignorant or intolerant (the rest being neutral or stating no opinion) 
  • 90% felt comfortable expressing their religion or belief to friends, 72% to fellow students, and 69% to personal academic tutors
  • 54% had never been approached by anyone with the intention of bringing them over to their religious point of view, with one-fifth having been approached and feeling uncomfortable or harassed as a result

The main research report, Religion and Belief in Higher Education, is available to download from:

http://www.ecu.ac.uk/publications/files/religion-and-belief-staff-and-students-in-he-report.pdf/view

Raw topline data and questionnaires will be found in Nicki Moore, Tristram Hooley and Kieran Bentley, Religion and Belief in Higher Education: The Experiences of Staff and Students – Appendix 2, Survey Data, which can be found at:

http://www.derby.ac.uk/ehs/research/religion-and-belief-in-HE/downloads

Also on this Derby site are Appendix 1, which deals with the project approach, and Appendix 3, which is a literature review.

Readers of this post may like to consult another recent post, on British Muslim students’ experience of higher education, which is at:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=1344

Posted in Attitudes towards Religion, Survey news | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Perceptions of Discrimination

Posted on January 19, 2011 by Clive D. Field

Today’s news includes a report that two devout Christians running a private hotel in Cornwall have been found to be in breach of the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 for refusing to allow a gay couple to share a double room on their premises. The couple has been awarded damages against the hotel owners.

The fact that a Christian husband and wife seeking to uphold, as they saw it, a traditional Christian view of marriage have committed an act of direct discrimination against two homosexuals in a civil partnership will doubtless be seized upon by some Christians as further proof that the legal odds are stacked against Christians.

But does the general public agree with this reading of events? Before Christmas we reported on a ComRes poll for Christian Concern on the topic (http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=804). This probed attitudes to the rights of Christians, but largely in isolation from those of other sections of society.

Now YouGov has undertaken another poll for The Sun which provides a broader, more comparative context. The 1,884 respondents, adult Britons aged 18 and over interviewed online on 17 and 18 January, were asked to say how far they felt each of sixteen groups (four of them religious) was unfairly discriminated against in Britain.

10% said that Christians suffered a lot of discrimination, rising to 12% among men, the over-60s and Conservative voters. A further 18% thought they suffered some discrimination (including 24% of Conservatives and 22% of over-60s), 29 per cent a little, 34% not at all, while 10% had no clear opinion.

The proportion holding that Christians suffered a lot of discrimination was higher than those saying the same about Jews (5%) and atheists (2%), although it was less than for Muslims (18% saying that they experienced a lot of discrimination, peaking at 29% among the 18-24s).

Only 17% of the sample claimed that Muslims were not discriminated against at all, which was 7% less than in the case of Jews, 17% less than for Christians and 38% less than for atheists.

In fact, 55% were of the view that atheists suffered absolutely no discrimination, the only one of the sixteen groups for which an absolute majority took this line. This figure rose to 62% with Conservatives and 60% with over-60s and Scots.

If we combine the categories of groups perceived to suffer a lot of discrimination and to suffer some discrimination, then the following rank order emerges:

  1. Gypsies and travellers  –  60%
  2. Immigrants  –  54%
  3. Transsexuals  –  53%
  4. Muslims  –  50%
  5. Elderly people  –  45%
  6. Asian people  –  44%
  7. Gays and lesbians  –  43%
  8. Black people  –  41%
  9. White people  –  32%
  10. Working class people  –  31%
  11. Women  –  29%
  12. Christians  –  28%
  13. Jews  –  26%
  14. People with ginger hair  –  25%
  15. People with regional accents  –  17%
  16. Atheists  –  10%

The survey therefore appears to confirm the findings from other research that Muslims are the religious group suffering greatest discrimination. Despite a millennium of British anti-Semitism, and contrary to the impression of some Jewish commentators, Jews seem to fare better than expected and better even than Christians.

It should be remembered, of course, that this was a survey about people’s perceptions of groups which suffer discrimination, and that Christians would have been the largest single religious category of people doing the perceiving. The study was thus analogous to some of the questions in the Government Citizenship Surveys.

It is therefore possible that a different league table might have emerged had the questioning been about either personal experiences of being discriminated against and/or prejudices which individuals hold against particular groups. It would be especially interesting to know how atheists would come out of such an exercise, given that they seem the least disadvantaged of all the groups in this study.

The data tables for this YouGov poll will be found at:

http://today.yougov.co.uk/sites/today.yougov.co.uk/files/YG-Archives-Life-Sun-Discrimination-190111.pdf

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Not Ashamed – Christianity in Britain

Posted on December 21, 2010 by Clive D. Field

Some sections of British evangelical Christianity feel increasingly beleaguered in the face of what they perceive as the progressive marginalization of their faith, at the hands of the law, the media, government and employers.

Christian Concern is one organization seeking to redress the balance, underpinned by its e-mail subscription base of 27,000 supporters. On 1 December it formally launched its ‘Not Ashamed’ campaign, encouraging Christians to live out their faith in public.

Through its sister agency, the Christian Legal Centre, it has dealt with several high-profile cases on religious freedom, abortion and marriage and the family, defending Christians ‘who have stood for their beliefs and suffered the consequences’.

To coincide with the inauguration of ‘Not Ashamed’, Christian Concern commissioned ComRes to undertake a telephone survey into the public’s attitudes to the rights of Christians. Interviews were conducted with 1,006 adult Britons aged 18 and over on 26-29 November 2010.

Headline findings from the survey are contained in two press releases issued by Christian Concern on 5 and 20 December, which also provide useful background notes on the six legal cases which have informed the questions asked in the poll.

These press releases can be found at:

http://www.christianconcern.com/press-release/72-of-public-say-christians-should-be-able-to-refuse-to-act-against-their-conscience-w

http://www.christianconcern.com/our-concerns/employment/public-backs-protection-of-christian-conscience-at-work

The full data tables are at:

http://www.comres.co.uk/christianconcernpolldec10.aspx

The sample was evenly divided on the extent to which Britain can still be described as a Christian country, 50% thinking it can and 47% that it cannot. This represents a big shift since the NOP/New Society poll in March 1965, when the figures were 80% and 19% respectively.

The over-65s (66%) and Scots (57%) were among those most likely to consider Britain to be a Christian country. Dissentients were especially concentrated among the 18-24s (68%) and the C1 social group (54%).

In an implicit reference to the Shirley Chaplin vs Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust case, 73% of the whole sample (and 82% of the over-65s) agreed that people should have the legal right to wear Christian symbols such as a cross in their workplace. 24% disagreed, including 38% of 18-24s.

87% disagreed that health care workers should be threatened with the sack for offering to pray with patients, a question apparently prompted by the analogous cases of Olive Jones and Duke Amachree. Only 11% agreed with the proposition.

Opinion again split on the issue of whether would-be foster carers who hold that homosexual activity is morally wrong should be banned from fostering (an allusion to the case of Owen and Eunice Johns vs Derby City Council). 40% of respondents thought such foster carers should be banned, while 54% disagreed.

In a more summative question, 72% agreed that Christians should be able to refuse to act against their conscience without being penalized by their employer, with 22% in disagreement (including 31% of 18-24s).

Rather playing the Islamophobic card, 56% backed the statement that Muslims often enjoy greater freedom of speech and action than Christians in Britain today, the proportion reaching three-fifths among the over-55s, manual workers, Northerners and Scots. 36% disagreed, increasing to 48% of the 18-24s.

Christian Concern has glossed the survey as showing that ‘draconian and politically correct rules which discriminate against Christians living out their faith in the public square have been slammed by the public …’ And it reminded the Coalition Government of their reliance upon churches and Christian organizations to help deliver the Big Society.

In reality, this possibly over-interprets the poll findings, some of which could be read as delivering more mixed messages from the public about the importance of maintaining a Christian presence in the nation.

In particular, the youngest age cohorts seem to be more sceptical on this matter than others, reflecting the fact that, in separate investigations, they were least likely to profess Christianity or any religion (the Christian Concern survey did not enquire into religious affiliation).

Moreover, such support for the Christian viewpoint as was registered in this poll might have been qualified had the questions been put in a somewhat broader context, for example pitching the freedom of some Christians against equal opportunities for society as a whole.

Posted in News from religious organisations, Religion in public debate, Survey news | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Understanding Society

Posted on December 17, 2010 by Clive D. Field

On 13 December the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) made an interim release of data for the general population component from Wave 1, Year 1 (running from 8 January 2009 to 7 March 2010) of Understanding Society, the new multi-topic United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS). The dataset is catalogued as SN 6614. The full release of Wave 1 will be made in 2011.

UKHLS is, in part, the successor to the British Household Panel Survey, waves 1-7, 9, 11 and 13-18 of which (spanning the years 1991-2009) included sundry religious variables. Entries for each of these waves appear in the BRIN source database, and the relevant data are available from ESDS (as SN 5151). The three other components of UKHLS are: the general population sample, the innovation panel, and an ethnic minority booster.

UKHLS is based at the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex. Fieldwork is conducted by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) and, in Northern Ireland, by the Central Survey Unit of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. Funding is provided by the Economic and Social Research Council and various Government departments and agencies.

UKHLS is an annual longitudinal (or panel) survey of the members of a nationally representative sample of approximately 40,000 households in the UK, the same individuals being re-interviewed in each wave. Each wave is collected over 24 months, the main first wave of data collection commencing in January 2009.

One person per household completes the household questionnaire. Additionally, each adult aged 16 and over is interviewed face-to-face and fills in a self-completion questionnaire. Young people aged 10 to 15 years are only asked to respond to a paper self-completion questionnaire. Wave 1, Year 1 of the general population sample had participation from 14,103 households (59% response) and 22,265 adults (86% response).

The principal religious interest of Wave 1 for adults is as follows: current religious affiliation; religion of upbringing; attendance at religious services; difference made by religious beliefs to a respondent’s life; religion as a perceived reason for discrimination in employment; and religion as a perceived reason for various forms of harassment. The young people’s questionnaire just covers religious affiliation.

Extensive documentation for Wave 1, Year 1 of UKHLS, including a codebook with basic frequencies, can be accessed at:

http://www.esds.ac.uk/findingData/snDescription.asp?sn=6614&key=6614

More background information about UKHLS in general will be found on the Understanding Society website:

http://www.understandingsociety.org.uk/

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Equality and Human Rights Commission – New Research

Posted on November 8, 2010 by Clive D. Field

We recently highlighted the publication of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)’s first triennial review, and of its relevance for British religious statistics. See http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=656

We can now report that the EHRC has commissioned two new research papers, which, when published, are also likely to be of interest to BRIN readers. The following details are extracted, with light edits, from the EHRC’s Religion or Belief Network Bulletin, No. 3, November 2010, which is distributed electronically (to subscribe, contact Research@equalityhumanrights.com).

Professor Linda Woodhead (Lancaster University and Director of the AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme) will undertake research into Religion and Society: Exploring the Equality Dimension. This has two main aspects. First, she will discuss projects within the Religion and Society Programme which are of particular relevance to the EHRC’s work on religion or belief issues, or are of particular interest to the EHRC because they cover other equality strands, or its other mandates of good relations and human rights. Secondly, Linda will use a survey of EHRC Religion or Belief Network members to elicit information about members’ recent or ongoing research relevant to the topic of religion, equality and discrimination.

Professor Paul Weller (University of Derby) is preparing a report on Religious Discrimination in Britain: A Review of Research Evidence, 2000-2010. This has three main aspects. First, he will discuss quantitative and qualitative evidence that religious groups (including Christians) feel they are discriminated against. Second, he will examine any evidence that may suggest that the nature and extent of religious discrimination differs between England, Scotland and Wales (and between Great Britain and other parts of Europe). Third, he will assess whether there is any existing evidence that religious discrimination is increasing or decreasing. Paul would welcome any relevant information at: p.g.weller@derby.ac.uk

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Religious Equality

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Clive D. Field

Pat Thane has edited a new book exploring seven aspects of inequality in Britain since the Second World War, including religious. Entitled Unequal Britain: Equalities in Britain since 1945 (London: Continuum, 2010, ISBN 978-1-84706-298-7), its contributors are all associated with the Centre for Contemporary British History, Institute of Historical Research, University of London.

The chapter on religion and belief (pp. 53-70, 196-7, 214) is by Liza Filby, currently completing her PhD at the Department of History, University of Warwick on ‘God and Thatcher: Religion and Politics in 1980s’ Britain’. In her essay she provides a broadly chronological account (including timeline) of the development of multi-faith Britain since the nineteenth century, documenting linkages with immigration and ethnicity and recent legislative changes designed to accommodate religious diversity.

As with the other six chapters, there is a brief statistical appendix (pp. 69-70) which, frankly, is quite disappointing. It comprises three tables of a) membership of the five main Christian denominations in 1945, 1955, 1965, 1975 and 1985; b) estimates (by Peter Brierley) of affiliates to non-Christian faiths in 1970, 1975, 1980 and 1985 (these figures are especially problematical); and c) religious profession for the United Kingdom and separately for Scotland in the 2001 population census.

The opportunity is thus missed to provide truly contemporary data about religious inequality in modern Britain. For instance, the extensive literature on religious disadvantage in the census (such as Serena Hussain, Muslims on the Map, London: Tauris Academic, 2008) is not mined. There is likewise no consideration of survey data, including the Citizenship Survey and opinion polls which touch on Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and perceived discrimination against Christians.

BRIN readers interested in exploring religious equality issues further might well start with the relevant section of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)’s website at:

http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/about-us/vision-and-mission/our-business-plan/religion-belief-equality/

This includes a link to EHRC Research Services’ newly-established religion or belief network, which issues an occasional e-bulletin, and to Research Report No. 48 (2009) by Linda Woodhead with Rebecca Catto on ‘Religion or Belief’: Identifying Issues and Priorities. The EHRC’s research team is currently preparing a statistical briefing on religion and belief issues. To join the religion or belief network, contact Research@equalityhumanrights.com

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Citizenship Survey, 2009-10 – First Results

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Clive D. Field

Detailed reporting from the 2008-09 Citizenship Survey may not yet be complete (in particular, the topic report on race, religion and equalities is still outstanding), but initial results from all four quarters of the 2009-10 survey were released by the Department for Communities and Local Government on 22 July in respect of the questions relating to empowered and active communities, community cohesion, and prejudice and discrimination.  

The 58-page report (Cohesion Research, Statistical Release 12) will be found at the following URL (with the 16 tables also separately available as Excel files):

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/citizenshipsurveyq4200910

The 2009-10 Citizenship Survey was conducted by Ipsos MORI and TNS-BMRB in England and Wales between April 2009 and March 2010. Face-to-face interviews took place with a representative core sample of 9,305 adults aged 16 and over. In addition, there were ethnic minority and Muslim booster samples (n = 5,280 and 1,555 respectively). However, the tables in this release mostly relate to England alone, and this is true of all those referred to below. We shall focus solely on those which contain breaks by religious affiliation (Christian denominations again being undifferentiated).

TABLE 2: Whereas 37% overall feel they can influence decisions affecting their local area, the figure rises to 40% among Sikhs, 46% among Muslims and 47% among Hindus. Similarly, while 20% overall consider they can influence decisions affecting Britain, the number stands at 35% for Hindus and Muslims, with 28% for Sikhs. It is not therefore the case that adherents of the major non-Christian faiths feel less empowered than Christians.

TABLE 3: 59% of all adults have participated in some form of civic engagement or formal volunteering at least once in the last year, a 3% decrease on 2008-09. The proportions are well below the norm for Muslims (45%) and Hindus (48%), and this is broadly true for each of the four constituent activity areas considered separately. Muslims’ engagement is 3 points lower than in 2008-09 and 6 points lower than in 2007-08, suggesting that there may be cause for concern about their level of integration.

TABLE 7: 85% of the whole sample consider their local area to be a place where people from different backgrounds get on well together, the range being from 80% for Buddhists and those with no religion to 90% for Muslims. The Muslim figure has steadily improved from 81% in 2005, as have the statistics for Christians (80% to 86%) and Sikhs (77% to 88%).

TABLE 9: 87% of all adults claim to identify strongly with Britain. This is also the figure for Muslims (as it was in 2008-09). This is 6% more than for Muslims who identify strongly with their neighbourhood, which is 5 points above the national average. Identification with Britain is weakest among Buddhists (75%, but a very small sub-sample) and those with no religion (84%).

TABLE 11: 80% of all respondents mix regularly (at least monthly) with people from different ethnic or religious backgrounds. This is least for Christians (77%) and greatest for Hindus (96%) and Muslims and Sikhs (94% each). Ethnicity is a major driver of these differences, 78% of whites mixing compared with 96% of ethnic minority groups. The statistics show little change from previous years. Breakdowns by sphere of mixing by religious affiliation are detailed in Table 12.

TABLE 13: 7% of the whole sample feel that racial or religious harassment is a very or fairly big problem in their local area. However, the figure rises to 13% for Hindus, 14% for Sikhs and 17% for Muslims, although in each instance the percentage is a little lower than in 2008-09. For Muslims it is 3% less than in 2007-08. Islamophobia, therefore, would appear to remain a sad fact of British life. Unfortunately, too few Jews were interviewed for them to be separately categorized (they are subsumed within ‘other religion’), so we cannot say from this survey whether Judeophobia is also an issue.

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Act of Settlement – Reform Postponed

Posted on July 7, 2010 by Clive D. Field

The UK Coalition Government appears to have quietly abandoned plans, mooted by the then Labour Prime Minister (Gordon Brown) in 2009 but also backed by the Liberal Democrats before the general election last May, to reform the Act of Settlement 1701.

That, at least, is the implication of a written Parliamentary answer on 30 June by Mark Harper, Minister for Political and Constitutional Reform at the Cabinet Office and Conservative MP for the Forest of Dean.

Asked by William Bain, Labour MP for Glasgow North-East, whether the Government intended to ‘bring forward proposals to change the law to enable Roman Catholics or those married to Roman Catholics to succeed to the throne’, Harper’s reply was that: ‘There are no current plans to amend the laws on succession.’

The Act of Settlement 1701 was passed at a time when there were uncertainties regarding the succession to the English throne, as well as a widespread fear of, and discrimination against, Roman Catholics. The legislation was subsequently extended to Scotland and the British Empire and Commonwealth, and its provisions remain in force.

The Act’s exclusion of Roman Catholics or persons married to a Roman Catholic from the line of succession to the throne has long been regarded as anomalous, in a society which has become religiously pluralistic and committed to equality of opportunities.

The Government’s decision to put reform of the Act on the back-burner certainly appears to fly in the face of majority opinion, according to the most recent polls.

Thus, a YouGov survey for the Sunday Times on 13-14 November 2008 (conducted online among a sample of 2,080 adults aged 18 and over) found that 62% supported a change in the law to allow a future monarch to marry a Roman Catholic and still assume the throne. 19% were opposed and 20% were don’t knows.

Support for reform varied somewhat according to demographics, particularly voting intention. Liberal Democrats were most in favour (71%), followed by Labour voters (67%) and Conservatives (61%). Support was also markedly higher among non-manual than manual workers, 66% versus 57%, and in London (66%) and Scotland (69%).

An ICM poll for the BBC on 20-22 March 2009 (carried out by telephone among 1,005 adults aged 18 and over) reported an even larger majority, 81%, backing the heir to the throne being allowed to marry a Catholic and still become monarch.

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