Women Bishops

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Clive D. Field

The Church of England’s General Synod may have passed an adjournment motion last Monday, to send the draft Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure back for further episcopal review, but a majority of the general public seem to favour the idea of women bishops, according to two opinion polls released this week.

The first survey was undertaken by ComRes, on behalf of the Bible Society, with online fieldwork on 4 and 5 July 2012 among 2,117 Britons aged 18 and over. It was published on 9 July, to coincide with the anticipated (but unrealized) final vote on women bishops in General Synod. The full data tables have been posted at:

http://www.comres.co.uk/polls/Bible_Society_Women_Bishops_July2012.pdf

ComRes discovered that support for women bishops hovered around the three-quarters’ mark, depending a little upon question-wording. Thus:

  • 74% thought that the Church of England should allow women to become bishops;
  • 73% considered that the fact there was a debate at all showed the Church to be out of touch with society’s expectations of gender equality;  
  • 79% contended that, as women could already be appointed as vicars, they should also be able to become bishops;
  • 77% said that it would be wrong not to allow women to become bishops just because of their sex

Opposition to women bishops ran at 12% overall, peaking at 19% among the over-65s and 17% for professed Christians (against just 4% of those with no religion). 15% were undecided, including 25% of non-Christians.

On the other hand, opinion was finely balanced about whether the issue of women bishops was sufficiently important for the Church of England to be spending time discussing it at the moment. While 43% said that it was, 42% deemed it to be a lower priority for the Church than other topics. Scots (50%) particularly took the latter view.

Although 67% claimed that the debate suggested there were many Anglicans who were sexist, 44% (rising to 51% of Christians) agreed that opponents of women bishops were merely following a traditional interpretation of the Bible, rather than being sexist, and society ought to respect their values.

The second poll was conducted by YouGov and published today. The sample comprised 1,721 adult Britons, who were interviewed online on 8 and 9 July 2012. The results are available at:

http://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/nlslrhqpzu/YG-Archives-Life-YG-FemaleBishops-130712.pdf

YouGov posed only one question. Reminding respondents that ‘the Church of England is still considering how to accommodate the appointment of female bishops’, it asked whether the Church should allow such bishops or not.

The proportion opposed was the same as in the ComRes study (12%), but the number in favour was reduced to 55%, mainly because there was an explicit ‘no opinion either way’ option, which attracted 30% of the total vote (and 40% in Scotland).

Meanwhile, the mind of practising grass-roots Anglicans on the subject of women bishops has been tested by Christian Research for Forward in Faith (which describes itself as ‘a worldwide association of Anglicans who are unable in conscience to accept the ordination of women as priests or as bishops’).

1,125 regular Anglican churchgoers (95% attending services once a week or more) were interviewed online between March and May 2012. The sample was unweighted but was said by Christian Research to align closely with the composition, in terms of age and churchmanship, of the Church of England as a whole.

48% of these Anglican worshippers wanted to see the consecration of women bishops in the Church of England as soon as possible, 22% within the next 5-10 years, 15% when a consensus is reached among all other churches, and 16% never.

Churchgoers were mostly sympathetic to the position of those who could not, in conscience, support women bishops. 44% said that such persons should not be forced out of the Church, 31% wanted some form of compromise to enable them to remain within the Church, and 7% even thought they should have the right to veto the introduction of women bishops.

 

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Christian Research’s Christmastide Pot-Pourri

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Clive D. Field

A rather improbable 53% of Britons claim they will be observing Christmas as a religious festival in some way this year, 2% more than actually affiliate as Christians, according to an opinion poll published today (23 December 2011).

Fieldwork was undertaken online by ComRes on behalf of Christian Research between 9 and 11 December 2011. The sample comprised 2,009 British adults aged 18 and over. The data tables are available at:

http://www.comres.co.uk/polls/Christian_Research_Morality_Dec11.pdf

Abbie Heath has also blogged about the survey on the Christian Research website at:

http://www.christian-research.org/christian-research-blog/2011-12-22-15-59-40.html

Respondents were given a list of nine forms of Christmas religious observance and asked which of them they intended to do this Christmas. In descending order, the answers were:

  • Watch or listen to a broadcast Christmas service – 27%
  • Send a religious-themed Christmas card – 22%
  • Attend a carol service – 19%
  • Attend a nativity play – 16%
  • Pray – 15%
  • Attend a church service on Christmas Eve – 14%
  • Attend a church service on Christmas Day – 7%
  • Go carol-singing – 6%
  • Read the Bible – 6%

Predictably, Christians expected to be far more observant than non-Christians. Women were also planning to be more religiously active than men, the elderly more than the young (although the peak for frequenting nativity plays was 25% among the 35-44s), and – less consistently – the top social group (ABs) than the bottom one (DEs).

The 47% of the population who thought they would do none of these things were especially located among non-Christians (72%), 18-24s (62%), private-sector workers (54%), skilled manual employees (54%), and men (53%).

For 24% of adults (31% of Christians) the consumerist and commercial emphasis surrounding Christmas had supposedly made them more likely to think about ‘faith-based moral values’. But most (69%) said that they had been unaffected in this way.

It was a similar story when six other experiences of 2011 were raised. Only about one-quarter claimed they had prompted their mind to turn to ‘faith-based moral values’, rising to one-third for Christians and the over-65s.

The experiences concerned were: the summer riots; global financial instability; potential job insecurity; the Arab uprisings; personal circumstances; and the Occupy London protest (which triggered moral thoughts for just 19%).

Reviewing the past year more generally, Christians did not differ hugely from non-Christians in their assessments. There was most negativity about the state of world affairs (60% among Christians) and of British society (56% with Christians).

Looking ahead to 2012, Christians scored more highly than non-Christians on each of six measures of anticipated social activism. Nevertheless, only 34% of Christians said they would look out for the welfare of their neighbours and 30% donate regularly to charity.  

The largest numbers of Christians were found among the over-55s (69%), the ABs (58%), public-sector workers (57%), and women (53%). The biggest concentration of non-Christians was in the 18-24 cohort (69%).

This will probably be the last news post on BRIN before Christmas, but we will be back soon afterwards. Whatever your faith, or none, the BRIN team extends our warmest seasonal greetings to all users of our site.

 

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Toilet Roll Nativity

Posted on December 18, 2011 by Clive D. Field

Two out of three women recall that the girl cast as the Virgin Mary in church and school nativity plays was chosen for her attractive looks (27%), good behaviour (22%) or being teacher’s pet (16%). Only 3% thought that acting ability was ever a consideration. Men likewise recollect that it was the best-behaved boy who was given the role of Joseph.  

These are findings from a recent poll commissioned to accompany the launch of an animated, interactive and desentimentalized nativity play, Roll on Christmas, co-created on Facebook by Ship of Fools and Bible Society with the help of Jerusalem Productions. Images of Facebook friends can be stuck on to traditional nativity characters made from toilet rolls.
Continue reading →

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Christian Research – What is the Future?

Posted on October 16, 2011 by Clive D. Field

The restructuring at Christian Research, which we covered on 16 September last – http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=1405 – seems to have attracted relatively little interest in the Christian media. Nor has the parent body, Bible Society, been publicly forthcoming about its future plans for the membership-based organization. 

However, Christian Research itself has now sent out, albeit belatedly, the September bi-monthly mailing to members. Included is what is announced as the last edition of In Touch. This regular newssheet is being discontinued on account of the fact that Christian Research’s ‘resource is stretched to its limits’. 

In Touch briefly discusses the changes which have taken place at Christian Research recently, notably the redundancy of Benita Hewitt, and apologizes ‘for any inconvenience or upset these changes may bring’. It is said that updates will be announced on the Christian Research website and in the monthly email bulletin, Research Brief, to which non-members can subscribe for free.

In Touch also reports the following, which is worth quoting in full:

‘Christian Research is now moving in to different ways of uncovering fresh exploration and insight in to the Christian world and the products and services provided through this.’

‘We are currently building a panel of Christians to engage with through questionnaires and discussions on topical and challenging subjects from the Christian and secular world. We are certain that these fresh insights and connections will enable us to continue serving our clients and supporters to fulfil our purpose in the Christian community.’   

Is this, one wonders, the start of an online panel of churchgoing Christians to rival the commercial panel (Cpanel) operated by ComRes since 2008? Will it lead to quantitative research outputs, or will it effectively be a large-scale ‘focus group’? If the former, how will the panel be recruited and its representative nature guaranteed?

More substantively, how is Christian Research consulting its members about options for the future? Their views do not seem to have been actively solicited.

In Touch says nothing about the future of the printed bi-monthly magazine Quadrant, which is mostly distributed to paid-up members of Christian Research only. This is edited, apparently on an outsourced basis, by Graham Sharp, advised by a one-person editorial board.

The September issue of Quadrant was another enclosure in the mailing and comprises the customary mix of religious and social data. The quantitative religious stories have largely already featured on BRIN, although, in keeping with Christian Research’s recent philosophy, there is also a cheery report on the statistical fortunes of the Established Church (‘CofE not on danger list’).

Whatever may be the case for the Church of England, those who have come to depend upon and to respect the reports and statistics generated by Christian Research over many years, not least during Peter Brierley’s time at the helm, will surely conclude, on present evidence, that Christian Research is on a danger list, unless Bible Society can demonstrate a transparent strategy and resource plan for the short- and long-term future.

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21st Century Evangelicals – The Sequel

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Clive D. Field

The UK’s evangelical Christians are far more likely to be active in their communities than the average person, according to a new report from the Evangelical Alliance – Does Belief Touch Society? – published on 5 September. Hard copies can be purchased at £3 from the Alliance (at 186 Kennington Park Road, London, SE11 4BT) or the report can be downloaded for free from:

http://www.eauk.org/snapshot/upload/Does-Belief-touch-society.pdf

The publication is numbered as Series A, Issue 1 in a collection of reports on 21st Century Evangelicals, following on from the document of the same name released at the start of the year, and based upon 17,300 responses by Christians aged 16 and over in 2010 to a questionnaire devised by Christian Research on behalf of the Alliance. The sample divided between attenders at seven Christian festivals in the UK and congregants at 35 churches randomly selected from the Alliance’s membership. See the BRIN post of 12 January 2011 for further details:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=826

Does Belief Touch Society? derives from a panel of 3,300 of the original 17,300 evangelicals who signed up to take part in further enquiries, of whom 1,151 participated in this first survey, which was conducted online around Easter 2011. Given the self-selecting nature of the micro-sample, and the methodology deployed for the 2010 study, there is a risk that the respondents to Does Belief Touch Society? may not be fully representative of the approximately two million evangelical Christians in the UK estimated by Tearfund in 2007. The Alliance concedes in the report (p. 3) that it has been unable to weight its findings and that younger people and ethnic minorities may be under-represented in the panel.

On the doctrine of the cross, 99% of evangelicals agreed or strongly agreed that the message of the cross had made a huge difference in their lives, 91% strongly agreed that Christ’s blood is the final and only effective sacrifice for human sin, 89% strongly agreed that Jesus Christ defeated the powers of evil through His death, and 84% strongly agreed that God Himself was suffering in Christ for humankind in the crucifixion. However, only 51% agreed that at the cross God poured out His holy anger upon His son, with 27% dissenting and 22% unsure.

On the Resurrection, 91% agreed or strongly agreed that Jesus rose from the tomb with a physical body, 91% agreed or strongly agreed that at the end all who have died will be raised to face judgment, 85% strongly agreed that after death Christian believers will enjoy everlasting life, 82% strongly agreed that belief in the Resurrection shaped the way they lived now, and 78% were very confident that they would enjoy everlasting life on their own death.

On Easter observance, 95% had worshipped on Easter Sunday but far fewer (65% overall and just 52% of under-35s) on Good Friday. 45% had attended a special church event in the week before Easter, and 41% took part in a public act of witness or evangelistic outreach over Easter. Under one-third had given up or taken up something during Lent, with women and younger people significantly more likely to do so.

In terms of civic participation, evangelicals were far more likely than the average citizen to be trustees of a charity, school governors, members of a political party, local councillors, and magistrates, but trade union membership was about the national norm.

On politics, 91% intended to or had voted in the 5 May 2011 elections and referendum (compared with a UK-wide turnout of 42%), with 38% in favour of and 39% opposed to the Alternative Vote. Evangelicals were equally divided about the military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, but 80% were emphatic in opposing the legal status of marriage being extended to same-sex partnerships.

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Restructuring at Christian Research

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Clive D. Field

Benita Hewitt, Director of Christian Research for the past four years and formerly involved in commercial market research since 1980, has been made redundant by her employer, the Bible Society, with effect from the end of August 2011.

A brief and cryptic post by Stuart Rivers, Executive Director of Enterprises at the Bible Society, on the Christian Research blog on 1 September appears to be the principal official comment to date. See:

http://www.christian-research.org/christian-research-blog.html

Rivers explains: ‘As part of its ongoing development, Christian Research will be making some changes. The new structure will enable us to better serve Christian organisations by allowing us to explore new ways of delivering vital insights.’

‘Christian Research looks forward to continuing to serve it’s clients and members, and to fulfil its purpose in the Christian community.’ Whatever communication there may have been with clients, there has certainly been none directly so far with its members about this restructure.

Hewitt herself has made a number of comments via tweets on her Twitter account since 1 September. She is returning to the independent consultancy which she established in 1987, but which has lain dormant during her time at Christian Research. See:

http://twitter.com/#!/benitahewitt

Hewitt was also interviewed, as was Richard Franklin (Bible Society’s senior press officer), by the Baptist Times, which ran the story on p. 3 of its issue for 9 September. Hewitt told the newspaper’s reporter that she was notified of the redundancy on 18 August.  

During her time at Christian Research, Hewitt was closely involved with a number of new initiatives, such as the ongoing ChurchCheck (‘mystery shopping’) and Faith Journeys programmes, as well as with various one-off projects and public opinion surveys.

However, she may be best remembered in BRIN circles for her optimistic assessment last year of contemporary churchgoing trends. She has also been overshadowed in part by the dynamic presence of Peter Brierley, her predecessor at Christian Research, who remains very active in terms of research and publishing himself.

BRIN wishes Benita every success in the next stage of her career. Those of us who are members of Christian Research also seek reassurance from the Bible Society that there is a viable and credible future for Christian Research as an independent organization operating under the auspices of the Bible Society.

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UK Religious Trends to 2020

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Clive D. Field

Some fascinating (but necessarily speculative) insights into ten key current religious, demographic and other changes in the UK and their potential impact upon the Churches are contained in a new publication by Peter Brierley, head of Brierley Consultancy.

Entitled Major UK Religious Trends, 2010 to 2020, the 80-page paper is a companion to the same author’s Global Religious Trends, 2010 to 2020, which we covered on BRIN last year – see http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=61

The report is designed to facilitate strategy formation and leadership development in the Churches, to ensure that their forward thinking and planning are fully grounded in the facts and reasonable assumptions.

Brierley is a statistician with 43 years’ experience of Christian evaluation, research and publishing, including lengthy spells as European Director of MARC Europe and Executive Director of Christian Research.

In his new paper he draws extensively on the empirical data which he collected in these roles, especially in undertaking church censuses and preparing successive editions of Religious Trends, to arrive at informed projections about the state of UK religion in 2020.

Brierley also utilizes the research which he has been conducting for a new book on Church Statistics, 2005-2015, to be released by ADBC Publishers (Brierley Consultancy’s new imprint) later this year.

This last-named publication is billed as giving data across all 340 denominations in the UK and will thus stand in the tradition of Religious Trends, a title that might be said to have moved off in a somewhat different direction in its new online manifestation from Christian Research (see http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=815).

The continuing eclipse of the Judeo-Christian heritage and the decline of institutional Christianity, with some pockets of trend-bucking (such as Pentecostals and larger Anglican places of worship), is the overarching (albeit nuanced) theme which unifies Brierley’s projections to 2020 in Major UK Religious Trends.

This story-line is neatly summarized in figure 6.5 on page 53, which compares the religious structure of Great Britain (rather than the UK) in 2010 and 2020.

By the latter date the Christian and non-Christian communities are estimated to balance at 50% each (with 41% professing no religion and 9% – although 12% is cited elsewhere – being of non-Christian faiths).

Among the 50% of professing Christians in 2020, just 4% will be regular churchgoers (highest in Scotland and lowest in Wales) and 46% irregular churchgoers or non-attenders. Weekday services will account for half of these worshippers.

Church membership is anticipated by Brierley to be 6% (or 7% elsewhere), the majority of it nominal.

These decreases in religious practice and affiliation are further accentuated when set against the background of a modest rise in religious provision, reflected in the forecast growth in the number of UK clergy from 36,630 in 2010 to 38,800 in 2020 and of places of worship from 50,700 to 51,900.

Figure 6.5 is complemented by table 1.12 on pages 18-19 which lists 22 quantitative and qualitative attributes of what the UK Christian scene might look like in 2020.

Brierley’s forecasts about church attendance contrast with the more cautiously optimistic reading of the contemporary situation promulgated by Christian Research since last September. Christian Research is hoping to organize a new UK-wide census of churchgoing and Christian activities this year, utilizing online data capture.

As with much of his previous work, Brierley seems to be on surest ground when writing about Trinitarian Christian denominations. Non-Trinitarian Churches and, more particularly, non-Christian faiths may be thought a little beyond his professional experience and perhaps even comfort zone.

Certainly, some of the statistics relating to non-Christian faiths, and Islam in particular, could be questioned. For example, Brierley’s estimate of Muslims has been scaled back to reflect the fact that (in his view) only half are ‘active members’, whereas the Citizenship Surveys demonstrate that four-fifths of Muslims claim to practice their religion.   

Major UK Religious Trends costs £15.00 inclusive of postage and can be ordered from Dr Peter Brierley, The Old Post Office, 1 Thorpe Avenue, Tonbridge, Kent, TN10 4PW. Cheques should be made payable to Peter Brierley.

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21st Century Evangelicals

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Clive D. Field

According to a large-scale survey of churchgoing published by Tearfund in 2007, there are approximately two million evangelical Christians in the UK. Hitherto, we have had only limited insights into their profile and attitudes.

We now know a great deal more about them, thanks to a study undertaken by Christian Research for the Evangelical Alliance in 2010, and published on 11 January under the title 21st Century Evangelicals: A Snapshot of the Beliefs and Habits of Evangelical Christians in the UK.

17,298 Christians aged 16 and over completed the Christian Research questionnaire. These mostly divided between two samples: 14,511 attenders at seven Christian festivals in the UK and known to be popular with evangelicals, and 1,159 attenders at 35 churches randomly selected from the 3,222 in membership of the Evangelical Alliance.

Interestingly, 6% of both samples could not say for certain that they were Christians, while fully one-quarter of the professing Christians failed to designate themselves as evangelicals.

A third sample was also drawn, of black majority churches and conferences. Only a few agreed to participate. Although 1,239 questionnaires were completed by attenders at these churches, Christian Research clearly has reservations about the typicality of this sample, and limited use has been made of the findings from it.

Two reports on the research have been issued at present, although more are promised. The first (described as the ‘initial report’) is a ‘popular’ 24-page summary. This is fully-illustrated, selective in its use of statistics, and has an emphasis on headlines and brief commentaries. Such data as are quoted in it mainly relate to the festival sample. It can be found at:

http://eauk.org/snapshot/upload/21st-Century-Evangelicals-PDF.pdf

The second 47-page report (the so-called ‘data report’) is likely to be of special interest to BRIN users. This contains detailed information about the research methodology and the all-important weighting procedures, which require careful review (see the discussion and weighting factors on pp. 6-7).

The second document mainly comprises tables of results (pp. 8-45), routinely disaggregated for the festival and church samples and, more occasionally, for non-evangelical festival-goers. There are some minor inconsistencies between some of the tables when replies to certain questions are duplicated. This report can be accessed at:

http://www.eauk.org/snapshot/upload/21st-Century-Evangelicals-Data-Report.pdf

There were fewer differences in the profiles, beliefs and behaviours of the festival and church samples than might have been expected. However, for simplicity, and because they instinctively feel more ‘representative’ of grass-roots evangelicals, all the figures quoted below derive from the church sample only.

DEMOGRAPHICS: 60% of evangelical churchgoers are women and 38% men. 36% are under 45 years of age, 39% 45-64, and 21% 65 and over (an age profile far less skewed than for churchgoers in general). 24% are single, 1% cohabiting, 61% married, 6% separated or divorced, and 7% widowed.

BELIEFS: 98% agree that their faith is the most important thing in life and 96% that it is the key factor in their decision-making. 96% believe that Jesus is the only way to God. 96% consider the Bible to be the inspired word of God and 82% say that, in its original manuscript, it is without error. 92% believe in miraculous gifts of the Spirit. 59% believe in a physical hell, but 27% are unsure and 14% disbelieve. 39% think evolution and Christianity are incompatible, 43% that they are not.

PRACTICES: 95% claim to attend church once a week or more. 76% attend a small group meeting at least once a fortnight. 55% read the Bible daily and a further 36% during the course of a week. 78% pray daily and a further 20% during the course of a week.

EVANGELISM VERSUS SOCIAL ACTION: 91% deem it the Christian’s duty to be actively engaged in evangelism, and 58% talk about their faith with a non-Christian once a month or more. 82% regard evangelism and social action as equally important and 80% as complementary, but 39% think many churches place too much emphasis on social action. 88% consider it a Christian’s duty to volunteer in the service of the local community. 78% volunteer at least once a month. 98% voted in the 2010 general election.

MORALITY: 82% agree that sexual intercourse outside marriage is always wrong. 62% say that assisted suicide is always wrong (and 15% not). 49% agree and 33% disagree that abortion can never be justified. 36% feel it is wrong to have homosexual feelings, with 22% unsure and 42% not seeing it as problematical. However, 80% condemn homosexual actions. 84% oppose the blessing of civil partnerships in churches.

GIVING: 97% have given money to their church in the past year, 77% to Christian charities, 48% to other charities, 47% to individual missionaries, and 22% to individual homeless people. 62% claim to have given at least one-tenth of their household income during the past month to their church and charities. 73% agree that it is a Christian’s duty to give 10% of their income to their church, but only 40% tithed to their church during the past month.

ECUMENICAL AND INTER-FAITH WORK: 95% consider it important for Christians to be united in truth and 93% in mission. 88% say that their church works with other places of worship. 63% want Christians to collaborate with people of other faiths on community projects.

Also worth a glance is the Evangelical Alliance’s press release about both strands of the research, issued on 10 January. This focused on the themes of distinctiveness and diversity in the evangelical constituency, and highlighted the vital role of evangelicals in volunteering in the community. See:

http://eauk.org/media/uk-evangelical-christians-distinct-yet-diverse.cfm

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Religious Trends Online

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Clive D. Field

Seven printed editions of Christian Research’s Religious Trends were published between 1997 and 2008, under the editorship of Peter Brierley. They appeared as a companion to the UK Christian Handbook, which had developed incrementally since 1973, predating the formation of Christian Research itself. Both series have rightly established themselves as a major resource for UK religious statistics.

Unsurprisingly, Christian Research has now decided that the pace of technological change, and user expectation, is such that the time has come to move Religious Trends into an online environment. It has just launched a prototype web version, edited by Michael Hudson, and with other contributions by Graham Sharp and Ian Wyllie (who also developed the website). This online version will be found at: http://www.christian-research.org/religious-trends.html

The aims and scope of the electronic publication are defined by Benita Hewitt, Christian Research’s Director, thus: ‘Our vision is to bring together facts and figures from many sources, and to paint an accurate picture of the state of religion, especially Christianity, both in the United Kingdom and throughout the world. We offer interpretation, analysis and comment in the articles on this website. If you need more detailed research or access to our source material, some of the articles in Religious Trends offer a gateway to spreadsheets or links to follow for more information.’

Access to the online Religious Trends is free to members of Christian Research, who pay an annual subscription to join the organization. There are varying levels of membership, including individual membership at £30 per annum. Besides Religious Trends, there are sundry other membership benefits, among them a regular printed magazine (Quadrant) and an email Research Brief.

Information about membership of Christian Research will be found at: http://www.christian-research.org/membership-info.html. Alternatively, you can contact: membership@christian-research.org.uk.

The online Religious Trends currently has the following main sections:

  • Introduction
  • The world and its religions (including global overviews, profiles of China, the United States and Europe, and a feature on martyrdom and persecution)
  • UK church overview (including a summary of recent trends in churchgoing, restating the question posed by Christian Research since September about ‘The end of decline?’)
  • Anglican UK (including attendance, clergy, parochial finance, and other key statistics)
  • Other UK churches (Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal, Independent, New, and smaller denominations)
  • The Bible (including a digest of the results from a poll of 1,013 adults in England and Wales in July 2010)
  • Faith Journeys (a major and ongoing project of Christian Research)
  • UK population (including births and deaths, abortions, breaks by age, gender, ethnicity and region, and international comparisons)
  • Household statistics (including adoption, household size, and children by family type)
  • Marriages (including ages and attitudes to marriage)
  • Web resources (including international religious research, other UK religious research, UK social research sources, and highest ranking religious blogs)
  • Quadrant archive (at present, just the issues for 2009 and 2010)
  • Other research reports (currently only one, on Mapping Migration)

Just like the BRIN website, the online version of Religious Trends naturally represents work in progress, and not all its sections are yet fully populated, nor are all the features (such as data downloads) operable. Text and charts, rather than tables of raw data, predominate at present. But the site-search function is already working.

Christian Research is positively inviting user feedback and suggestions on the Religious Trends website, which it will use to shape new features and updates (a major annual revision is promised, to incorporate each year’s membership, attendance and other data from individual denominations). So, it will be well worth subscribers bookmarking the site and making regular visits to check out what is new.

Understandably, the emphasis is deliberately on the contemporary scene (largely post-2000), so the printed series of Religious Trends and UK Christian Handbook will continue to have value for more ‘historical’ statistics.

However, there is a consequential caveat and risk arising from this. As the online Religious Trends publication is updated, Christian Research will need to ensure that superseded content is properly archived in some way, and not simply overwritten as is the case with so many websites, thereby consigning invaluable research data and commentary to a digital black hole.

All of us here at BRIN wish the Christian Research team every success as they evolve and grow Religious Trends in the years to come.

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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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