Caring for Places of Worship

Posted on July 1, 2010 by Clive D. Field

Churchgoing may be declining, but, according to an omnibus survey conducted for the Church of England, 85% of the adult population visited places of worship for some reason in 2009, whether for an event, personal interest or to attend a service. Many visitors will naturally have been drawn to them for their historical importance.

You certainly do not need to be religious to appreciate the significance of places of worship to the country’s architectural heritage. England alone has 14,500 listed places of worship (4,000 Grade I, 4,500 Grade II* and 6,000 Grade II). In fact, 45% of all Grade I listed buildings are places of worship.

Although the overwhelming majority of these listed church buildings are Anglican parish churches, many of them pre-dating the Reformation, a significant minority are Free Church. There is also a relatively small number of listed non-Christian places of worship, approximately one-half of which are synagogues and one-quarter mosques.

But what state are these religious premises in? In an attempt to improve its evidence base, English Heritage (the official champion of England’s historic buildings) has undertaken the first ever physical condition survey of a 15% representative sample of England’s listed places of worship.

Headline findings from the survey appear in Caring for Places of Worship, 2010, which was published by English Heritage on 30 June. The document is available to download from:

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/publications/caring-for-places-of-worship-report/caring-places-of-worship-2010-report.pdf/

In the aggregate, 11% of listed places of worship were found to be in a poor or very bad physical state and thus potentially at risk. The figure stood at 14% for Grade I buildings and 13% for Grade II*, compared with 8% for Grade II. Thus, the most important places of worship are relatively in greatest danger.

Rural places of worship are also at more risk than urban ones (13% against 9%), although inner-city buildings are an exception to the rule in London and Birmingham. An above-average incidence of listed places of worship in poor or very bad condition was reported in the West Midlands, South-East and East, and a lower than average number in Yorkshire and the Humber and the North-East.

Of the 89% of listed places of worship not deemed to be at risk, approximately two-fifths were judged to be in good condition and the remainder in fair condition. Dr Simon Thurley, English Heritage’s CEO, described this finding as ‘a huge testament to the hard work and altruism of their congregations. They take on responsibility for their building in addition to their commitment to worship and community service, finding almost all the necessary funding from their own pockets.’

English Heritage simultaneously released results from evaluations of the impact of two major schemes to provide financial support for listed places of worship. These are the Repair Grant for Places of Worship Scheme (RGPoWS), jointly funded by English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund, and which has benefited 11% of listed places of worship since 2002; and the Government-financed Listed Places of Worship Scheme (LPoWS).

The evaluations were carried out by BDRC Continental through interviews in April-May 2010 with 100 recipients of RGPoWS grants and 300 recipients of LPoWS grants made since 2005. Summaries of the evaluations are published at:

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/content/imported-docs/k-o/key-findings-rgpow.pdf

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/content/imported-docs/k-o/lpows-key-findings.pdf

For over three-fifths of grant recipients the repair and maintenance of their place of worship is a constant major concern. Grants helped them plan a more certain future for their building, avoiding more costly repairs later on, and also to increase the number of visitors and broaden community use. Grants further benefited the local economy since 90% of grant recipients exclusively used local businesses to undertake repairs.

In the case of recipients of RGPoWS grants, which are invariably for more than half the cost of the scheme, 76% claimed that they could not have completed the restoration work without help from the RGPoWS, and 30% that they would have had to close their building but for the RGPoWS.

Even for recipients of LPoWS grants, which are limited to 17.5% of the cost, 20% would not have been able to complete the repair and maintenance work at all without the LPoWS and 18% would only have been able to complete some of the work.

A parallel investigation by the National Churches Trust, which covers the whole of the UK and includes non-listed as well as listed buildings, is expected to report later in the year.

NOTE: In conjunction with the main survey, Jewish Heritage UK was funded by English Heritage to survey the state of 37 listed synagogues in England between March and June 2009. A separate report on this study, Synagogues at Risk, is available at:

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/publications/synagogues-at-risk/synagogues-at-risk.pdf/

This contains detail additional to an assessment of the physical condition of the building, including information about frequency of services, average attendance at services, and membership size and trends.

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Science and Religion in the European Union

Posted on June 21, 2010 by Clive D. Field

The interactions of science with religion have featured in a number of opinion polls during the past year or so, largely in connection with the debate on the origins of the universe, and how it should be taught in schools, reignited by the 2009 Charles Darwin anniversary.

More recently, a couple of other aspects of the relationship have been explored in the European Union’s Special Eurobarometer No. 340 on science and technology, conducted as part of wave 73.1 of the main Eurobarometer in 32 countries (including two EU candidate nations and three non-EU members of EFTA).

Fieldwork in the UK was undertaken face-to-face by TNS among a representative sample of 1,311 adults aged 15 and over between 29 January and 15 February 2010. The newly-released summary report for all the countries surveyed will be found at:

http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_340_en.pdf

The first question of relevance to us asked whether respondents considered that too much dependence is placed on science and not enough on faith. Opinion in the UK was split, with 36% agreeing with the statement, 39% disagreeing and 25% uncertain. There is, therefore, a net disagreement of 3%.

At the EU27 level, by contrast, there is a net agreement of 4% (38% agreeing and 34% disagreeing). There are 20 countries where more agree than in the UK and 11 where fewer citizens do so, the range being from 66% agreeing in Cyprus to 20% in Denmark.

There has been some shift in attitude in the UK since 2005, when the EU posed the question previously. Then there was a net 2% agreement in the UK (35% agreeing, 33% disagreeing, 32% uncertain), compared with a net 11% agreement in the EU as a whole.

Even further back, in a Gallup survey in 1996, 50% of Britons thought that religion had not been superseded by science and 40% that it had been. Thus two-fifths of the population held a very pro-science view of the world in both 1996 and 2010.

A second question in the Special Eurobarometer touched on superstition, measured by a belief that certain numbers are especially lucky for some people. In the UK 36% agree with this proposition, 43% disagree, and 21% are uncertain.

The percentage thinking certain numbers are lucky is slightly less in the UK than the European average of 40%. 22 countries record a higher figure in agreement than the UK and just 9 a lower, the spread being from 60% in Latvia to 21% in Finland.  

But UK citizens seem to have become more superstitious since 2005. Then 29% agreed and 49% disagreed that certain numbers are lucky, representing a 7% swing towards the superstitious camp. The European average for those agreeing also rose from 37% to 40% during this quinquennium.

In sum, the religion versus science scales would still appear to be finely balanced in the UK, albeit a growing number are backing science rather than faith. At the same time, the proportion trusting in luck is also increasing. There is probably a considerable overlap between the faith and superstition constituencies.

One thing is for sure, however. Virtually nobody is looking to religious leaders to explain the impact of scientific and technological developments on society. Only 2% in the UK (the same as the EU27 average) place any credence in them in this regard, compared to 62% trusting academic or government scientists, 30% industrial scientists and 32% medical doctors.

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Gender Audit Report, Scottish Episcopal Church

Posted on June 20, 2010 by Clive D. Field

The annual meeting of the General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church, which is part of the Anglican Communion, took place in Edinburgh between 10 and 12 June. One of the papers under consideration was a Gender Audit Report, presented to Synod by Dr Elaine Cameron, its principal author.

The document was prepared at the request of the 2009 Synod which was concerned to recognize its commitments to the United Nations’ 2000 Millennium Development Goals and to the Anglican Consultative Council Resolution 13.31 of 2005. Data were collected during the autumn of 2009 (including through a census of Scottish Episcopal congregations on Sunday, 22 November).

The report is available to download from:

http://www.scotland.anglican.org/media/news/files/Gender_Audit_Report_General_Synod_2010.pdf

Key findings include the following:

65% of communicants in the Scottish Episcopal Church are women, ranging from 61% in the City of Edinburgh and the Diocese of Aberdeen to 68% in the Dioceses of Argyll and Brechin.

62% of (non-communicant) adherents are women, varying from 60% in Edinburgh and the Diocese of Aberdeen to 64% in the Dioceses of Brechin and St Andrews.

63% of communicants and adherents combined were women in 2009, which was slightly higher than the 60% for Episcopal churchgoers at the 2002 Scottish church census (at that time the same figure as for all Scottish churchgoers).

Despite the preponderance of women in the pews, men still tend to dominate much of the administration of the Church, accounting for 89% of the membership of cathedral chapters, 85% of conveners of diocesan committees, 70% of stipendiary clergy, 68% of provincial boards and committees, 65% of vestry treasurers, 64% of the Theological Institute, 57% of lay readers and 55% of representatives to General Synod.

However, women do constitute 60% of the lay members of General Synod and 62% of the lay members of diocesan synods, the gender averages for these bodies being skewed by the male majorities among the clergy members. At vestry level there is also a preponderance of female secretaries (71%) and child protection officers (88%).

The report concludes that ‘gendered stereotypic assumptions still prevail’ in the Scottish Episcopal Church and makes several recommendations to promote gender equality, with a further gender audit suggested for November 2012.

One of the recommendations concerns the need for more gender-inclusive language in the liturgy, a topic which, according to the summary of the Synod’s deliberations given in the Church Times for 18 June, appears to have dominated the debate on the report.

A comparable gender audit in the Church in Wales was completed in June 2008.

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American Religiosity – Viewed from Britain

Posted on June 18, 2010 by Clive D. Field

Much has been written about the perceived contrasts between a secularizing Western Europe and a continuingly religious United States. One example is the book by Peter Berger, Grace Davie and Effie Fokas on Religious America, Secular Europe? (Ashgate, 2008), synthesizing a range of evidence.

More specific, based on the International Social Survey Program 2008, is David Voas and Rodney Ling, ‘Religion in Britain and the United States’, British Social Attitudes: The 26th Report, edited by Alison Park, John Curtice, Katarina Thomson, Miranda Phillips, Elizabeth Clery and Sarah Butt (Sage, 2010), pp. 65-86.

But what is the judgment of the court of public opinion? Do the people consider that America is religious? Some new insights into this topic are available in the latest report from the Pew Global Attitudes Project, released on 17 June and available for download at:

http://pewglobal.org/files/pdf/Pew-Global-Attitudes-Spring-2010-Report.pdf

Fieldwork was undertaken in 22 nations, one of them Great Britain, where 750 telephone interviews were conducted with adults aged 18 and over between 15 April and 2 May 2010 under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates International. Contact was made with households with both landline and mobile only telephony.

Respondents were asked the simple question: ‘Is the US too religious a country or not religious enough?’

In Britain 47% claimed that the US is too religious, 21% not religious enough, with 14% stating that the balance is about right and 18% don’t knows. The trend is for Britons to see the US as too religious (the May 2003 figure being 33% and May 2005 39%), with a decline in those saying it is not religious enough (35% in 2003 and 27% in 2005).

The proportion of Britons thinking that the US is too religious was the second highest among all the nations covered in the survey, only being exceeded by France (71%), with Germany on 46% and Japan on 42%. At the other end of the scale, countries with Muslim majority populations recorded by far the lowest figures, including Turkey (8%), Egypt (8%), Pakistan (6%), Lebanon (3%) and Jordan (1%). 

The percentage of Britons stating that the US is not religious enough was the smallest of all the 22 countries. At 21% it was just one-third of the number of Americans holding this opinion (64%, up from 58% in 2005). Even higher figures than in the US were recorded in Jordan (89%), Egypt (81%) and Indonesia (67%). In all, majorities or pluralities in 18 nations said the US is insufficiently religious.

So, in general, Americans decidedly think that the US could do with more religion while the British increasingly feel that the US has more than enough already. This finding cannot be dismissed as a manifestation of anti-Americanism in general since 65% of Britons entertain a favourable view of the US and 73% of the American people. It either reflects the long-standing British discomfort about wearing religion on the sleeve or is yet another indicator that faith is being squeezed out of the public square in Britain.

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Organ Donation

Posted on June 11, 2010 by Clive D. Field

As the NHS information leaflet Organ Donation and Religious Perspectives makes clear, organ donation is not a hugely controversial issue for faith communities in the UK. All the major ones support the basic principle of organ donation and transplantation.

This is even the case with Islam, for, although a minority of Muslim scholars does not believe that organ donation is permissible, the Muslim Law (Shariah) Council UK did issue a supportive fatwah on the subject in 1995. However, all religions recognize that, ultimately, this is a matter for individual choice and conscience.

A limited public opinion viewpoint on the subject is offered by a new report from the European Commission on Organ Donation and Transplantation (Special Eurobarometer 333a). Together with a UK fact-sheet, it is available for download at:

http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_333a_en.pdf

This is based on Wave 72.3 of Eurobarometer, fieldwork in the UK being conducted by TNS between 2 and 18 October 2009. A representative sample of 1,354 adults aged 15 and over was interviewed face-to-face.

Just over three-fifths of UK citizens were in favour of organ donation. 61% said they would be willing to donate one of their own organs to an organ donation service immediately after death, and 64% would agree to donate an organ from a deceased close family member.

Of those unwilling to donate their own organs or those of a close family member (26% and 20% respectively), only 4% in the UK cited religious reasons for withholding consent, compared with 12% who distrusted the system, 25% who were scared of manipulating the human body, 22% who gave other reasons and 37% don’t knows.

The 4% giving religious reasons in the UK was three points less than the European Union (EU) 27-nation mean. Only Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Malta and Slovenia recorded lower figures. The highest in the EU were in Austria (15%) and Romania (17%). The 29% recorded in the EU candidate country of Turkey is significant on account of its largely Muslim population.

Regrettably, the published report does not disaggregate responses by religious affiliation.

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Muslims in Prison

Posted on June 8, 2010 by Clive D. Field

In December 2008 there were 9,975 Muslim prisoners in England and Wales, equivalent to 12% of the prison population. This represented a considerable increase on the 5% in 1994 and 8% in 2004 and was more than four times the proportion of professing Muslims at the 2001 census.

Muslims constituted the biggest faith group in prison in 2008 after Anglicans and Catholics, although all were dwarfed by those without any religion. The current estimate for Muslim prisoners is 10,300.

The more youthful profile of Muslims and their disproportionate concentration in lower socio-economic groups partly explain this over-representation of Muslims in prison, since criminality is especially associated with the young and with economic deprivation. 

Numbers apart, there has been considerable public focus on these Muslim prisoners as potential extremists and on prisons as the place where they may become radicalized, often through conversion to Islam.

But what is the reality? In an attempt to find some answers, Her Majesty’s (independent) Inspectorate of Prisons has researched and today published a 116-page thematic report on Muslim Prisoners’ Experiences, which is available to download from:

http://www.justice.gov.uk/inspectorates/hmi-prisons/docs/Muslim_prisoners_2010_rps.pdf

The evidence base for the report derives from a wide variety of quantitative and qualitative sources. Among the former are surveys completed by 9,027 prisoners (including 1,049 Muslims) between September 2006 and April 2009, and in-depth semi-structured interviews with 164 Muslim male prisoners.

Detailed statistics from the surveys, covering answers to 200 questions by religion and ethnicity, comprise more than half the document (Appendix IX).

The headline finding is that Muslim prisoners report more negatively on their prison experience, and particularly their safety and relationship with staff, than other prisoners. Differential perceptions are widest in high security dispersal prisons, where the focus on security and extremism is sharpest.

Race and ethnicity were important factors in Muslim prisoners’ negative experiences and perceptions, especially since Muslims were over four times more likely than non-Muslims to be from a minority ethnic group.

However, within each of the four ethnic groups covered (Asian, black, white and mixed heritage), Muslims reported significantly less positively than non-Muslims, suggesting that religion adds a further clear layer of perceived disadvantage.

One of the main grievances of Muslim prisoners is that prison staff members have a tendency to think of them as a homogeneous group, rather than individuals, and too often through the lens of extremism and terrorism, although less than 1% of them are actually detained for terrorist-related offences.

In her summation, the Chief Inspector of Prisons agrees that the security agenda is often better resourced, better understood and more prevalent in prison than concerns for diversity. She urges a better balance, to avoid ‘a real risk of a self-fulfilling prophecy, that the prison experience will create or entrench alienation and disaffection’ among Muslims.

On the positive side, Muslims were more likely than non-Muslims to report their faith needs were met in prisons, reflecting the strengthening of the role of Muslim chaplains. Indeed, more Muslim prisoners than non-Muslims felt their religious beliefs were respected and that they could speak to a religious leader from their faith in private.

30% of the 164 interviewees were converts to Islam, some evidently attracted by perceptions of the material advantages from identifying as Muslim in prison.

This has naturally been picked up by the media, prompting headlines such as ‘Lags Go Muslim for Better Food’ (The Sun) and ‘Prisoners Convert to Islam to Win Perks and Get Protection from Powerful Muslim Gangs’ (Daily Mail).

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Inspired by Muhammad Campaign

Posted on June 8, 2010 by Clive D. Field

Existing negative stereotypes of Islam and Muslims in Britain are largely confirmed in an opinion poll released to coincide with the launch on 7 June of the Exploring Islam Foundation’s Inspired by Muhammad advertising campaign.

The campaign is designed to improve the public’s understanding of Islam and Muslims. It showcases Britons demonstrating how the Prophet Muhammad inspires them to contribute to society, with a focus on women’s rights, social justice and the environment.

Advertisements in connection with the campaign will be appearing at selected London tube-stations and bus-stops and on some of the capital’s black cabs. There is also a new website (http://www.inspiredbymuhammad.com) providing online support with information about Islam, Muhammad and British Muslims.

The survey was conducted online by YouGov between 19 and 21 May among a representative sample of 2,152 UK adults aged 18 and over, drawn from its panel of more than 185,000 people who have signed up to participate in YouGov studies.

77% of the sample considered they knew little or nothing about Islam, 20% a fair amount and just 2% a great deal. Most of their information about Islam came from television news (57%) and newspapers (41%), with only 12% citing local Muslims and 3% Muslim organizations. Two-thirds had no interest in finding out more about Islam.

While three-quarters of adults associated the word ‘religious’ with Islam, this would not necessarily have had positive connotations. Large numbers thought of the faith in terms of extremism (58%), terrorism (50%) and violence (33%). Few connected Islam with peace (13%), inclusivity (7%) or justice (6%).

Apart from the Prophet Himself (34%), Osama bin Laden was seen as the individual who best represents Islam (13%). Nobody else scored more than 3%. 49% of the sample identified the Prophet as religious, 24% as peaceful, 19% as misrepresented, 13% as misunderstood and 11% as extremist.

Asked whether ‘on the whole, Muslims have a positive impact on British society’, 19% agreed, 41% disagreed and 40% expressed no clear opinion. 30% agreed and 37% disagreed that Islam is a violent religion, 69% and 8% respectively that it encourages repression of women, 15% and 42% that it is concerned with social justice, and 6% and 29% that it is taking active measures to protect the environment.

The Exploring Islam Foundation’s press pack about the campaign is available at:

http://www.inspiredbymuhammad.com/attach/IBM_PRESS_PACK_WEBVERSION.pdf

The full YouGov data tables, with disaggregations by gender, age, social grade and region, can be downloaded from:

http://today.yougov.co.uk/sites/today.yougov.co.uk/files/YG-Archives-Pol-ApexCommunicationsExploringIslamFoundation-100520.pdf

For earlier opinion polls on Islam and Muslims in Britain, see Clive Field, ‘Islamophobia in Contemporary Britain: The Evidence of the Opinion Polls, 1988-2006’, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Vol. 18, 2007, pp. 447-77 and Erik Bleich, ‘Where do Muslims stand on Ethno-Racial Hierarchies in Britain and France? Evidence from Public Opinion Surveys, 1988-2008’, Patterns of Prejudice, Vol. 43, 2009, pp. 379-400. Field is preparing a new essay on the years 2007-10, which will be published next year.

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Values and Religion

Posted on June 5, 2010 by Clive D. Field

A social psychological view of the connection between religion and values is offered in the recent article by Miriam Pepper, Tim Jackson and David Uzzell, ‘A Study of Multidimensional Religion Constructs and Values in the United Kingdom’, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 49, No. 1, March 2010, pp. 127-46.

The data derive from a general public sample and a churchgoer sample from two relatively affluent English towns. For the former, 2,000 questionnaires were hand-delivered to households in six diverse localities in Woking in March-April 2006, of which 260 were completed (13% response).

For the churchgoer sample 704 questionnaires were given out at 13 churches in Guildford in March-June 2006, of which 272 were returned (39% response). The churchgoer sample was older and more highly educated than the general sample.

The article attempts a systematic examination of the relationships between religiousness, conceptualization of God and value priorities. The values stem from Shalom Schwartz’s theoretical work: universalism, benevolence, conformity-tradition, security, power, achievement, hedonism, stimulation and self-direction.

The four religious indicators employed were: self-assessed religiosity, self-assessed spirituality, religious affiliation and attendance at a place of worship. In the general sample 23% of respondents had no religion and 53% never attended religious services. Conceptualization of God was measured on a five-point scale of agreement with 20 adjectives to describe God.

The quantitative aspects of the work are mainly presented through correlations with tests for statistical significance. The conclusions are summarized in the abstract thus:

‘Religiousness aligns most strongly along the conservation/openness to change value dimension, and spirituality is rotated further toward self-transcendence values. Findings suggest a shift among the religious away from an emphasis on security.

God concepts are uniquely related to some value types. Particularly among the churchgoers, for whom God concepts may be especially formative, characteristics attributed to God are reflected in value priorities. These findings support the theoretical assertion that conceptualization of God is a foundational religious belief implicated in more specific values, attitudes and beliefs.’  

For those of us whose religion and values diet has hitherto derived from the World Values Surveys, this new research can be quite difficult to digest!

To access this article, check first whether your institution (if you have one) has a print or online subscription to Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. If not, you can order a copy from the British Library Document Supply Centre or pay for access via the publisher’s website at:

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/123306094/issue

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Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Christians

Posted on June 5, 2010 by Clive D. Field

A comparative study of the religious orientations, beliefs and practices of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) Christians in Britain and France has recently been published: Martine Gross and Andrew Yip, ‘Living Spirituality and Sexuality’, Social Compass, Vol. 57, No. 1, 2010, pp. 40-59.

The paper is based upon two conceptually and methodologically related empirical surveys undertaken by Gross in France in 2005 (n = 395) and Yip (now of the School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham) in Britain in 1997 (n = 565, who filled in a self-completion postal questionnaire).

The core of the article comprises six statistical tables of: participants’ views on their sexuality in relation to Christianity; opinions of what should constitute the basis of Christian faith; opinions of what should constitute the basis for LGB Christian sexual ethics; beliefs about God; private Bible reading and prayer; and experiences of local churches in relation to sexuality.

From these tables some important differences emerge between Britain and France. For instance, the British sample was far less likely than the French to draw upon LGB communities as the basis for sexual ethics, perhaps partly because it was far more likely to report that local churches had addressed or were sympathetic to issues of homosexuality and bisexuality. Similarly, British LGBs were more regular in their private Bible reading and prayer than their French counterparts.

To access this article, check first whether your institution has a print or online subscription to Social Compass. If not, you can order a copy from the British Library Document Supply Centre or pay for access via the publisher’s website at:

http://scp.sagepub.com/current.dtl

Yip has written several other publications on the basis of the 1997 study. For further information, see:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/sources/1506

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Where are the Men?

Posted on June 4, 2010 by Clive D. Field

“Where are the men?” has long been the cry of those observing the congregations attending Christian services. Writers such as Edward Weston and James Fordyce could be found complaining about the relative absence of male worshippers in the eighteenth century, and prominent Nonconformists such as John Clifford added their concerns in the Victorian era.

When the first large-scale census of churchgoing which controlled for gender was conducted, in inner and outer London in 1902-03, 61% of worshippers were found to be women. At the 2005 English church census the proportion was 57%.

Sorted magazine (the “lads’ mag” for Christians, launched in November 2007) and Christian Vision for Men have recently come together to examine the phenomenon of male attitudes to churchgoing.

They commissioned Christian Research to oversee a new empirical investigation, which was undertaken by Research Now among a representative sample of 1,003 UK men, interviewed online between 9 and 14 April 2010.

Headline findings from the survey were released by Christian Research at last month’s International Christian Resources Exhibition in Esher. There is also an article in the current issue (No. 20, May 2010) of Christian Research’s membership magazine, Quadrant, while another short feature (later repackaged by the Baptist Times and Methodist Recorder) is available online at:

http://www.sorted-magazine.com/news/item.htm?pid=4182

Although most men have visited a church within the past two years, principally for a rite of passage, it is apparently not a place in which they feel entirely at ease, in comparison with other environments which were enquired about. The latter even included ladies underwear shops, where many men said they would feel more relaxed than in a place of worship.

Only 20% of men said they would feel very comfortable in church, with 41% uncomfortable. There were significant variations by age, with 58% of the 18-24 year-olds feeling uncomfortable in church but 22% of the over-65s. Even among professing Christians, 41% of 18-24 year-olds feel uncomfortable in church.

Hymn-singing partly explains male discomfort about attending a church service. 48% have an aversion to singing hymns, with still bigger numbers of the young and those with no religious affiliation.

However, there is also discomfort about singing in public more generally, such as in public houses (60%) and at parties (52%). Only in the privacy of the shower (83%) and alone in the car (86%) do men feel totally relaxed about exercising their vocal chords.

Levels of discomfort fall to 20% when it comes to men having a conversation with the vicar, with 28% very comfortable and 51% quite comfortable. There are notable differences by age, once more, both for the sample as a whole and for the sub-sample of Christians (33% of whom aged between 18 and 24 would be uncomfortable about chatting to the vicar).

Setting church on one side, religious profession is also heavily conditioned by age. The number of Christians is only 42% for men aged 18-24, against 84% for the over-65s. Another 15% of the youngest cohort claim to follow other religions (2% among the over-65s), while 44% have no religion at all (14% for the over-65s).  

In summary, according to the author of the Quadrant article, “the survey highlights the urgent need to find better ways of engaging young men – both to encourage them to become Christians and to help those who are Christians feel more comfortable to practise their faith”.

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