Britain becoming post-Christian

According to the National Centre for Social Research, the number of people in Britain describing themselves as Christian has fallen by 16 percent in the last 25 years, says Jenna Lyle writing for Nat Cen, Britain's leading independent social research institute. The survey of more than 4,000 people across Britain found that the number of people describing themselves as Christian has dropped in the last 25 years from 66 per cent to 50 per cent.

NatCen said the drop was due largely to the steady decline in numbers belonging to the Church of England, with only 23 percent of those surveyed describing themselves as Anglican today in comparison to 40 percent in 1983. "Half of those who described themselves as Anglican said they never attended church at all and less than one fifth said they attended church once a month," Lyle reports. Non-Christian faiths have seen a small increase in affiliation, from two percent to seven percent. Immigration growth amongst ethnic minorities had contributed to the growth.

The number of Britons saying that they do not belong to any particular faith rose from 31 percent in 1983 to 43 percent today. Lyle writes that NatCen also conducted the survey in the US, where it found ties to religious faith to be far stronger than in Britain. Sixty-one percent of Americans said they had 'no doubt' that God exists, compared with just 17 per cent in Britain, while 37 percent of Britons described themselves as atheist or agnostic, compared with only eight percent in the US.

While 70 percent of Americans said they adhere to a particular religion, believe in God and attend religious services, just 26 percent in Britain said the same. Lyle said that the survey also identified what it called the 'fuzzy faithful -- those who identify with a religion, believe in God or attend services, but not all three. In the US, fuzzy faithfuls make up 24 percent of the population, compared with 36 percent in Britain. In Britain, 73 percent of those surveyed felt people with strong religious beliefs were often too intolerant of others, compared with 66 percent in the US.

Meanwhile.... the former Archbishop of Canterbury exhorts Christians to stand for their faith.

"Pressure is building against Christians in Britain" according to former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, who says that Christianity is being bullied out of public life in the name of political correctness. "No politician is expressing concern that Britain should remain a Christian country," said Carey. "That is a scandal and a disgrace to our history. Christianity, has given so much to our country, yet is being sidelined as though it is a stranger to our nation. We must stand up against the marginalizing of faith. We must constantly remind society of its Christian roots and heritage."