[As many as 12 million people lost faith in religion in UK over the last 30 years and became atheists. ... ... In 1983, the number of people following Islam stood at 0.6% of the population compared to a little under 5% in 2014. The number of Catholics in Britain has remained about the same throughout the last 30 years". ... The biggest group remains people who say they have no religion, which accounts for around half (49%) of all people in Britain, up from 31% in 1983 and 43% a decade ago.]
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/12-million-people-turn-atheists-in-UK-in-past-30-years/articleshow/47502946.cms 12 million people turn atheists in UK in past 30 years Kounteya Sinha, TNN | Jun 1, 2015, 07.24PM IST LONDON: ***As many as 12 million people lost faith in religion in UK over the last 30 years and became atheists.*** [Emphasis added.] In what are dramatic new figures in changes in religious affiliation among British people, Islam has been found to be the fastest growing religion in the UK. The Church of England has lost two million followers in the last two years and is on the brink of extinction, it has been warned. Over the same period, the number of Muslims in Britain grew by a million. This comes after Muhammad emerged as the commonest first name given to baby boys born in London in 2012. The name was also second commonest among new born male babies across UK and Wales the same year. In 1983 for example, 12.8 million people said they were atheists. In a dramatic rise, the number of such people following no religion or belief in God in 2014 rose to a whopping 24.7 million. On the other hand, those who believed on non-Christian faiths increased from 0.8 million 30 years ago to 4 million last year. The findings from NatCen's British Social Attitudes survey show that the proportion of British adults who say they are Anglican fell from 40% in 1983 to 17% in 2014. However the shift has been most dramatic over the last decade as the proportion has fallen by two fifths in ten years, down from 29% of the population in 2004. Naomi Jones from NatCen told TOI ***"In 1983, the number of people following Islam stood at 0.6% of the population compared to a little under 5% in 2014. The number of Catholics in Britain has remained about the same throughout the last 30 years".*** [Emphasis added.] She said "We know from previous analysis of British Social Attitudes that the main explanation for the increase in British people saying they are not religious is generational displacement. In other words each generation is less religious than the next so as older generations die the overall population becomes less religious. But this doesn't explain why the Anglican Church alone continues to decline". "One explanation for this might be that the numbers of Catholic and non-Christian people in Britain may have been supplemented by migrants with strong religious beliefs. While another explanation could be that in the past religion played a more prominent role in people's identity. We know from recent NatCen research that people are less likely than in previous years to see being Christian as an important component of being British. Therefore, fewer British people may feel that the Church of England is an important part of their identity nowadays," she added. NatCen says the Church of England has been in decline for over 30 years and that decline appears to have accelerated over the last decade. In real terms, this suggests that the number of Anglicans in Britain fell by as many as 4.5 million over the last ten years from around 13 million people to about 8.5 million. ***The biggest group remains people who say they have no religion, which accounts for around half (49%) of all people in Britain, up from 31% in 1983 and 43% a decade ago.*** [Emphasis added.] There has also been a significant rise in the proportion of people from religions other than Christian, up from 2% in 1983 to 8% in 2014. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
