England census: Why have the ranks of the religious declined?

An editorial in Wednesday's edition of the conservative-leaning Daily Telegraph, which said that the census depicted the biggest social upheaval in modern times, blamed the rise in the number of foreign-born residents on a “decade of virtually unchecked immigration” since the last census, under Labour Party administrations.

“It has left this country less white, more ethnically diverse, and less Christian,” said the editorial. It added: “The white British make up 80 per cent of the population of England and Wales and in London are now in a minority. There are a million Muslims living here, while the number of self-professed Christians has fallen by four million. All the while, social structures are changing rapidly. For the first time, fewer than half of households contain a married couple.”

All the more unnerving, perhaps, for some British conservatives is that the seeming decline in the number of Christians has been paralleled by a rise in some other religions, most dramatically illustrated by the increase in the number of Muslims. They now make up 4.8% of the population, or 2.7 million, up 2 percentage points from 1.5 million.

Even more unnerving again may be a rise in secularity, with around 1 in 4 people classifying themselves as having no religion. Read more

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