Losing My Religion: How the UK is leaving the Church and gaining conspiracy theories

Census results show Christianity is no longer a majority religion for the first time in England and Wales. But the results shouldn't be confused with conspiracy theories of white replacement. For the first time ever, Christianity is no longer a majority religion in England and Wales. It’s just the first of many interesting results to come from the 2021 census, revealed earlier this week. Just 46.2 per cent of the population described themselves as Christian, down from 59.3 per cent a decade earlier. It’s a drop of about 5.5 million people but it still remains the largest single defined religion. Christianity’s new status as a majority minority religion in the country presents a few intriguing questions. Church of England is the state religion of the UK. How should the country respond to its established faith becoming a minority? And on the other hand, how will the news of dwindling Christianity be used by far-right political thinkers and proponents of the Great Replacement Theory?

Where have all the Christians gone?

People who identified with no religion were the second biggest category, rising from 25.2 per cent to 37.2 per cent of the population. In third place was Islam, which has grown from 4.9 per cent of the population to 6.5 per cent in the last decade. “Immigration has a part to play, but I think it's very much over exaggerated,” says Dr James Williams, Senior Lecturer in Science Education at the University of Sussex says.When looking at immigration from west African countries such as Nigeria and Ghana, many of those people are religious Christians. “This goes against that idea that immigration is pushing religion down,” Williams suggests. Instead, Williams argues that the answer is found in the biggest real-figure increase in religious identification: no religion. “Is it surprising when what we're trying to do to our nation is to educate it to be critical thinkers, to not take things at face value, but actually investigate and to talk about whether or not you know information is reliable,” Williams says. As people grow increasingly well educated, Williams suggests there will similarly be a loss of faith among the population. But that doesn’t mean the Church doesn’t have a place in modern life. “I think the job of the churches, the mosques, the synagogues, and everywhere else, is to be welcoming places where children can go and explore those faiths,” Williams says.“What they need to do is to concentrate on those aspects that they're very, very good on,” he continues. “That’s care of the community, which is looking after their parishioners and giving people a place to come to share their hopes, their dreams, their fears, among other things.”

The need for spiritual community is still there, even if it isn’t manifesting in as many self-identified Christians, suggests Dr. Heidi Campbell, a professor in religious studies at Texas A&M University.“One of the largest percentage increases comes from groups that are spiritual but not affiliated with a specific religious community,” Campbell says.Aijaz Rahi/Copyright 2019 The AP. All rights reserved.
A reveler performs at sunrise as thousands gather at the ancient stone circle Stonehenge to celebrate the Summer SolsticeAijaz Rahi/Copyright 2019 The AP. All rights reserved. The greatest relative increase of any religious affiliation was for Shamanism. 8,000 people identified as Shamanist in 2021, compared with just 650 in 2011. Shamanism itself is defined on its UK website as “not a religion, more an authentic expression of mankind’s spirituality”.

Dr. Stuart Fox, Senior Lecturer in British Politics at Brunel University London and co-author of ‘Religion and Euroscepticism in Brexit Britain’ believes statements calling Christianity a minority religion are generally misplaced. “Anglicanism is still by far the largest religious community in England and Wales, and far exceeds the number of people identifying as 'no religion',” he notes.Additionally, when considering the role of religion within society, he notes that participating and believing in a religion’s tenets are a separate matter from self-identification. In fact, participating in religious activity is far less common than identifying with a religion. 26 per cent of adults in England and Wales participated in religious activities at least more than once a year with nine per cent doing so weekly. Almost half of adults felt that religion made at least a little difference to their lives. 56 per cent of adults reported holding a religious identification, participating in religious activities at least once a year or believing that religion makes at least a little difference to their lives. “In other words, most adults in England and Wales are still 'religious', even if they don't necessarily identify with an established religious community,