God can wait: Majority of Britons say they have no religion

New Delhi: A majority of people who grew as Christians in the UK now have no religious beliefs. A recent survey has revealed that 53 percent Britons born into Christian families have no religious inclinations now. A majority of them identify themselves as humanists instead.

As per the survey, conducted in 2016 and published by National Centre for Social Research earlier this month, the figure of people who say they have no religion has risen to 53 percent from 48 percent in 2015. This is the highest figure recorded in the UK since the survey began in 1983. At the time, the figure was 31 percent.

NatCen – an independent and not-for-profit organisation – has said that the findings were based on 2,942 interviews with ‘ a representative, random sample of adults in Britain.’ It was found that the decline in people with religious affiliation was largely due to the fall in number of young adults – between 18 and 24 years of age – identifying themselves as Christians. The figure was up from 62 percent in 2015 to 71 percent. That is almost seven in every 10 Briton saying no to religious affinities. While the trend is similar in all age groups, the decline is the least among adults over 75 years of age.

Roger Harding, Head of Public Attitudes at NatCen, believes the rise in people identifying themselves as ‘religion-less’ in the UK will continue. “This increase follows the long-term trend of more and more of us not being religious. The differences by age are stark and with so many younger people not having a religion, it’s hard to see this change abating any time soon,” he said.