City and County of Swansea - Religion

Religion

In 2001, 158,457 people in the local authority area (71 per cent) stated their religion as Christian, 44,286 (20 per cent) no religion, 16,800 (7.5 per cent) did not state a religion and 2,167 were Muslim. There are small communities of other religions, each making up less than 1 per cent of the total population.

Swansea is part of the Anglican Diocese of Swansea and Brecon and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Menevia. The Catholic see is based in Swansea at St. Joseph's Cathedral in the Greenhill area. The city is home to 10 per cent of the total Welsh Muslim population; Swansea's Muslim community is raising money to open a new central mosque and community centre in the former St Andrews United Reform Church. This would be replace the existing central Mosque on St Helens Road and in addition to the other three existing mosques (Swansea University Mosque, Hafod Mosque, Imam Khoei Mosque). Swansea is represented in Buddhism with the Dharmavajra Kadampa Buddhist Centre, Pulpung Changchub Dargyeling (Kagyu Tradition) and a branch of the international Dzogchen Community (Nyingma Tradition). Swansea Synagogue and Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall are both located in the Uplands area.

Swansea, like Wales in general, has seen many non-conformist religious revivals. In 1904, Evan Roberts, a miner from Loughor (Llwchwr), just outside Swansea, was the leader of what has been called one of the world's greatest Protestant religious revivals. Within a few months about 100,000 people were converted. This revival in particular had a profound effect on Welsh society.