Religion in the United Kingdom has been dominated, for over 1,400 years, by various forms of Christianity. According to some surveys, a majority of citizens still identify with Christianity, although regular church attendance has fallen dramatically since the middle of the 20th century, and immigration and demographic change have contributed to the growth of other faiths.
Religious affiliations of UK citizens are recorded by regular surveys, the four major ones being the UK Census, the Labour Force Survey, the British Social Attitudes survey and the European Social Survey. According to the 2001 UK census, Christianity is the major religion, followed by Islam, Hinduism, Neo-Paganism, Sikhism, Judaism and Buddhism in terms of number of adherents. This, and the relatively large number of individuals with nominal or no religious affiliations has led commentators to variously describe the United Kingdom as a multi-faith, secularised, or post-Christian society.
The United Kingdom was formed by the union of previously independent countries from 1707, and consequently most of the largest religious groups do not have UK-wide organisational structures. While some groups have separate structures for the individual countries of the United Kingdom, others may have a single structure covering England and Wales or Great Britain. Similarly, due to the relatively recent creation of Northern Ireland in 1921, most major religious groups in Northern Ireland are organised on an all-Ireland basis.
Read more about Religion In The United Kingdom: History, Jediism, Neopaganism, Main Religious Leaders, Notable Places of Worship
Famous quotes containing the words religion in, religion, united and/or kingdom:
“If there were only one religion in England there would be danger of despotism, if there were two, they would cut each other’s throats, but there are thirty, and they live in peace and happiness.”
—Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (1694–1778)
“There is not a greater paradox in nature,—than that so good a religion [as Christianity] should be no better recommended by its professors.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)
“We are told to maintain constitutions because they are constitutions, and what is laid down in those constitutions?... Certain great fundamental ideas of right are common to the world, and ... all laws of man’s making which trample on these ideas, are null and void—wrong to obey, right to disobey. The Constitution of the United States recognizes human slavery; and makes the souls of men articles of purchase and of sale.”
—Anna Elizabeth Dickinson (1842–1932)
“This is the Key of the Kingdom:
In that Kingdom is a city;”
—Unknown. This Is the Key (l. 1–2)