Tuesday, November 04, 2014

Christian country?



HuffPost UK questioned 2,004 people in October about the role of religion in the UK today and got a bunch of answers that I would say are pretty obvious for ordinary people who live in our actual society, but probably quite confusing and/or inconvenient for those (like David Cameron and others in the establishment elite) who don't. They still believe we live in a "Christian country".

For example,
  • Atheism is the fastest growing segment up by 6.4 million people since 2001
  • 45% of Christians and 70% of Jews thought that religion does more harm than good.
  • 69% of Jews and 60% of Christians believe that Atheists are just as likely to be moral as religious people.
  • 50% of Jews said they were not religious at all, only 7% of Muslims said the same.
  • Older people dismissed the idea that atheists are less moral people, only 3% of over 65 believe that (clearly wisdom does come with age - I live in hope at least!)
  • 12% of young people (18-24) believe that atheists are less moral people
  • 43% of Women vs. 36% of men describe themselves as very or somewhat religious.
About the only things that surprised me were the % of young people that clearly don't have a clue about morality and where it actually comes from (probably befuddled by a combination of Church of England RE schooling and the X-Factor) and the possibility that more Women than men are very religious, this seems at odds with how most religions treat Women, i.e. unequally.

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