by Donna Birrell, Premier
A new study by the think tank Theos has found Christianity is being invoked as a marker of British identity amid wider anxieties about Islam immigration, cultural change and what it means to be British.
Beyond “Christian Nationalism”: Measuring Attitudes Towards Christianity and Britishness Today suggests that what is increasingly being described as “Christian nationalism” in Britain is not simply an import from the United States, but a distinctively British phenomenon bound up with questions of culture, heritage, political views, and immigration as much as Christian belief and practice.
But the report authors say this doesn’t reflect a renewal of Christian practice, because the group that comes closest to “Christian nationalist” – termed ‘Identity Integrationists’ by the researchers – is the one most likely to contain nominal or non-practising Christians.
People in this group identify strongly with Christianity and overwhelmingly want to see it embedded in British national life, but their Christianity is particularly associated with identity, culture and heritage. It’s the smallest of five groups identified by the researchers.
A separate group, ‘Belief Integrationists’ contains the highest proportion of practising Christians and wants to see a close connection between Christianity and Britishness, but is more motivated by promoting Christian faith than preserving a particular cultural inheritance. Although they are the group containing the highest proportion of practising Christians, only 18% of Belief Integrationists think that defending our Christian culture and heritage is important for being Christian, compared to 90% of the Identity Integrationists.
The study also found that 8% of Britons strongly agree that to be truly British you should be Christian, while just 1% say being Christian is the most important factor in being British.