Nonreligious surge hits already deeply secular United Kingdom

In its April 9 newsletter, the organization reported that the number of Britons — citizens of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — “increased by a staggering 46 percent over the past seven years, making non-religious people the fastest growing group in the country.”

The newsletter said nearly 8 million more Britons today claim no religious affiliation than did in 2011, quoting new data from the U.K.’s Office of National Statistics (ONS).

Because the data is unsummarized, it’s difficult to double-check and verify the accuracy of Humanists UK’s report, but the organization’s recent newsletter claims track trends confirmed in other reputable reports in recent years.

For example, the website of the news group the Independent reported in September 2017:

“The number of Britons who say they have no religion has hit a record high, new data has revealed. More than half of the British public (53 per cent) say they are not at all religious – a figure that has increased by five percentage points since 2015 and by 19 percentage points since 1983, when just three in 10 people deemed themselves non-religious. The news has prompted fresh calls for the Government to cut the amount of public money going to the church and reduce its influence in society.”

The nonreligious proportion then was even higher — 71 percent — among young people aged between 18 and 25, the BBC noted in a separate report. People 25-34 are less religious still, at 75 percent.

When the 2017 data was released, Humanists UK contended it was thus “meaningless” for the Church of England to remain the “national legally established church,” considering that it lost 100,000 members from 2006-2016 and that its membership continues to fall.

see also:

Auntie the Apostate, losing her religion, by David Robertson, theweeflea

Half of British self-identified Christians do not believe that Jesus died on the cross for their sins, from Evangelical Focus