A significant decline in Church of England attendance in the past decade demonstrates the need for a more accurate reflection of religion and belief in national statistics, the BHA has stated.
Figures, first issued earlier this year and published online today by the Church of England, reveal a sharp decrease in numbers attending services across the Church of England. The Church’s own figures show that weekly attendance had dropped by around 10% in just 8 years between 2000 to 2008. Attendance on Sundays is particularly low, at just over 800000 adults attending Church services on a Sunday, which stood at over 1.5 million in 1970.
This week, the BHA launched a major new campaign encouraging people to tick ‘No religion’ on the next Census in England and Wales in 2011. http://census-campaign.org.uk/
Naomi Phillips, BHA Head of Public Affairs, commented, ‘We know that only a tiny proportion of the population ever go to a place of worship, and the Church’s own figures show that church attendance is continuing to decline at a rapid pace. It’s quite clear that 72 per cent of the population are not practising and believing Christians as the Census data might suggest, and that there are many more than 15 per cent of the population who are not religious.
‘Census statistics are used by government to inform policy, by local authorities to allocate resources, and are used to justify the continuation of religious privilege, such as the automatic right of Church of England Bishops to sit in the House of Lords. Ticking ‘Christian’ out of a vague affiliation or for cultural reasons leads to inaccurate figures. We want everybody who is not religious to make sure they record that on their Census forms.’
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For further comment or information, contact Naomi Phillips on 020 7079 358.
The British Humanist Association is the national charity representing and supporting the interests of ethically concerned, non-religious people in the UK. It is the largest organisation in the UK campaigning for an end to religious privilege and to discrimination based on religion or belief, and for a secular state.