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According to the National Center for Social Research, the number of people in Britain describing themselves as Christian has fallen by 16 percent in the last 25 years, says Jenna Lyle writing for www.Christaintoday.com . NatCen (www.natcen.ac.uk ) is Britain’s leading independent social research institute. Its work covers all areas of social policy and our aim is a society better informed through high quality research. NatCen carries out and analyze research studies in the fields of social and public policy including extensive research among members of the public. Since NatCen was founded 40 years ago, they have grown to become Britain’s largest independent social research organization with a team of 350 permanent staff and a field force of 1,200 freelance interviewers. Lyle says the survey of more than 4,000 people across Britain found that the number of people describing themselves as Christian has dropped in the last 25 years from 66 per cent to 50 per cent. NatCen said the drop was due largely to the steady decline in numbers belonging to the Church of England, with only 23 percent of those surveyed describing themselves as Anglican today in comparison to 40 percent of the population in 1983. “The survey found that even among those describing themselves as Anglican, half said they never attended church at all and less than one fifth said they attended church once a month,” Lyle reports. While the Church of England has experienced a sizeable drop in attendance, non-Christian faiths have seen a small increase in affiliation, from two percent to seven percent. NatCen said immigration and population growth amongst ethnic minorities had contributed to the growth. The number of Britons saying that they do not belong to any particular faith rose from 31 percent in 1983 to 43 percent today. Lyle writes that NatCen also conducted the survey in the US, where it found ties to religious faith to be far stronger than in Britain. Sixty-one percent of Americans said they had ‘no doubt’ that God exists, compared with just 17 per cent in Britain, while 37 percent of Britons described themselves as atheist or agnostic, compared with only eight percent in the US. While 70 percent of Americans said they adhere to a particular religion, believe in God and attend religious services, just a quarter of people (26 percent) in Britain said the same. Lyle goes on to say that the survey also identified what it called the ‘fuzzy faithful — those who identify with a religion, believe in God or attend services, but not all three. In the US, fuzzy faithfuls make up 24 percent of the population, compared with 36 percent in Britain. In Britain, 73 percent of those surveyed felt people with strong religious beliefs were often too intolerant of others, compared with 66 percent in the US. Lyle writes that in spite of the decline in people identifying with the church in Britain, 79 percent of people still think religious faith provides comfort in times of trouble. In the US, 95 percent think so. She adds that when it comes to politics, both countries favor the separation of religion and state, with 67 percent in Britain and 66 percent in the US saying that religious leaders should not try to influence government decision-making. Professor David Voas, who analyzed the survey data, said: “Americans and Britons are surprisingly similar in many of their attitudes. “Most people are pragmatic: religion has personal and social benefits, but faith should not be taken too far. From politics to private life, many domains are seen as off limits to clerical involvement.”
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