Census results published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), on Tuesday, show that less than half of people in the two British nations, England and Wales, identify themselves as Christian. The announcement has also reportedly renewed calls to end the Church of England’s role in parliament and schools.
Meanwhile, two cities in the United Kingdom, Leicester and Birmingham became the first to be labelled as “minority majorities”. Nearly 60 per cent of people in Leicester and 51.4 per cent of Birmingham residents are from ethnic minorities, the census data showed.
Notably, the people were asked what their religion was rather than about their religious practices or beliefs, a question which is optional since 2001. The number of people who identified as Christians were down from 59.3 per cent in 2011 to 46.6 per cent in 2021. On the other hand, people who said they do not have a religion grew from 25 per cent a decade ago to 37 per cent, last year.
This has supposedly triggered calls for reform of laws that mandate Christian teaching and worship in schools and allowing bishops from the Church of England to sit in the House of Lords, said a report by the Guardian. Notably, England is legally a Christian country with the aforementioned religious institute as the established church and the Monarchy as its nominal head.
This grants the Church of England the power which secularists and others now want an end. Some of the mandates include King Charles making an oath to preserve the church, guaranteeing Church of England bishops and archbishops over 20 seats in the Parliament, and state schools required to hold Christian worship.
On the other hand, the Muslim population in the two British nations grew from 2.7 million (2011) to 3.9 million (2021). Almost 82 per cent of the population in England and Wales is now white including non-British, the census data shows.
While some of the most common ethnic groups included Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh, accounting for a little over 9.3 per cent of the population. Overall nearly 75 per cent of the total population identified as white as well as English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British.
One in 10 households across England and Wales is made up of people with two or more ethnic groups which is an increase from 8.7 per cent. The census also identified Shamanism as one of the fastest-growing religious identities and Romanian as one of the fastest-rising languages. The survey covers only two of the four nations in the UK, England and Wales while Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own census.
You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.
