Secularisation in Britain

Question 1

What percentage of the adult population of Britain attended church according to the 1851 Census of Religious Worship?

Answer 1

40% or more

Question 2

What does Wilson argue?

Answer 2

That Western societies had been undergoing a long-term process of secularisation

Question 3

What were the trends in 2015 in regards to church attendance?

Answer 3

• About 5% of the adult population attended church on Sundays

Question 4

What were Sunday attendance rates in 2013 compared to 1960?

Answer 4

1.6 million in 1960 to under 0.8 million in 2013

Question 5

What proportion of weddings are now (2012) religious compared to 1971?

Answer 5

1971: 60% of weddings were religious and in church
2012: This figure was 30%

Question 6

What are bogus baptisms?

Answer 6

Where people get baptised so that they can go to a good school (such as a faith school)

Question 7

According to the BSA survey in 2015, how did religious affiliation change between 1983 and then?

Answer 7

Between 1983 and 2014, the percentage of adults with no religion rose from 1/3 to 1/2

Question 8

What statistics show the declining influence of the church? (Numbers of clergymen/catholic priests)

Answer 8

• The number of clergy: During the 20th Century, the number of clergy fell from 45,000 to 34,000
• Catholic priests: The number of Catholic priests fell by 1/3 between 1965 and 2011

Question 9

What statistics show that the clergy are an ageing workforce?

Answer 9

• Only 12% of Anglican clergy are under 40

- New ordinations of Catholic priests are now below 1/10th of their 1965 figure