Neither religious nor secular: The british situation and its implications for religion-state relations1

Linda Woodhead

doi:10.4324/9781315574035-7

Neither religious nor secular: The british situation and its implications for religion-state relations1

Linda Woodhead^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Theology & Religious Studies

Department of Sociology, Lancaster University

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

The chapter begings with example because it provides a nice illustration of the perplexing features of the religious - and secular - profile of Britain. It argues that attention to the evidence, rather than assertion of an aspiration, suggests that neither the label ‘religious’ nor ‘secular’ does justice to the contemporary situation. When asked what ‘says something important about you’, the Home Office Citizenship Survey finds that Christians tend to put work and family at the top of their list, with religion seventh, whereas members of all the other major religious groups in Britain put religion and family top. The existence of sizeable non-Christian religious communities in Britain is recent, and is tied to significant immigration after the Second World War. As that a strong sense of national identity and a strong commitment to Christianity have declined together, each impacted by the other’s demise.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Contesting Secularism
Subtitle of host publication	Comparative Perspectives
Publisher	Taylor and Francis AS
Pages	137-161
Number of pages	25
ISBN (Electronic)	9781317160243
ISBN (Print)	9781409457404
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315574035-7
Publication status	Published - 1 Jan 2016

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Neither religious nor secular: The british situation and its implications for religion-state relations1

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