The 2011 census: Is it 14% or 65% for the ‘No Religion’?

Jul 09, 2008 21:35:10 GMT

The BHA are lobbying the Office of National Statistics to change the religion and belief question in the 2011 census as we believe that the 2001 question led to deeply flawed results (see below for discussion of this). The Office of National Statistics has written to the BHA telling them that they have done some testing of the question and that their results show that the 2001 question should be used again. BHA believe that this is a highly irresponsible decision, in light of how the 2001 data has been misused and the part it has played in advancing an unrepresentative agenda of religion-based work in so many areas. In order to strengthen our case, evidence is needed to show the difficulties created by the 2001 census question.

Therefore, the BHA would be very grateful if you could look out for information in your locality which justifies ‘faith-based’ practices by public bodies based on census results. Examples of this may include making funding decisions using this data or changes in service delivery; it may also include any use of the data which is unqualified e.g. in official documents which may say ‘70% of local residents are Christian’ rather than ‘70% of local residents responded “Christian” when asked “What is your religion” in the 2001 census’.

If you have any pertinent examples, please let them know so that they can build up evidence showing the misuse of the questionable 2001 data. All information should be sent to Naomi Phillips, Public Affairs Officer, naomi@humanism.org.uk

The 2011 census

The objective is to ensure that the question or questions about religion in the 2011 census give an accurate picture of religious affiliation in the UK. The single question in the 2001 census used in England and Wales gave a far higher figure for ‘Christian’ than all other surveys: 71.74% in England and 71.90% in Wales, while the Scottish figures, where respondents were asked about the religion they were brought up in, as well as their current religion, showed significantly lower religious affiliation: 65.08%, in spite of far higher figures for Church attendance for example in Scotland. The corresponding figures for ‘no religion’ were: England 14.60%, Wales 18.63% and Scotland 27.55%. The figures were probably also distorted by the fact that the question appeared immediately after a series of questions on ethnicity, which may well have encouraged people to respond more on the basis of culture than actual beliefs or religious affiliation.

Other surveys tend to give around 30 – 40% non-religious, rising to 60 – 65% for young people.

The census figures are, of course, used throughout Government as the basis for planning, resource allocation, etc, so it really is very important to make sure that the figures they produce next time are a true reflection of the situation in the UK.

Census 2011 Campaign - help the BHA!

At the BHA we are lobbying the Office of National Statistics to change the ‘religion’ question in the 2011 Census, as we believe that the 2001 question – ‘What is your religion?’ – led to deeply flawed results.

Our objective is to ensure that the question or questions about religion in the 2011 Census give an accurate picture of religious affiliation in the UK.

At least 15.5% of the population is non-religious according to the 2001 Census, making this the second largest ‘belief’ group in the UK, being two-and-a-half times as numerous as all the non-Christian religions put together. This figure, however, is by any sensible reckoning far too low. Firstly, the Office of National Statistics itself admits that the leading nature of the ‘religion’ question meant that many people, especially those with a loose (for example, merely cultural) affiliation to a religion, would have identified themselves as religious when they are not [Office of National Statistics (ONS) (2004) ‘Focus on Religion’, 11th October 2004. http://tinyurl.com/2dpnqw]. This is particularly true of those who identified themselves as ‘Christian’. Secondly, a large proportion of those people who identified themselves as affiliated in some sense to a religion in fact have no active involvement.

Apart from the inaccuracy of the data collected on religious affiliation, there are real, practical problems with the use of this data. The Census data on religion says nothing about the actual religious practice, involvement, belief or belonging of the population. However, both central and local government use this data in resource allocation and for targeting equality initiatives. And the figure stating that 72% of the population are ‘Christian’ has been used in a variety of ways, such as to justify the continuing presence of Bishops in the House of Lords, to justify the state-funding of faith schools (and their expansion), to justify and increase religious broadcasting and to exclude the voices of humanists in Parliament and elsewhere.

The Office of National Statistics has written to the BHA telling us that they have done some testing of the question and that their results show that the 2001 Census question on religion should be used again. In light of how the data has been misused, we believe that this is a highly irresponsible decision. In order to strengthen our case, we need evidence that demonstrates the difficulties created by the 2001 Census question.

Therefore, we would be very grateful if you could look out for information in your locality which justifies ‘faith-based’ practices by public bodies based on Census results. Examples of this may include making funding decisions using this data or changes in service delivery or justifying the allocation of resources on the basis of Census data on religion.

If you have any pertinent examples, please let us know so that we can build up evidence showing the misuse of the questionable 2001 data.

All information should be sent to Naomi Phillips, BHA Public Affairs Officer, naomi@humanism.org.uk. Contact Naomi for more information, by email or on 020 7079 3585.

Thank you for your help.

Consultation on the questions for the 2011 census

Consultation on the questions for the 2011 census

The Government somehow omitted to include the BHA in its preliminary consultation covering the ‘religion’ question for the 2011 census, but once we heard about the consultation, we very rapidly put together a response and managed to submit it just before the closing date.

Our objective is to ensure that the question or questions about religion in the 2011 census give an accurate picture of religious affiliation in the UK. The single question in the 2001 census used in England and Wales gave a far higher figure for ‘Christian’ than all other surveys: 71.74% in England and 71.90% in Wales, while the Scottish figures, where respondents were asked about the religion they were brought up in, as well as their current religion, showed significantly lower religious affiliation: 65.08%, in spite of far higher figures for Church attendance for example in Scotland. The corresponding figures for ‘no religion’ were: England 14.60%, Wales 18.63% and Scotland 27.55%. The figures were probably also distorted by the fact that the question appeared immediately after a series of questions on ethnicity, which may well have encouraged people to respond more on the basis of culture than actual beliefs or religious affiliation.

Other surveys tend to give around 30 – 40% non-religious, rising to 60 – 65% for young people. Click here for a selection of statistics on religion and belief in the UK.

The census figures are, of course, used throughout Government as the basis for planning, resource allocation, etc, so it really is very important to make sure that the figures they produce next time are a true reflection of the situation in the UK.

The BHA is demanding two questions on religion or non-religious beliefs in the 2011 census, similar to those used in Scotland in 2001, and will be lobbying hard to achieve this.

We also need to think about how to encourage people who do not have religious beliefs to answer the question more carefully: too many people who have not been near a Church for many years and have no religious beliefs still have a ‘Church of England reflex’ when faced with an official form.

Questions suggested by BHA
First, ‘Were you brought up with religious beliefs?…Yes/No’
‘How would you describe the religious or non-religious beliefs you were brought up
with?’…List of options that includes ‘non-religious’, with an option to specify.
Second, ‘Do you regard yourself now as belonging to any particular religion, or religious
denomination? …Yes/No’ and followed again by ‘How would you describe your religious or
non-religious beliefs now?’…List of options that includes ‘non-religious’, with an option to
specify.

BHA News - May / June 2007 - 2011 Census - BHA makes progress

The 2001 Census question - "What is your relgion?" produced a 72% response rate of Christian, and was flawed not only because it was a leading question, but because, coming straight after the question on ethnicity, it encouraged respondents to give a 'cultural' response as much as a religious one.

The BHA has argued that the figure fails to give an adequate picture of the real nature of religious and non-religious beliefs, identities or observance among the population and that - because the data is widely used as authoritative - the need for it to be accurate is very great.

BHA will work with the Office of National Statistics to come up with a fairer question.