Being religious in the UK

When life gets busy, it gets really busy. Things have been action packed of late, but I have a two week period of calmer-ness coming up. I hope to use it well.

My attention was caught by this post over at Et tu? about the religious climate in different countries. With questions to answer! I work with people from lots of different countries and we often talk about the differences between our countries and cultures, and how this affects us, so reading the comments was really interesting. Here’s my input…

Where do you live?

I live in the UK, in London.

What is church attendance like in your area?

Just walking for 10 minutes down the local high street, I walk past a Baptist Church, Catholic, Anglican, Seventh Day Adventists, Methodist, Salvation Army & URC. There are at least 4 or 5 other Christian Churches within a 10 minute walk from my house. Not sure how active the membership is. At ecumenical events, its usually elderly ladies. Attendance at the Catholic Church has increased hugely in recent years due to Polish and Brazilian immigration – and they are often the most active members.

Imagine a typical social event in your area. How appropriate would it be if a person were to explicitly acknowledge in casual conversation that he or she is a believing Christian (e.g. make a statement like, “We’ve been praying about this a lot” or “I’ve asked God to show me what the right answer is to my dilemma”)? Would a statement like that seem perfectly normal or a bit odd?

Bit odd, to be honest. Having said that, I often refer to the Church and to God simply because I work in youth ministry and it’s one of the first things that people hear about me. I often get religious questions or seem to be disproving ‘religious stereotypes’. I don’t sledgehammer it, but I don’t hide it either. For example, I was having a conversation about ‘fate’ in our lives today, and I responded by saying ‘I would say that it’s God at work in our lives. Mate, He works in mysterious ways (!)’.

Imagine a typical neighborhood in your area. If a practicing Christian family moved in, how would they fit in? Would they blend right in or seem out of place?

My neighbourhood is so mixed and diverse that anyone moving in would fit right in! But then again, neighbourhood is a strong word for the local area that a bunch of people happen to live in.

How many families do you know who have more than two children?

Immigrant families in my area seem to have more than two children. Otherwise, hardly any.

What seems to be the dominant belief system of the people in your area?

Again, a diverse mix. The Muslim and Jewish populations are the most noticeable, purely from dress and shops. We’re close to the Hindu Temple too. There are three Catholic schools within a 10 minute walk, as well as the Christian Churches I mentioned… Outside the actively religious, I think the dominant belief is in some form of God/higher being, but doesn’t translate to any action that would get in the way of having fun.

Do you notice any trends?

The trend I notice amongst Catholics are that the churched are becoming more religious, more traditional and more orthodox and the unchurched, less interested and more apathetic. My experience is that there are almost two different types of Catholics in the UK – the Catholics who are very devoted (usually very into their devotions) and just get on and go about the business of being Catholic, and the Catholics who think about their faith, know a lot about it (usually study some aspect of it) and take it very seriously. When the media refers to Catholics or there is a Catholic voice in the media, it’s usually from the latter group.

There is an energy about young active Catholics that it pretty exciting.

In general being religious seems to be regarded as a quirk like being vegetarian or choosing to live off grid, or some kind of escape from reality, parallel to drinking or watch reality tv. It’s not something that normal, functioning people need to bother with. In public life, Christianity seems to be picked on in some ways. In the last couple of days, I came across a story in the Catholic Herald about a Labour activist qutting their post over anti-Catholicism, and on the BBC of the Church of England being ignored by ministers.