Monthly Archives: December 2010

Converts to Islam

Conversion to Islam by Britons is a centuries-old phenomenon but has only become numerically significant in recent decades. Mostly, the process passes relatively unnoticed by the public, but there have been occasional high-profile conversions, including recently that of the journalist … Continue reading

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Who Worked on Christmas Day? Not All the Clergy!

Christmas Day may be both a religious festival and a secular public holiday in Britain, but many people have to, or choose to, work on the day, according to newly-released data from the Government’s Labour Force Survey, which interviews a … Continue reading

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I Believe in Angels – The Reality Behind the ABBA Lyrics

It can often be an uphill struggle to engage the news media in positive stories about religion, especially where statistics are also involved! However, the Bible Society and Christian Research were clearly on to a real winner with their press … Continue reading

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Top of the Christmas ‘Pops’

Silent Night is the nation’s favourite Christmas carol, according to a YouGov poll released today. Online interviews took place with 1,162 adult Britons aged 18 and over on 21 and 22 December. The data table is available at: http://today.yougov.co.uk/sites/today.yougov.co.uk/files/YG-YouGov-Life-Christmas-Carols-221210.pdf Silent … Continue reading

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Not Ashamed – Christianity in Britain

Some sections of British evangelical Christianity feel increasingly beleaguered in the face of what they perceive as the progressive marginalization of their faith, at the hands of the law, the media, government and employers. Christian Concern is one organization seeking … Continue reading

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Thumbs Up to Religious Education?

We reported on 29 August (http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=512) about the importance which the British public attached in a YouGov poll to religious education (RE) relative to other school subjects. On 13 December the RE Council (REC) of England and Wales, an umbrella … Continue reading

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Back to Church Sunday 2010

‘Onward Christian Soldiers: Churches Resurgent’ proclaims the headline in Jonathan Wynne-Jones’s article in today’s Sunday Telegraph, referring to the case advanced by Christian Research over the past three months that the relentless decline in churchgoing may be coming to an … Continue reading

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Today’s News – (1) ‘Islamic Extremism’, (2) Religion at Christmas

The regular weekly YouGov poll for The Sunday Times, published today, includes questions on a couple of topics which will interest BRIN readers. Interviewing was online on 16 and 17 December, among a representative sample of 1,966 adult Britons aged … Continue reading

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Plymouth Faith Action Audit

Some politicians and voters are pretty sceptical about David Cameron’s concept of the ‘Big Society’, but faith-based organizations certainly seem to be keen to demonstrate that they are already doing ‘it’. Various surveys of religion as social capital have been … Continue reading

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Understanding Society

On 13 December the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) made an interim release of data for the general population component from Wave 1, Year 1 (running from 8 January 2009 to 7 March 2010) of Understanding Society, the new … Continue reading

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