Although, as reported by BRIN on 18 February 2012, 56% of adults think that Britain is a Christian country and 61% that it should be, only 4% (and no more than 8% in any demographic sub-group, the peak being among over-65s) consider that not being a Christian stops people from being fully British.
This compares with not speaking English (59%), being born outside the UK (26%), not mixing with other groups (25%), not living in Britain (18%), having foreign-born parents (11%), not being white (9%), dressing differently (8%), and having an accent (7%).
This new finding is from an Ipsos MORI survey for Channel 4 in connection with the latter’s recently-broadcast two-part documentary Make Bradford British. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 998 Britons aged 18 and over between 27 January and 5 February 2012. Data tables have now been posted online at:
http://www.ipsos-mori.com/Assets/Docs/Britishness%20tabs.PDF
Two other questions from the poll will also be of interest to BRIN readers:
- During the past year 68% of respondents claimed to have regularly (monthly or more) mixed socially (outside work or school) with persons of a different religious belief, against 66% in the case of people from a different ethnic background, 90% from a different generation, and 62% of a different sexuality – inter-religious mixing was most pronounced among the 15-34s (74%), non-manuals (73%), graduates (75%), readers of broadsheet newspapers (79%), non-whites (83%), Londoners (88%), and those disagreeing that there were too many immigrants (80%).
- 62% of Britons correctly identified the date of St George’s Day, when England’s patron saint is commemorated, albeit the proportion fell to only 49% of the 15-34s, 48% of the lowest (DE) social grade, and 32% of non-whites.
