In five decades, the number of people with no religion in Britain has grown from just 3 per cent of the population to nearly half, according to a new survey. Among adults aged under 25, nearly two-thirds define themselves as "nones", or people with no religious affiliation.

The findings present an enormous challenge for the churches over how they make faith appealing to young people, in a world where many young will be appalled at how the male-dominated church leadership has made discrimination against women and homosexuals a defining feature of orthodox mission.

If the trends continue, Methodists will be extinct in a few decades and the Church of England also faces massive decline by the end of the century.

Only the Catholics are currently holding up, along with some minority faiths, in the mass move towards atheism and agnosticism in Britain.

Ben Clements of British Religion in Numbershas analysed the latest data from the first stage of the 2015 British Election Study, a survey of more than 20,000 people by a team of academics from Manchester, Oxford and Nottingham universities.

His results, posted on the British Religion in Numbers website, make for gloomy reading for most churches in the UK.

According to the results, nearly half the population, 44.7 per cent, now do not belong to any religion at all. Nearly a third identify as Church of England or Anglican and nearly one in ten as Catholic. Just 1.6 per cent identify as Muslim. Among those aged 18-24, just 14.2 per cent identify as Anglican, 8.5 per cent as Catholic and 11 per cent as other religion. Only among the over 65s are the numbers of Anglicans holding up, at 46.4 per cent.

The average age is highest for Anglicans, at 53.7 years, and lowest for those with no religion, 43.3 years, or a non-Christian faith, 42.2 years.

Clements reportsthat over the five decades from 1963, when the British Election Study began, to this summer, the major features are the resilience of Catholicism and a decline in Anglicanism and other Christian traditions. He also found a significant increase in those affiliated to minority faiths and the growth in what have become known as the "religious nones".

In 1963, Anglicans made up 64.5 per cent of those questioned, compared to 31.1 per cent this year. Other Christian denominations also declined from 23.1 per cent to 7.6 per cent, while other faiths grew from 0.6 per cent to 7.5 per cent and Catholics also grew from 8.6 per cent to 9.1 per cent.

Originally posted here:
Exclusive: New figures reveal massive decline in religious affiliation