'Nones' outweigh Christians in England and Wales
The number of people with no religion has escalated throughout the years and even surpassed the number of Christians, at least among the population of England and Wales, as shown in a recent study.
According to The Guardian, a senior lecturer in theology and ethics at St. Mary's Catholic University in Twickenham, Stephen Bullivant, analyzed data collected through British Social Attitudes surveys over three decades. His study found that the number of people with no religion — also referred to as "nones" — have grown from 25 percent in 2011 to 48.5 percent in 2014. Christians, including the Anglicans, Catholics, and other denominations, make up the lesser population at 43.8 percent.
"The striking thing is the clear sense of the growth of 'no religion' as a proportion of the population," Bullivant told The Guardian.
Bullivant also observed that most people who were brought up in a religion are the most likely to abandon the church citing at least four out of 10 adults as "nones" now.
"The main driver is people who were brought up with some religion now saying they have no religion," noted Bullivan. "What we're seeing is an acceleration in the numbers of people not only not practising their faith on a regular basis, but not even ticking the box. The reason for that is the big question in the sociology of religion."
Bullivant stressed the need to take this data seriously so the church can identify areas or groups that require "pastoral attention."
In a separate study conducted by Dr. Steve Aisthorpe, a development worker with the Church of Scotland, his findings indicated that an estimated two-thirds of those who ceased attending church have not lost their faith, according to Christian Today.
"The overall picture is less one of decline and more one of change," Aisthorpe shared during a church statistics conference in Birmingham. "People are expressing their Christian faith in less institutional ways."
Aisthorpe's research is challenging the conventional indicators that Christian leaders use in determining the Christian faith's health and scale.