The proportion of Britons who believe in the core tenets of Christianity has risen despite a decline in Church attendance, new research has revealed.
A study published in the Journal of Belief and Values found that there had been no universal decline in what the study defined as the main beliefs of Christianity – God, life after death, heaven, hell and sin. Overall the proportion who ascribed to these beliefs had increased over its 30 year duration, to almost a third of the population.
Some 28.6 per cent of those surveyed in 2008 said they believed in hell, compared to 26.2 per cent in 1981, while the proportion who believed in an afterlife in general held steady at 44 per cent. A majority of the those surveyed believed in sin, more people than believed in heaven.
While those who were most likely to hold traditional views were those who practised their faith, of those who said they didn’t practise, women were more likely to hold traditional views than men. People of higher socio-economic status were less likely to hold traditional religious beliefs.
The research was based on four surveys of around 1,500 people at nine-year intervals, and was carried out by Ben Clements, a lecturer in politics at the University of Leicester.
The findings contrast with a trend of general decline in church attendance. An analysis of attendance across denominations in 2013 predicted that in 2015 across Great Britain – excluding Northern Ireland – just 5,370,000 people would attend church. According to the figures, collated by Brierley Consultancy, if present trends continue, overall church membership will continue to decline by about 1 per cent every five years, reaching just 8 per cent of the adult population in 2025.
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