A new poll has revealed that Christians in Britain are less confident in discussing their religious beliefs than most other faith groups. It revealed that 38% of Christians prefer not to share their faith, compared to 29% of Muslims who feel the same way.
The survey was taken by the Institute for the Impact of Faith in Life with more than 2,000 people sharing insights into their personal faith and its influence on public life, education, and media.
Institute Secretary and report author Dr. Jake Scott said the percentage mostly represented what he called “cultural Christians.” He explained to Premier Christian News: “What that means is that you might get people responding to polls asking: What is your faith? and they’re saying Christian because it’s almost the default.”
“However, if you look at the 28% of Christians that are ‘exclusivist’ – which means that they believe Christianity is the only true religion – there’s a higher correlation between believing Christianity is the only true religion and willingness to talk about their faith,” Dr. Scott revealed.
“So what this means is when we talk about cultural Christianity is a sense that people might identify, in a broad sense as Christian, but not have the depth or conviction of faith, to actually translate that into a willingness to express that, or a competence to talk about that in public life,” he explained.
Only half of those who responded as ‘Christian’ said their faith helps them find purpose in life, which is lower than the percentages for Muslims (88%), Buddhists (80%) and Hindus (70%), but higher than Jews (33%) and Sikhs (19%). However, among exclusivist Christians, this figure surged to 87%.
The survey also highlighted a generational decline in the appreciation of Christian heritage’s role in British culture. Only 46% of 18-24-year-olds considered it important, compared to 74% of those over 65.
On a positive note, Generation Z is seeking God more than any other demographic. The survey found: “They are more zealous in their faith. The majority of them believe their faith is the only true religion. They are more wanting to speak of their faith in public and hear others share their faith, whilst also showing higher levels of interfaith and learning through interfaith.”
Respondents were sharply divided on the role of religion in the workplace, but united in their distrust of the news media. Just 21% believed it was balanced and 71% said it was biased while 63% opposed more coverage of religion in the news media.
The majority of Britons (60%) welcomed religious diversity and believed good relations existed between faith groups (73%), but just 36% considered religion a positive force in communities. Many respondents considered religious education important in schools (61%) and believed that knowledge of other faiths is important (80%).
