Half Of Brits Say Religion Does More Harm Than Good, And Atheists Can Be Just As Moral
Britain is changing, becoming more multicultural and secular. Is religion changing too? Throughout November, The Huffington Post UK is running its Beyond Belief series, profiling remarkable Britons who’ve taken on their faith to create a force for change.
The Huffington Post UK
More than half of Britons believe that religion does more harm than good, with less than a quarter believing faith is a force for good, the Huffington Post UK can reveal today.
Even 20% of British people who described themselves as being ‘very religious’ said religion was harmful to society, and a quarter of said atheists were more likely to be moral individuals than religious people.
The exclusive poll for the HuffPost UK reveals that just 8% of Britons describe themselves as very religious, with more than 60% saying they were not religious at all.
The eye-opening survey, that will reopen debate over the role and worth of religion to British society, found of the ‘non-religious’ people polled, more than 60% said they thought religion caused more problems than it solved.
The poll shows that more people believe being an atheist is more likely to make you a good person than being religious. In fact, one in eight Britons said atheists tend to be more moral, compared to just 6% who say atheists are less moral, challenging widely held beliefs that religion is one of the last remaining bastions of British morality.
The pioneering study results come as HuffPost UK launches Beyond Belief, a groundbreaking series on the fearless Britons who’ve have used their faith to create positive change within their religion.
Other major findings revealed:
* Of the 2,004 people surveyed in the HuffPost/Survation poll, 56% described themselves as Christian, 2.5% were Muslim, 1% were Jewish and the remainder were of another faith or none
* The majority of Brits believe religion is not more likely to make you a moral person. More than 55% of those surveyed said that atheists are just as likely to be moral people than religious people
* Young people are actually more likely to have a positive view of religion. Around 30% of 18-24 year old believe religion does more good than harm, compared to just 19% of 55-64 year-olds
The strong evidence of a British society which is largely secular and multicultural has led to some call for a rethink of the role of religion in public life. Linda Woodhead, professor of the sociology of religion at Lancaster University, said it was “striking” to see the number of people professing no religion.
“This confirms something I’ve found in my own surveys and which leads me to conclude that religion has become a ‘toxic brand’ in the UK,” she told HuffPost UK. “What we are seeing is not a complete rejection of faith, belief in the divine, or spirituality, though there is some to that, but of institutional religion in the historic forms which are familiar to people.
Woodhead said the reasons for a retreat from religion are “numerous”, from sex scandals involving Catholic priests and rabbis, to conflict in the Middle East and Islamist terror attack.
“I’d add religious leaderships’ drift away from the liberal values, equality, tolerance, diversity, [which is] embraced by many of their own followers and often championed by non-religious and atheist people more forcefully,” she said.
“This survey just confirms what we know is the common sense of people in Britain today – that whether you are religious or not has very little to do with your morality,” said Andrew Copson chief executive of the British Humanist Association.
“Most people understand that morality and good personal and social values are not tied to religious belief systems, but are the result of our common heritage and experience as human beings: social animals that care for each other and are kind to others because we understand that they are human too.
“Not only that, people understand that religious beliefs themselves can be harmful to morality: encouraging intolerance, inflexibility and the doing of harm in the name of a greater good. We only need to look around us to perceive that fact.”
