This is not good news for the atheist minority. Their attempts to impose their silly beliefs onto everyone else don't seem to be working. At least, not in Britain.
A new poll shows that, whilst organised religion - i.e. actually going to church or other religious establishments and worshipping - is actually falling, people are NOT becoming less spiritual. It seems that they merely cannot be bothered going to church, mosque, synagogue or temple.
A study for Christian think-tank Theos has found that 77% of Britons still believe in spiritual forces.
A quarter of Britons believe in angels, and 8% believe either they, or someone they knew, have experienced a miracle.
A majority of Britons are believers in the existence of a god.
30% believe in God “as a universal life force”, 30% in spirits and 12% in “a higher spiritual being that can’t be called God.”
Even 34% - a THIRD - on the NON-religious believe in the existence of some kind of spiritual being.
Nearly two in five Britons believe in the existence of a soul (39%), 32% in life after death, 26% in heaven, 16% in reincarnation, 13% in hell, and 13% in the power of deceased ancestors. In total, over half the British public (54%) holds at least one of these spiritual beliefs.
By comparison, only 13% of British adults agree with the statement “humans are purely material beings with no spiritual element”.
Amazingly, a quarter of NON-religious people agree with the statement that “humans are purely material beings with no spiritual element”.
Only a quarter of Britons do NOT believe in spiritual forces of any kind.
Post-religion poll finds most 'have spiritual beliefs'
18 October 2013
BBC News
The number of people going to church or following organised religion has fallen - yet the overwhelming majority of Britons still hold spiritual beliefs
Despite the falling popularity of organised religion, most people in the UK still believe in the power of spiritual forces, research suggests.
A study for the Christian think tank Theos recorded 77% as believing some things could not be explained by science or any other means.
Among the other findings, 8% said they or someone they knew had experienced a miracle, while one in four expressed a belief in angels.
ComRes surveyed just over 2,000 people.
"The study appears to confirm that, despite a steady decline in congregations and in formal religious belief, a sense of the spiritual remains strong in Britain," said the BBC's religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott.
'Post-religious Britain'
A quarter of Britons believe in angels, and over three quarters believe in spiritual forces
Only a quarter of those questioned thought spiritual forces had no influence on Earth.
And almost two-thirds of those who identified themselves as Christians thought such spiritual forces could influence people's thoughts or the natural world.
More than a third of the non-religious shared that belief.
Between 2001 and 2011, the proportion of people in England and Wales identifying themselves as Christian fell from 72% to 59%.
In the last census a quarter of the population said they had no religion - up from 15% 10 years earlier.
"Some secularists have concluded from these trends that over recent decades Britain has become more secular, or more sceptical, or more rational," says Theos in its "belief in post-religious Britain" report.
"But the picture is actually very different - more complex and more interesting - than that."
BBC News - Post-religion poll finds most 'have spiritual beliefs'
A new poll shows that, whilst organised religion - i.e. actually going to church or other religious establishments and worshipping - is actually falling, people are NOT becoming less spiritual. It seems that they merely cannot be bothered going to church, mosque, synagogue or temple.
A study for Christian think-tank Theos has found that 77% of Britons still believe in spiritual forces.
A quarter of Britons believe in angels, and 8% believe either they, or someone they knew, have experienced a miracle.
A majority of Britons are believers in the existence of a god.
30% believe in God “as a universal life force”, 30% in spirits and 12% in “a higher spiritual being that can’t be called God.”
Even 34% - a THIRD - on the NON-religious believe in the existence of some kind of spiritual being.
Nearly two in five Britons believe in the existence of a soul (39%), 32% in life after death, 26% in heaven, 16% in reincarnation, 13% in hell, and 13% in the power of deceased ancestors. In total, over half the British public (54%) holds at least one of these spiritual beliefs.
By comparison, only 13% of British adults agree with the statement “humans are purely material beings with no spiritual element”.
Amazingly, a quarter of NON-religious people agree with the statement that “humans are purely material beings with no spiritual element”.
Only a quarter of Britons do NOT believe in spiritual forces of any kind.
Post-religion poll finds most 'have spiritual beliefs'
18 October 2013
BBC News
The number of people going to church or following organised religion has fallen - yet the overwhelming majority of Britons still hold spiritual beliefs
Despite the falling popularity of organised religion, most people in the UK still believe in the power of spiritual forces, research suggests.
A study for the Christian think tank Theos recorded 77% as believing some things could not be explained by science or any other means.
Among the other findings, 8% said they or someone they knew had experienced a miracle, while one in four expressed a belief in angels.
ComRes surveyed just over 2,000 people.
"The study appears to confirm that, despite a steady decline in congregations and in formal religious belief, a sense of the spiritual remains strong in Britain," said the BBC's religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott.
'Post-religious Britain'
A quarter of Britons believe in angels, and over three quarters believe in spiritual forces
Only a quarter of those questioned thought spiritual forces had no influence on Earth.
And almost two-thirds of those who identified themselves as Christians thought such spiritual forces could influence people's thoughts or the natural world.
More than a third of the non-religious shared that belief.
Between 2001 and 2011, the proportion of people in England and Wales identifying themselves as Christian fell from 72% to 59%.
In the last census a quarter of the population said they had no religion - up from 15% 10 years earlier.
"Some secularists have concluded from these trends that over recent decades Britain has become more secular, or more sceptical, or more rational," says Theos in its "belief in post-religious Britain" report.
"But the picture is actually very different - more complex and more interesting - than that."
BBC News - Post-religion poll finds most 'have spiritual beliefs'
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