More Than Half In Uk Are Non-Religious, Suggests Survey

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41150792

I have been an Atheist all my adult life, so I am not remotely surprised by this. I have also worked on the BSA survey for 8 years and seen the percentage of people describe themselves as not religious grow over that time.

Anybody else surprised ?

[Zacs-Master]

There were 101,055 divorces of opposite sex couples in 2015, a decrease of 9.1% compared with 2014 and a decline of 34% from a recent peak in 2003.

[ummmm]

AOG....it's the pretty building they want to get married in.

[Sqad]

AOG has a point.
Islam is a religion (arguably) and at the going rate of Islamisation of the west, it would be interesting to see the results of a similar survey 50 years from now.
My bet .........well over 50 % of the population will be Muslims.

[Sqad]

Zacs....the rate of divorces are falling because the rate of marriages are falling.........couples are not bothering to get married.

[douglas9401]

My dear old mother-in-law informs me that I don't have to believe in god, he believes in me.

There is no escape! :)

[Zacs-Master]

AOG: It would seem that soon we will no longer be a Christian country but an Islamic country, happy with that are you?

It would appear that we will soon become a non religious country. That's the whole point of the thread. In Mikey's link, non Christian religion has 6% support i.e. 3% of the population. Hardly being overrun are we?

[anotheoldgit]

Zacs-Master

Perhaps fewer decide to get married these days, therefore less divorces?

[Zacs-Master]

Sqad:
First-time marriages continue to rise while remarriages decline
In 2013, 77% of brides and 76% of grooms were marrying for the first time.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/marriagecohabitationandcivilpartnerships/bulletins/marriagesinenglandandwalesprovisional/2013#first-time-marriages-continue-to-rise-while-remarriages-decline

[Zacs-Master]

And AOG ^^^

[anotheoldgit]

Sorry Sqad, I didn't see your post, you got there first, well done.

[beso]

anotheoldgit //I wonder how many of those so called atheists choose to get married in church? //

Civil weddings outnumber church weddings by three to one. The vast majority of civil ceremonies are carried out by authorised civil celebrants who come to the venue of the couples choice.

A growing trend is people in their thirties who have been together several years. Their children are honoured at the wedding ceremony. It is most likely held at a beautiful outside location.

Invariably great parties in my experience. The families know each other quite well by then so it avoids those awkward moments in the old style weddings where most of the rellies meet for the first time. Fights between mother-in-laws after tension built up in the preparations were legendary in the old days.

It funny to think now how frowned upon it used to be to live together unmarried. Now people would think it extremely odd for someone to marry someone they had never slept with.

[anotheoldgit]

Zacs-Master

/// Hardly being overrun are we? ///

Give them time, give them time.

Have you seen their birth rate figures?

[Sqad]

Zacs........click on your own link and at the top it says.."This is NOT the latest release.....click below "View Latest release""
This would support AOG and myself.

[Zacs-Master]

There were 247,372 marriages between opposite sex couples in England and Wales in 2014, a 2.7% increase compared with 2013; this results from a 4.1% rise in civil marriages coupled with a 0.8% decline in religious marriages.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/marriagecohabitationandcivilpartnerships/bulletins/marriagesinenglandandwalesprovisional/2014#marriages-between-opposite-sex-couples-rise-in-2014

[Zacs-Master]

Wrong.

[mikey4444]

I have lost my 'net connection this morning and its only just come back !

AOG...read the link above. There is no sign whatsoever that British is set to become an Islamic country at any time yet....there is no evidence for that diagnosis at all.

Whether God exists or not is immaterial to the results of the BSA survey....its about if people believe he does or not. And from these results, more people don't appear to believe he does, than in previous years.

[Zacs-Master]

I pointed that out too Mikey. Another case of DM brainwashing.

[mikey4444]

Zacs.....your data would appear to show that marriages of any kind are fast unpopular.

The graph shows some interesting blips.....both in 1939 and then again in 1945, marriages soared, but in the last 40 years, the rate has plummeted.

I can remember the time when "living in sin" was seen exactly as that. Having a child out of wedlock was seen in a similar light, and I wonder if the decline in religious belief is analogous with the decline in marriages ?

[Sqad]

Zacs/Mikey.

"There is no sign whatsoever that British is set to become an Islamic country at any time yet....there is no evidence for that diagnosis at all."

Just humour an old man for a while, put away your statistics for a moment, arrange a meeting with someone born in the 30's and 40's, hire a car and drive around the major cities of the UK.
Ask him questions, let him describe life at that time compared to today and then, ignore his comments if you choose.

[mikey4444]

Zacs....notice how quickly this thread has become an anti-Muslim thread ?