The UK is no longer majority Christian

[mikkel_the_dane]

Maybe to those who somehow believe atheism is a religion.

No, I don't believe atheism is a religion, But the rest of your worldview might be that.

 

[Alien826]

Time to reform the House of Lords, certainly. Fixating on the Bishops misses the point entirely imo.

Let's complete the job of getting rid of the Hereditary Peers too.

 

[Alien826]

More than that, C of E bishops get positions in the House of Lords by virtue of their office.

Edit: but to answer your question, I think the problem of the monarch also being head of a church goes away completely if there is no monarch. Make the UK a republic (and get the Lords Spiritual out of Parliament) and the problem goes away.

Whether the C of E would want to keep Charles as their head after that is an internal issue for the Church to figure out on its own.

I'm against the Monarchy on principle, but it seems that a majority of Brits want to keep it. We do tend to cling to tradition long after any utility has departed. This Head of the Church thing goes back to Henry VIII, of course, when both King and Church had very real power and the King wanted to get a divorce when the Pope wouldn't grant one. The title Defender of the Faith has an interesting history too.

Incidentally, is the UK with its Bishops in the House of Lords, more or less influenced by religion than the USA with its Catholic dominated Supreme Court?

 

[Sand Dancer]

Funny how that works out. The US has a totally secular Constitution and a highly religious population.

We just gotta rebel against Europe, darn it.

 

[England my lionheart]

England and Wales now minority Christian countries, census reveals | Census | The Guardian

"The census revealed a 5.5 million drop in the number of Christians..."

"37.2% of people – 22.2 million – declared they had “no religion”, the second most common response after Christian." This is up from (IIRC) 25.4% 10-years ago

"The chief executive of Humanists UK, Andrew Copson, said: “One of the most striking things about these census results is how at odds the population is from the state itself. No state in Europe has such a religious set-up as we do in terms of law and public policy, while at the same time having such a non-religious population.”

I think if the brown stuff hit the fan the census would be different,religion and tradition are intertwined in the UK as in many places in the world so I think there’s many fence sitters.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Now I know that I live in a conurbation given the nature of the SF Bay Area

I lived in the SF Bay Area for eleven years way back when ...

 

[sun rise]

I lived in the SF Bay Area for eleven years way back when ...

I was living in Windsor up north a bit in 1976. Memories.

 

[Altfish]

I think if the brown stuff hit the fan the census would be different,religion and tradition are intertwined in the UK as in many places in the world so I think there’s many fence sitters.

That sounds like the reason you voted Brexit.
Based on absolutely no evidence and using the "there are no atheists in fax holes" argument

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

Just remember that many people who do not belong to a religion do believe in a higher power. So many people who rote 'no religion' do believe in a higher power. They belong to 'spiritual but not religious' group

And what is this "higher power's" purpose? What does it do? How do you get it to do that? Because trying to answer those questions are what lead almost inexorably to religion.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Funny how that works out. The US has a totally secular Constitution and a highly religious population.

I've been thinking about that. One big difference between the US and UK (and most of Europe): the US never had a civil war over religious differences. They haven't seen the full extent of what can happen when one part of society tries to push their religion on everyone.

(And even though the English Civil War happened before the US split off, the US seems to have forgotten about pre-Revolution history)

 

[England my lionheart]

That sounds like the reason you voted Brexit.
Based on absolutely no evidence and using the "there are no atheists in fax holes" argument

A Fax,thing of the past like Brexit,I’m just pointing out that people will still get married baptised or buried via a religious ceremony so it’s not like cutting the apron strings for ever.

 

[stevecanuck]

Is this a thinly veiled insinuation that Muslim migrants will forcefully convert the British? A common theme along the far right.

Muslims will NOT forcefully convert the British. They won't have to. When they reach sufficient numbers (probably not for at least a couple of decades) they will simply gain control of the government through the democratic process and legislate sharia as the law of the land.

 

[Heyo]

I've been thinking about that. One big difference between the US and UK (and most of Europe): the US never had a civil war over religious differences. They haven't seen the full extent of what can happen when one part of society tries to push their religion on everyone.

(And even though the English Civil War happened before the US split off, the US seems to have forgotten about pre-Revolution history)

No, they haven't. At least not until recently. Remember that the US has been made up mostly of immigrants, many of them fleeing religious persecution. It is only in the last two or three generations that that memory has been lost.

 

[Wandering Monk]

Muslims will NOT forcefully convert the British. They won't have to. When they reach sufficient numbers (probably not for at least a couple of decades) they will simply gain control of the government through the democratic process and legislate sharia as the law of the land.

Not necessarily so. Generally, the wealthier and more educated people become, the fewer children they have.

 

[Altfish]

A Fax,thing of the past like Brexit,I’m just pointing out that people will still get married baptised or buried via a religious ceremony so it’s not like cutting the apron strings for ever.

OK, a spalling error.
I didn't get married in a church, my children aren't baptised, I can't remember the last non-Humanist funeral I attended.
Humanist marriages out number christian ones in Scotland

 

[mikkel_the_dane]

And what is this "higher power's" purpose? What does it do? How do you get it to do that? Because trying to answer those questions are what lead almost inexorably to religion.

Okay, it is simple once you check the history of science and try to understand this:
Basic assumptions of science - Understanding Science

How come it is assumptions? Well, because even objective reason, logic and evidence have limits.
And in practice they are here:
Science has limits: A few things that science does not do - Understanding Science

So to the bone, both for that the world is natural or that the world is from God, are without evidence.
As for these 2 natural and supernatural, there is several other ones and I use one of them.
I don't know what the world is in the strong objective sense and I don't care, because I don't need to know that. Personally I use religion as it works for me as a personal crutch. I.e. a psychological coping mechanism.

But I seperate how I cope from other humans as to how they cope. So for the everyday world I am a variant of secular humanism, yet also religious.

 

[Estro Felino]

OK, a spalling error.
I didn't get married in a church, my children aren't baptised, I can't remember the last non-Humanist funeral I attended.
Humanist marriages out number christian ones in Scotland

Let's say that Britain becomes 100% atheistic.
What will happen to the churches and the cathedrals? Will they be demolished?

 

[mikkel_the_dane]

Let's say that Britain becomes 100% atheistic.
What will happen to the churches and the cathedrals? Will be demolished?

That is unknown.

 

[Altfish]

Let's say that Britain becomes 100% atheistic.
What will happen to the churches and the cathedrals? Will they be demolished?

Turned into flats, offices, land cleared for development. In my area the local CofE church that I used to attend has gone and is now houses. The main RC church has gone to be replaced by flats.
Buildings can be repurposed

BTW the UK will never be 100& atheistic (Is that a word?)

 

[wellwisher]

England and Wales now minority Christian countries, census reveals | Census | The Guardian

"The census revealed a 5.5 million drop in the number of Christians..."

"37.2% of people – 22.2 million – declared they had “no religion”, the second most common response after Christian." This is up from (IIRC) 25.4% 10-years ago

"The chief executive of Humanists UK, Andrew Copson, said: “One of the most striking things about these census results is how at odds the population is from the state itself. No state in Europe has such a religious set-up as we do in terms of law and public policy, while at the same time having such a non-religious population.”

This make sense since Christians create the most desirable places to live. You don't see people flocking to get into Atheist countries like China or the old Soviet Union. It is usually the other way around, until there goes the neighborhood.