This survey sought to explore attitudes and perceptions of faith and people of faith in the UK, both on a personal level and the role faith plays in public life. Participants were asked for their views on issues ranging from the role faith plays in their own life, to whether they think the Prime Minister could be of any faith.

Some key findings include:

Attitudes to personal faith

• Respondents generally had a positive view of their own religion but were unlikely to be fundamentalist in their outlook.

• Christians were far less likely than Muslims to think their religion was the one true religion with 28% of Christians agreeing with the statement compared to 83% of Muslims who agreed.

• Those with a religious belief were far more likely to believe that personal faith is generally a positive force in society with on 13% of non-religious respondents agreeing compared to 55% of religious respondents.

  Attitudes to faith in public life

  ·       Those without a religious faith were generally, and unsurprisingly, less sympathetic than religious respondents to the role of faith in public life.

  ·       Of those without a faith, 47% said people shouldn’t talk about their faith at work while 36% disagreed. This compares to 37% of religious people who agreed compared to 47% who disagreed.

  ·       Non-religious people were far less likely to support politicians talking about their faith publicly than religious respondents. Only 19% of respondents with no religious faith agreed that politicians talking about their faith is a positive thing compared to 51% of those with a faith.

  ·       The majority recognised that Christian heritage is an important aspect of British culture with almost half (47%) of those without a faith agreeing while 37% disagreed. Muslims were also in agreement, with 65% agreeing that Christian heritage is an important part of British culture.

   

  Attitudes to faith in education

  ·       Half (50%) of those without a religious faith agree that it is good that children are taught religious education, rising to 80% among religious respondents

  ·       A large majority (80%) of all respondents agree that it is important to learn about faiths other than your own

  ·       Views were mixed on the impact of respondents’ own religious education with 58% of those without a religious faith saying their religious education at school did not give them a good moral grounding

  ·       Even among those with a religious faith, 44% agreed that their religious education encouraged their spiritual development while 42% disagreed.

   

  Faith literacy

  ·       Generally, respondents had a good grasp of a variety of religions, with 56% agreeing overall that they knew what followers of most religions believed and why.

  ·       People thought it was important to understand what the major religions were about with 71% agreeing with this statement overall.

  ·       Respondents were generally more likely to have learnt about other religions from TV shows, books, and films than friends who followed those religions. For example, even among religious people, 48% of respondents said they had learnt what they know from films, books, and TV compared to 42% who said they had learnt it from friends.

  ·       Among the non-religious group, 27% said they learnt it from friends, while 41% said they had learnt what they know about religions through films, books and TV.

   

  Attitudes to faith in the media

  ·       Perceptions of how religion is portrayed in the media were that it is generally unbalanced, with 57% disagreeing with the statement ‘The way the media portrays different religions is generally balanced.’

  ·       Those who held a religious faith were slightly more likely to say that the media appears to treat some religions more critically than others with 72% of religious people agreeing. This figure was lower among Christians with 70% agreeing, while 76% of Muslims agreed, and a very high proportion of Jews agreed at 96%.

  ·       There was little appetite for more religion in the media with 7% of non-religious respondents calling for this, and only 28% of religious people.

   

  Faith in public life over time

  ·       Those who held a religious belief were generally more likely to think that freedom of religion has worsened in the UK in the last ten years with 52% agreeing, compared to 33% of non-religious people.

  ·       People were more likely to say the UK is a multi-faith society than it is a Christian country, with 85% saying it is multi-faith while 50% agreed it is Christian.

  ·       There was widespread agreement that someone of any faith should be able to be prime minister with 72% agreeing and 15% disagreeing.