The aim of this chapter is to look at the recent UK Census results on religion and to relate this to the broader subjects of secularisation, post-secularisation and the nature of religious change in England and Wales; then to explore some of their implications for religious education. Discussion is focused on the decline of both Christianity and Humanism and on the increase of those who identify as non-religious, some of whom, while departing from institutional religion find meaning in “residual” religious beliefs and “spiritual” emotions. This, in turn, raises the issue of the extent to which, and the ways in which, demographic shifts and religious change ought to be reflected in religious education. Part of the argument will be that the movement from the nature and significance of religious change in secular societies to educational policy, upon which religious data provide evidence and to which a range of other considerations is relevant, is much more challenging and complex than is often assumed.

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Christianity, Humanism, and Non-religion: The 2021 UK Census and Religious Education

  • L. Philip Barnes

摘要

The aim of this chapter is to look at the recent UK Census results on religion and to relate this to the broader subjects of secularisation, post-secularisation and the nature of religious change in England and Wales; then to explore some of their implications for religious education. Discussion is focused on the decline of both Christianity and Humanism and on the increase of those who identify as non-religious, some of whom, while departing from institutional religion find meaning in “residual” religious beliefs and “spiritual” emotions. This, in turn, raises the issue of the extent to which, and the ways in which, demographic shifts and religious change ought to be reflected in religious education. Part of the argument will be that the movement from the nature and significance of religious change in secular societies to educational policy, upon which religious data provide evidence and to which a range of other considerations is relevant, is much more challenging and complex than is often assumed.