Capturing the fluidity of faith in the UK: Findings from the July monthly attitudes tracker

The less promising results first. In the July poll, more respondents reported their faith had not increased with age (3% increase) and faith groups were less inclined to see their faith as bound to their cultural heritage (5% decrease). Fewer respondents, especially in the non-faith group, agreed that the Prime Minister should be of any faith (3% decline), and faith groups reported less confidence in their knowledge of the world’s major religions (3% decline).      

Resistance to religion in public life showed small increases across almost all measures. Support for British politicians talking about their faith declined by 3%. While this view was more pronounced in the non-faith group, there was a 4% increase in faith group respondents stating they were undecided on whether this was desirable. There was also a 5% decline across all groups in support of British politicians consulting with faith leaders and overall increases in ambivalence on the utility of this practice.  

Other findings reflected a more positive stance on the impact of faith and religion in life. Respondents were less critical of people speaking about their faith in the workplace. Across the sample, there was less support for the claim that people should not talk about their faith at work (3% decline in the faith group and 3% in the non-faith group). Moreover, non-faith respondents took a more favourable stance towards whether faith and religion could generally be considered a force for good in society.    

The media was also subject to less negative appraisal. The July survey reflected an increased positivity towards media religious coverage, with respondents being less inclined to perceive its reporting as unbalanced and negative. Fewer respondents across the sample disagreed that media coverage in the last four weeks had been balanced (7% decline) and more reported being indecisive (9% increase).

Perceptions of media bias also showed an overall decline. This was most evident in the faith group, which showed a 12% decline in agreement with claims of media bias and a 4% rise in disagreement. The non-faith group however showed more ambivalence. While agreement with the claim of prejudicial reporting rose by 11%, disagreement equally rose by 4%. Numbers reporting indecision rose by 9% in the faith group and 8% in the non-faith group.

While less pronounced, responses to claims of general negativity in media coverage showed a similar pattern. Fewer respondents from the faith group (5% decrease) and the non-faith group (6% decrease) agreed that the media is generally negative. However, a 4% rise in disagreement with this claim in the faith group also indicates a stronger stance towards rejecting claims of media negativity. Indecision on this measure was also higher than in June across all groups. Perhaps tied to this increased positivity towards the media was a decline in the desire to see less religious media coverage (3% overall decline and 5% in the faith group).

In sum, the July report highlighted some declines in personal faith measures and openness to religion in public life, yet increased positive valuations of media coverage in which reporting was deemed less biassed and negative, more credible and valid. 

The higher rates of indecision coupled with shifts towards positive media perceptions documented by the June and July surveys indicate that periods of indecision, or abstaining from committing to a position, are not always synonymous with apathy. They may rather indicate a time where views are positively crystallised and a sense of clarity attained. 

These findings show that attitudes to faith and religion are not fixed qualities, however tempting it may be to view them as such. Rather they are shaped by the specific conditions in which they are lived and given expression. This fluidity and contextual interdependency of attitudes to faith and religion in the unique context of the UK is what the IIFL intends to make more visible through monthly tracking, to present an accurate snapshot of how faith and religion are experienced in the UK and the value they bring to its communities.