Britain’s attitudes to faith in public life – October 2024

Key points

• Christian heritage is appreciated less and less: Respondents aged 44 and under were less likely to agree that Christian heritage is important to British culture, indicating an increasing trend that Christianity is seen as less important. Likewise, Muslims were most likely to challenge notions of a ‘British-Christian’ identity/status quo, being least likely to support statements like “Christian heritage is an important aspect of British culture”, or “I think of myself as being British just as much as I identify with my chosen religious faith”.
• Bringing law and religion closer together: The 18-24 age group notably stood out amongst respondents by showing a significantly lower level of agreement with the idea that religion and the law should be kept strictly separate.
• Talk about faith at work: As with above, younger respondents (especially aged 44 and under) are more likely to disagree with the idea that people should not talk about faith at work. As much as half of 25-34 year olds disagreed with the statement, “people should not talk about their faith in the workplace”, and 49% of under-25s disagreed also.
• Less religion in the media, please: On average, the British public seems weary of religion in the media, with 54% overall saying that they would like to see less religion in the media. This is significantly lower for the under-25s, of which only 38% agree.