The evolving face of Christianity in the UK

The UK is an ever-diversifying set of nations characterised by growing forms of religious heterogeneity.

While England is comfortably the most religiously-diverse home nation, the growth of non-Christian minorities has taken place in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland (especially those who follow Islam, with Edinburgh, Cardiff, and Belfast now containing established Muslim communities).  

While the consistently downward trajectory of Christian self-identification across the UK is well documented (largely spurred on by the rapid secularisation of the white-British mainstream), signs of re-energisation among the sheer diversity of Christians in the UK are there. While hardened conservatives may be immigration ‘restrictionists’, one of the positive impacts of immigration has been an urban cross-denominational reinvigoration of Christianity, with London – comfortably the most socially conservative region in Britain – being the epicentre of this Christian resurgence. Whether it is EU-origin migrants such as Polish Catholics in Ealing or Commonwealth-heritage migrants like Nigerian Protestants in Croydon, London-led diversification is at the heart of a changing Christianity in Britain.

In this context, it is worth noting that two of the faster-growing ethnic groups across England and Wales are the ‘Black African’ and ‘White Other’ categories. The number of Black African-origin people across the home nations has increased from 990,000 in 2011 (1.8% of the population) to 1.5 million in 2021 (2.5% of the population). Of course, a notable portion of British Black Africans are Muslim – but much of this recent population growth has also been driven by the arrival of Christian migrants from African Commonwealth member countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa (along with ex-member Zimbabwe). The ‘Other White’ ethnic category has grown from 2.5 million in 2011 (4.4% of the population) to 3.7 million in 2021 (6.2% of the population). Much of this growth has been driven by inward migration from EU member-states such as Poland, Romania, and ex-Soviet Baltic countries such as Lithuania.

The evolving face of Christianity in the UK provides much food for thought for both the conventional Left and Right of the British political system. Elements of the Left, defined by their secular rationalism, are incredibly sceptical of the view that faith can play a positive role in British society. The rise in ‘godlessness’ is considered by this faction to be a form of social advancement – with little to no willingness to understand how faith can be a source of resilience, optimism, and belonging. Meanwhile, sections of the so-called political Right hold an overly negative view of the cultural impacts of immigration – seemingly overlooking the reality that in more urban parts of England, Christianity is being kept alive by migrants who can trace their origins back to cities such as Lagos, Accra, Gdansk, Timisoara, Goa, and Manila.  

As well as having a more ‘faith-positive’ approach to understanding the diversification of modern Britain, we would do well to recognise that some of the people who are the most protective of its Christian heritage and traditions are newly-arrived migrants. 

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