Global terms: Other Evidence Informed Practice & Research

British ‘nones’: what do they believe in and do?

Research Summary: British ‘nones’: what do they believe in and do?

This presents new and existing evidence which shows that ‘no religion’ has risen to rival ‘Christian’ as the preferred self-designation of British people. It offers a characterisation of the ‘nones’ which reveals that most are not straightforwardly secular. General cultural pluralisation and ethical liberalisation in Britain are held to be significant (churches have tended in the opposite direction). ‘No religion’ has become the new cultural norm, yet Britain is most accurately described as between Christian and ‘no religion’.

Researcher

Linda Woodhead

Research Institution

Lancaster University

What is this about?

‘Nones’ have been increasing in numbers in Britain for some time, but recently a majority of British people declared their affiliation as ‘no religion’ rather than ‘Christian’. What has happened? Who are they? What do they believe and do? Why has the shift occurred? Has Britain ceased to be a ‘Christian country’?

What was done?

This is an overview of census data (since 2001) and data from surveys carried out by the author (from 2013-2015), together with attention to earlier sources so as to plot longer-term trends.

Main findings and outputs

  • Whilst ‘no religion’ now exceeds ‘Christian’ as most people’s self-designation, ‘nones’ are not straightforwardly secular.
  • They reject religious labels but also secular ones; despite the ‘Dawkins factor’ they are not hostile to religion (e.g. against faith schools).
  • In the latest data, if we compare Christian and ‘no religion’ there is a striking contrast between the younger (18–24) with a majority (60 per cent) reporting ‘no religion’ and a minority (27 per cent) identifying as ‘Christian’, and the older (60 and over) where the proportions are roughly reversed.
  • A small minority believe in God whilst most are agnostic.
  • A quarter take part in a personal religious or spiritual practice, but none take part in communal ones or join groups.
  • ‘Nones’ share a liberal value set with many ‘somes’. In 2013-14 the author polled Britons on ‘controversial issues’ such as same-sex marriage, abortion, assisted dying: 83% were towards the liberal end of the opinion scale (supporting individual choice), 100% of ‘nones’ were, contrasting most sharply with Muslims, evangelical Christians and Anglican and Catholic bishops.

Relevance to RE

The relevance to RE teaching is that care needs to be taken when distinguishing religious from secular people, as there are beliefs, attitudes and practices that apply across the apparent divide. This means that a sensitive, differentiated approach to exploring the religious and world-view composition of the UK is needed. Teachers could bring out some of the similarities and differences in discussion with pupils and help them to consider their meanings and consequences.

Generalisability and potential limitations

This is a thorough analysis of comprehensive survey data.

Find out more

Linda Woodhead (2016), ‘The rise of “no religion” in Britain: The emergence of a new cultural majority’, Journal of the British Academy, 4: 245–261.

Available for free download at DOI 10.85871/jba/004.245 https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/1043/11_Woodhead_1825.pdf

Authoritative female UK Muslims

Research Summary: Authoritative female UK Muslims

There is a new generation of female Islamic authorities in the UK. They are setting up their own institutes and emphasising the importance of drawing from within the Islamic tradition in the British context. They stress their unique ability as women to provide personal and collective guidance that addresses the needs of Muslim women in Britain. But they recognise the limitations of presenting guidance as ‘women’s work’; they sometimes present gender as irrelevant in their work. They are developing and imagining new understandings of Islamic knowledge and leadership. It is a move away from binaries such as liberal/orthodox Islam, or resistance to/compliance with established religion.

Researcher

Giulia Liberatore

Research Institution

University of Edinburgh

What is this about?

  • Islam in Britain.
  • Authority and leadership in contemporary Islam.
  • Islamic knowledge.
  • Gender and piety in Islam.
  • Experiences of Islam.

What was done?

The research is part of a larger ethnographic research project on female Islamic authority and guidance in the UK, conducted between April 2015 and October 2019. It involved mapping a broad range of female authorities across the country, analysing their online presence, interviewing over twenty-five female Islamic authorities (scholars, teachers, preachers, as well as authorities providing legal advice or counselling), visiting spaces of learning, attending classes and retreats, speaking to audience members and discussing the topic with male Islamic authorities and other experts in the area.

Main findings and outputs

  • Islam is changing.
  • There is a new generational of influential, younger, female Islamic authorities in the UK. They are not a cohesive group, they experience different opportunities and situations.
  • They have some things in common: teaching in English, teaching in informal spaces, addressing a broad British Muslim audience and sometimes using social media to teach.
  • They are known for high levels of scholarship and personal piety.
  • They are life guides, addressing issues such as marriage and relationships, though referring to Islamic sources in a ‘traditional’ way. Many young UK Muslims are in need of spiritual guidance, to practice Islam in a ‘western’ context. Women are seen as natural guides, within Islamic tradition.
  • These women do not see themselves as ‘liberal’ in contrast to ‘conservative’ teachers. They can be seen as part of an emerging European Islam.

Relevance to RE

This research has high relevance to RE. Teachers can use it to develop their own subject knowledge in line with current research. The research is ground-breaking, illustrates some new and significant themes and provides evidence on the roles of women in Islam that can help teachers to challenge stereotypes. Another particularly valuable point is how distinctions such as ‘liberal’ and conservative’ might not always adequately describe different experiences of Islam in the contemporary world.

Generalisability and potential limitations

This research deliberately illustrates a trend, rather than giving findings that can be generalised across the experiences of Muslims. It gives good detail and analysis on a significant set of changes regarding the transmission of Islam in the UK, however, and readers are encouraged to study the original article, freely available from the link given below.

Find out more

The original article is Giulia Liberatore, Guidance as ‘Women’s Work’: A New Generation of Female Islamic Authorities in Britain, Religions 2019: 10 (11), 601.

The article is available open-access at https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10110601

Asking pupils to make predictions about religion, to sharpen up their critical thinking

Research Summary: Asking pupils to make predictions about religion, to sharpen up their critical thinking

UK education and RE are highly politically controlled, and some writers think that RE’s emphasis on tolerance of different religions has prevented pupils from thinking critically about religion. Pupils’ learning about religions has often been found to be superficial and many popular resources present religions in terms of familiar stereotypes. The writer shows how this is especially true regarding Islam, which has undergone a transformation (once a world religion associated with the Middle East, now a potential source of terror), but its transformation is not reflected in syllabuses or resources used to teach about it. She argues that bringing questions in to RE from Sociology could help to address this weakness. Students could critically consider questions such as: how are Muslims likely to be treated and understood in the UK? Why are young Muslim girls more likely than their mothers or grandmothers to wear the veil?

Researcher

Lynn Revell

Research Institution

Canterbury Christ Church University

What was done?

This is a critical survey of relevant literature and other materials including official documents, RE text books and examination papers.

Main findings and outputs

  • There is a discrepancy, generally, between religions as they are experienced and known in the world and religions as they are presented in textbooks and examined in RE.
  • Regarding Islam, there tends to be an assumption that Muslims have common views and concerns and that the religion is not really diverse.
  • Examination papers from 1997 to 2013 were analysed; it was striking how little questions about Islam had changed. On page 58 the author states:
  • ‘Islam is now the fastest growing religion in the developing world, the meaning of Jihad has become a matter of popular discussion and the role of women in Islam has become an issue of international debate. These changes are not reflected in most of the questions: it is as though the Islam examined by students is the same Islam that existed a generation ago.’
  • Yet examination papers do sometimes ask pupils to think critically, and the relationship between liberal values of tolerance and a lack of pupil criticism is not clear. The fact is that many different kinds of ideas influence RE in different ways.
  • Using sociological questions may help pupils to be more critical. How are Muslims likely to be treated and understood in the UK? Why are young Muslim girls more likely than their mothers or grandmothers to wear the veil? This should not be based on ‘projection’ (unfounded assumptions) but ‘prediction’ (where observation and analysis are used).

Relevance to RE

  • Regarding policy and curriculum, it would appear that examination boards should take a fresh look at their specifications and examination papers.
  • In relation to school-level curriculum and pedagogy, teachers might reconsider approaches to Islam in the light of this research. They should take care to address the variety of Muslims and experiences and ask pupils to follow suit.
  • Teachers should test the sociological questions mentioned by the author (above) for their value in helping pupils to think critically. Further, no doubt teachers and pupils will have questions of their own about the experiences of Muslims in UK society. These can be added to the list and would provide an interesting basis for follow-up research, based in classrooms.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The research draws on a varied and wide range of resources and uses these as a basis for a potentially very useful suggestion to teachers to test in their own practice.

Find out more

Predicting religion, Journal of Beliefs and Values 36:1, 54-63

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13617672.2015.1014652

Belief, faith and religion: shifting attitudes in the UK

Research Summary: Belief, faith and religion: shifting attitudes in the UK

Since 1981, the World Values Survey has gathered data on global social, political, economic, religious and cultural values. This report outlines the latest findings on the UK, with comparisons to other countries.

Researchers

The Policy Institute

Research Institution

King’s College, London

What is this about?

The research is about contemporary UK religious values, including the likelihood of belief in God, heaven and hell or life after death; the degree of religious tolerance, and the popularity of atheism.

What was done?

A survey questionnaire was administered to 3,056 UK adults (18+). Once analysed, the resultant data were organised in a concise report, including comparisons to international trends.

Main findings and outputs

Readers are encouraged to download and read the report from the link given below. However, here are some examples of the main findings:

  • The share of Britons who say they believe in God and heaven has been in decline for decades, but belief in life after death and hell has remained stable – and by international standards the UK ranks relatively low on belief in all of these.
  • While younger people are less religious than older people, they are more inclined to believe in life after death.
  • The UK public are among the least likely internationally to identify as religious, with atheism also growing in popularity.
  • The share of the British public who say they are a religious person has halved since the early 1980s.
  • The UK public are among the most trusting of people of different religions, and among the most relaxed about other faiths.
  • Despite Britons’ declining religiosity, confidence in churches and religious organisations has increased in recent years.
  • Confidence in religious institutions in Britain has begun to rebound after being in decline.

Relevance to RE

The report provides excellent background material for policy and curriculum. Its report of increased confidence in religion and a high UK level of religious tolerance underlines the importance of an education in religion and worldviews and the alignment of such education with existing social values. The individual report data offer valuable resources for classroom teaching, when a social science approach to religion and worldviews is being used.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The generalisability of the data is high; reliable, broad and produced by expert researchers. The focus is on the UK, but the international comparisons mean that this is not done in an isolated way.

Find out more

The full report is freely downloadable from https://www.kcl.ac.uk/policy-institute/assets/lost-faith-the-uk’s-changing-attitudes-to-religion.pdf (published in May 2023, accessed on 6 July 2023).

Buddhism and compassion for animals

Research Summary: Buddhism and compassion for animals

Traditionally, Buddhism has emphasised compassion for animals, without always giving clear messages on vegetarianism (e.g. monks have been permitted to eat the meat of animals not killed on their behalf). This research is about speeches and writings by one of the most influential Buddhist cleric-scholars in Tibet today, Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö of Larung Buddhist Academy. The article surveys the Khenpo’s broad-based advocacy for animal welfare and details his discrete appeals to nomads in eastern Tibet to forgo selling livestock for slaughter, to eat a vegetarian diet when possible, to relinquish wearing animal fur, to protect wildlife habitat, and to liberate the lives of animals. Tsultrim Lodrö goes beyond traditional scare tactics that emphasize the karmic effects of negative deeds in future lives and instead invokes compassion by attending to the lived experience and suffering of animals. In doing so, he promotes Buddhism as a civilizing force, in order to reform certain Tibetan customs and to control the influence of China on Tibet. RE teachers’ subject knowledge will be increased through this example of contemporary Buddhist ethical commitment. Moreover, we can use parts of the research’s material as teaching points (see below, Relevance to RE).

Researcher

Holly Gayley

Research Institution

University of Colorado, Boulder, USA

What is this about?

  • What are Buddhist attitudes to animal welfare and vegetarianism?
  • Who is Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö, and why does he have a considerable influence on Buddhist attitudes to animal welfare and vegetarianism in contemporary Tibet?
  • What does Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö teach about animal welfare and vegetarianism?
  •  How does he communicate his teachings?

What was done?

The research methodology involves analysis of Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö’s writings and speeches, and the researcher also appears to have carried out fieldwork in Eastern Tibet, though without giving details of this.

Main findings and outputs

  • Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö is an influential Buddhist teacher in today’s Tibet, known particularly for his teachings on animal welfare and social reform.
  • Buddhism, over time, has failed to emphasise vegetarianism consistently, despite teachings on non-injury, compassion and reincarnation. Monks and nuns have been permitted to eat meat offered to them provided the animals had not been slaughtered for them.
  • Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö teaches a set of ten precepts: not to sell livestock for slaughter, not to steal, not to fight with weapons, not to consort with prostitutes, not to sell weapons or drugs, not to smoke, not to drink, not to gamble, not to hunt, and not to wear animal fur on the trim of traditional Tibetan coats. The precepts have spread widely through mass vow-taking ceremonies.
  • He encourages vegetarianism amongst monks and nuns and asks lay Buddhists to refrain from meat-eating as much as they possibly can. If they have to kill livestock for economic reasons they should do it humanely.
  • Rather than threatening those who are cruel to animals with bad karma or bad reincarnation, Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö tries to use compassion. Asking people to give up the practice of slaughter by suffocation (it can take fifteen minutes), he says:
    “You can see for yourself by covering your mouth and nose with your hand. Without the breath coming in and out, it doesn’t take much time. Just remain like that for a minute, and you understand what the experience is like.”

Relevance to RE

Knowledge of the research will increase RE teachers’ specialist subject knowledge of Buddhism and ethics. Moreover, parts of the research’s findings can be used as teaching points. Teachers can provide an outline of Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö’s life and teachings – see (http://www.luminouswisdom.org/ . Pupils could carry out follow-up research of their own. Classroom activities could be focused on some celebrated aspects of Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö’s teaching, e.g. persuading Tibetans to give up the practice of suffocating animals by asking them to imagine being suffocated (i.e. going without breath for one minute). We need to stress that we are not recommending or suggesting that colleagues ask pupils to simulate this. However, questions for discussion and debate arise from it: what is Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö trying to achieve through this exercise? How effective do you think it would be? Is it right to apply the ‘Golden Rule’ to animals as well as people? What differences would it make to people’s lives in the UK? What advantages and disadvantages would it bring?

Find out more

The Compassionate Treatment of Animals: a Contemporary Buddhist Approach in Eastern Tibet Journal of Religious Ethics 45.1 pages 29-57 (published online 18 February 2017)

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jore.12167/epdf

The nature of God in Sikhi – Ranvir Singh

The nature of God in Sikhi

While some Sikhs are happy to use the term ‘God’ to refer to the Ultimate, the Base of Being, others are more suspicious for it is difficult for some people to conceive of ‘God’ without thinking of a sort of bearded man in the sky. For Sikhs this is problematic as they believe that the Ultimate is neither male, nor female but also because they believe that the Creator is in the creation and the creation is in the Creator.

The Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, begins with the numeral ‘1’. Therefore, it is true to say that Sikhs are monotheistic. However, Sikhs may also be called panentheistic as they believe that the One is present in creation: “One Light fills all creation. That Light is You” (Guru Granth Sahib, p.13).

Sikh are not pantheists, people who believe that God is the world. For Sikhs the Divine is not the universe but is the Life within it, its driving force, like fire inside wood, a “reflection in a mirror or fragrance within a flower” (Guru Granth Sahib, p.684). It is this belief about Divinity that gives rise to the Sikh ethos of the sant-sipahi or saint-soldier.

The saintly element follows from connecting with the Divine within. This Presence is called Naam or name. Naming is integral to a relationship and relationships shape, and are shaped by, our being – our ideas and practices – in the world. The Presence is revealed to us through the Sabd, or word, that inscribes our existence and which therefore constantly reaches out to us as our Inner Tutor or intuition. This Sabd is regarded as the SatGuru or Real Guru, with the interaction between the Guru Granth Sahib or Sikh scripture and Sikhs, a reflection of the dialogue between consciousness and intuition. The action of the Sabd is called gurprasad or grace.

The soldierly element follows from the recognition that there is Divinity and, therefore, dignity in every person. For this reason social action is a corollary of spiritual realisation. Grace reaching to us flows through us as meeta or loving-kindness. “After spending time with saints I lost the sense of ‘us’ and ‘them’. No one automatically is my enemy, nor do I regard others as strangers. I am friendly towards everyone” (Guru Granth Sahib, p.1299). These friendly relations are best expressed in the langar which is a free kitchen where free vegetarian food is available to everyone, whatever their race, gender, faith or class – it represents equality, inclusion and the importance of social service.

Such service can feed into political action. The fifth Guru, Guru Arjun wrote: “From now such is the Will of God: No one shall force another, no one shall take advantage of and use another. Everyone, each individual, has the right to look for and work for happiness and self-fulfilment. Love and persuasion is the only law of social cohesion” (Guru Granth Sahib, p.74). He became the first Sikh martyr in 1606 as the Emperor feared that his words and actions were a threat to the divine right of kings – the belief that God chose rulers and gave them the authority to rule others. A second Guru was martyred, in 1675. The Dasam Granth, a Sikh religious text, says that his sacrifice was for three principles: the right to worship; the right to have your views about the ultimate nature of the world and life respected; the right to pursue happiness and self-fulfilment (Dasam Granth p.54). In 1699, the Khalsa was formed. This remains a self-governing community of equals that anyone is eligible to join providing they agree to abide by its code of conduct, designed to transform a person into a knight.

The battle-drum beats in the sky of the mind; aim is taken, wounds inflicted. The spiritual heroes enter the field of battle; the time for war is here and now! Only
They may be cut, piece by piece, but they never leave the field of battle

(Guru Granth Sahib, p.1105).


The hymn refers to the battle within each person as they struggle with the five thieves that oppress us – pride, greed, lust, anger and undue attachment; and forces of fear, desires and hopes that imprison us in stories of the future and past. These elements may govern and shape our lives. But the stories they tell are part of wider social stories that feed into, and reflect, social realities. Therefore, the struggle for freedom and authenticity has a social as well as spiritual dimension.

The in/out structure of believer/unbeliever; male/female; black/white; high caste/untouchable is replaced by unity through the Presence of the Divine. This oneness of God and oneness of humanity is manifested in the common intellectual human cauldron of the Guru Granth Sahib, featuring 36 non-Sikh authors, symbolised by the sword of discriminating intelligence and will that stirs the pot of the human body. The sword and cauldron together symbolise the amrit ceremony whereby people join the Khalsa. This nexus of spiritual-social is found in the langar where people serve but also eat. Free and abundant food challenge stories of scarcity that justify poverty and restricted access to power in the human species. “The wealth of nature is there to be used. There is enough for all, but it is not shared justly in this world” (Guru Granth Sahib, p.1171). The generosity or grace of God involves other species. “In the deepest rocks there are living beings and even there food is provided for them” (Guru Granth Sahib, p.10).

The implications for ideas of space are clear. Each person’s heart is a sacred space. Moreover, even other planets have sacred spaces as, “The saints of many worlds live there. They celebrate, blooming with the divine” (Guru Granth Sahib, p.8), implying intelligent life and perhaps even more religions. “The concept of time emphasises present/Presence. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and seasons all originate from the 1 Sun”, says Nanak, “in just the same way that different religions originate from the 1 Creator” (Guru Granth Sahib, p.12-13).

God’s truths were established with the “first breath” and persist through time. There was neither a golden age nor will there be one. Suffering exists due to free will and provides the opportunity for relationship between Being and beings. Faced with carnage when Babur invaded India, Guru Nanak wrote: “Nanak sings of the virtues of the King in the city of corpses and gives this lesson: the Creator who allocates unique opportunities sits apart, watching our choices” (Guru Granth Sahib p.723).

Sikhs believe in an afterlife where God acts as Judge. “The rulers are tigers and their officials are dogs. Together they go out to wake up the sleeping people to harass them. Those who should be serving the public wound people with their claws while the dogs lick up the blood that is spilled. But in the Court of God everyone will be judged. Those who have betrayed the trust of the people will be shamed and punished” (Guru Granth Sahib p.1288).