Do you follow a religion? - Simple Religion Poll
Poll: Do you follow a religion? - Simple Religion Poll
Total Members Polled: 884
Discussion
If you want to stay anonymous then just vote, don't comment 
Not a discussion about which religion is the real one or best etc - I just want to know what percentage of our PH community follows a religion.
It doesn't matter if you don't go to church / prey etc regularly - but do identify as believing in a religion ?
Not a discussion about which religion is the real one or best etc - I just want to know what percentage of our PH community follows a religion.
It doesn't matter if you don't go to church / prey etc regularly - but do identify as believing in a religion ?
When I was aged 5-11 I went to a CofE village school which was linked in with the village church and as such we used to get taken to the Church 2-3 times a year on relevant dates such as Easter and Christmas and we had school assemblies which involved singing various religious songs in the hal.
My parents used to tell me we were Church of England too but it didn't seem to mean anything in reality and once I went to high school it all went by the wayside anyway.
I have never considered myself to be religious personally.
My parents used to tell me we were Church of England too but it didn't seem to mean anything in reality and once I went to high school it all went by the wayside anyway.
I have never considered myself to be religious personally.
I answered yes - always, but not sure the descriptions are accurate:
brought up in a Christian house
made my own personal decision aged 11 and it has driven my life ever since
so not sure I can say 'always' but not sure another option would be any better...
also - am a Christian (faith based) - not a follower of a religion (man made set of rules) - though I sit most comfortably within the Church of England through habit - however, with the way the CofE is going, who know what the future will hold from that perspective - but I will still be a Christian following Christ... so arguably don't follow a religion at all but assumed that what the OP was really asking was answered best by saying yes
brought up in a Christian house
made my own personal decision aged 11 and it has driven my life ever since
so not sure I can say 'always' but not sure another option would be any better...
also - am a Christian (faith based) - not a follower of a religion (man made set of rules) - though I sit most comfortably within the Church of England through habit - however, with the way the CofE is going, who know what the future will hold from that perspective - but I will still be a Christian following Christ... so arguably don't follow a religion at all
but assumed that what the OP was really asking was answered best by saying yes 
Deep Thought said:
GetCarter said:
There should be another option in the poll.
I gave up at about the same time that I stopped believing in Father Christmas.
"No, Not any more" covers it. I gave up at about the same time that I stopped believing in Father Christmas.
Raised as C of E, Baptised, sent to C of E schools, Been railroaded through the 'Confirmation' process at secondary school aged about 13 or so. Didn't believe a word of it, but it was far easier than making my mum cry.
I knew right from day one it was it was total and utter b
ks. My brain simply could not process or accept the concept of religion.
Still to this day I remember sitting in church with my parents on a Sunday as a young child, probably around 5 or 6 years old and thinking "These people are absolutely mental. They really think there is something there".
I would sit up with my eyes open while everyone was bent over and praying, just looking around the congregation, and my own parents, in utter disbelief.
It caused me a few minor issues and concerns as a child, because knowing my parents were religious meant that to a small extent, I didn't trust them. In my mind, how could you fully trust someone who essentially believed in
My mum is one of these people who think that your religion is 'who you are' and insists that once you are 'born C of E' (or whatever) then you are C of E your whole life no matter what you say. The same as being born with white skin or black skin. She it is not something anyone can change or shake off.
To be fair to my parents, they haven't been to church in years, and my dad has let slip on a few occasions that he thinks it's all 'nothing but a story', and my mum is absolutely fine as long as we don't discuss it, which we have managed to avoid for probably 20 years. She can pretend I'm C of E if it makes her happy.
If people wish to be religious, it's fine by me, but my kids, and seemingly the kids of almost all friends my age are being raised with almost zero religion apart from the bare minimum in schools.
I think my parents generation are pretty much the last generation to take religion seriously on a grand scale, and my generation only humoured religion because of our parents.
This is all borne out by the results of the last Census in 2011 where there was a 67% rise in the number of people declaring 'no religion'. I am going to hazard a guess that the results of the 2021 Census will show an even greater rise in people declaring no religion.
I knew right from day one it was it was total and utter b
ks. My brain simply could not process or accept the concept of religion.Still to this day I remember sitting in church with my parents on a Sunday as a young child, probably around 5 or 6 years old and thinking "These people are absolutely mental. They really think there is something there".
I would sit up with my eyes open while everyone was bent over and praying, just looking around the congregation, and my own parents, in utter disbelief.
It caused me a few minor issues and concerns as a child, because knowing my parents were religious meant that to a small extent, I didn't trust them. In my mind, how could you fully trust someone who essentially believed in
My mum is one of these people who think that your religion is 'who you are' and insists that once you are 'born C of E' (or whatever) then you are C of E your whole life no matter what you say. The same as being born with white skin or black skin. She it is not something anyone can change or shake off.
To be fair to my parents, they haven't been to church in years, and my dad has let slip on a few occasions that he thinks it's all 'nothing but a story', and my mum is absolutely fine as long as we don't discuss it, which we have managed to avoid for probably 20 years. She can pretend I'm C of E if it makes her happy.
If people wish to be religious, it's fine by me, but my kids, and seemingly the kids of almost all friends my age are being raised with almost zero religion apart from the bare minimum in schools.
I think my parents generation are pretty much the last generation to take religion seriously on a grand scale, and my generation only humoured religion because of our parents.
This is all borne out by the results of the last Census in 2011 where there was a 67% rise in the number of people declaring 'no religion'. I am going to hazard a guess that the results of the 2021 Census will show an even greater rise in people declaring no religion.
I think Christianity in the white population in the UK is falling but those who come from other parts of the Christian world often are catholic or evangelical an still very much believe. Also it was reported that many children did not believe in evolution and assumed god (Allah) created things so where one religion is falling others are rising but long term (may 1000 years) if humans are still about I doubt we will have religion
akirk said:
brought up in a Christian house
made my own personal decision aged 11
also - am a Christian (faith based)
That's a hell of a coincidence, that given the number of religions available, your own personal decision matched that of your parents. It's almost as if it wasn't a free choice at all, and the indoctrination you'd undergone up to age 11 had an effect. made my own personal decision aged 11
also - am a Christian (faith based)
But I could be wrong.
When you told your parents of your decision aged 11, did they encourage you to reconsider, and explore the merits of Islam, Sikhism, Judaism, Buddhism, etc?
akirk said:
I answered yes - always, but not sure the descriptions are accurate:
brought up in a Christian house
made my own personal decision aged 11 and it has driven my life ever since
so not sure I can say 'always' but not sure another option would be any better...
also - am a Christian (faith based) - not a follower of a religion (man made set of rules) - though I sit most comfortably within the Church of England through habit - however, with the way the CofE is going, who know what the future will hold from that perspective - but I will still be a Christian following Christ... so arguably don't follow a religion at all but assumed that what the OP was really asking was answered best by saying yes
It's the bit that people actually believe in Christ that always puzzles me - but everyone to their own. No probs!brought up in a Christian house
made my own personal decision aged 11 and it has driven my life ever since
so not sure I can say 'always' but not sure another option would be any better...
also - am a Christian (faith based) - not a follower of a religion (man made set of rules) - though I sit most comfortably within the Church of England through habit - however, with the way the CofE is going, who know what the future will hold from that perspective - but I will still be a Christian following Christ... so arguably don't follow a religion at all
but assumed that what the OP was really asking was answered best by saying yes Gecko1978 said:
I think Christianity in the white population in the UK is falling but those who come from other parts of the Christian world often are catholic or evangelical an still very much believe. Also it was reported that many children did not believe in evolution and assumed god (Allah) created things so where one religion is falling others are rising but long term (may 1000 years) if humans are still about I doubt we will have religion
It is indeed true that whilst Christianity is falling rapidly, other religions rose by small amounts.The number of people classing themselves as actively religious Muslim's, Hindu's, and Sikh's rose by a combined 2.6% in the 2011 Census (Which is actually less than the increase of the number of people classed demographically as Muslim, Hindu or Sikh over the same period).
My wild guess is that their children are in a similar situation now to how we were 30 years ago, essentially not particularly desperate to follow their parents religion, but under a lot of pressure to do so.
Will be interesting to see what happens with the current young generation of Muslims, Hindu's and Sikh's, once their grandparents and parents die (Apologies for being blunt). I doubt they will be as keen to continue with the faith.
My dad was very religious, not an in your face loon, but he did alot for Guildford Cathedral I think he ended up being Head Server there, when he was away from his Church duties and at home he would swear and drink like the rest of us and would never try and express his religions views on others, he just did his thing and came home.
We went to Church on Sundays, both my sister and myself are Christened and Confirmed, we both did Server duties as kids up at the Cathedral, I wasn't massively keen on it but had done it since I was a small child and just carried on as it was what dad wanted, when I was Confirmed (aged 15 I think) I was able to do more responsible duties, I was put on some kind of probation for a month and after the month I was asked by whoever it was, if I was happy and wanted to make it permanent, I just said no I didn't want to do it anymore, I think this guy knew my heart wasn't in it. Oddly I never spoke to my dad about it, I just told this guy my thoughts and pretty much from that point I stopped going to Sunday services completely, I do believe my dad was quite hurt about my decision but we never spoke about it.
When my mum and dad split, I found out that my mum wasn't into the whole Church thing either, she just went along with it for my dad.
The wifes side is Catholic but only her estranged dad practices any form of religion, he's a kind of Born again Christian but got involved with some proper loons, we've not seen him for at least a decade.
Neither of my daughters are Christened, which bothered the wifes dad, he would say awful things would happen to them.
I do find religion an odd thing, I guess it gives some people hope and some comfort that life doesn't all end when you die.
We went to Church on Sundays, both my sister and myself are Christened and Confirmed, we both did Server duties as kids up at the Cathedral, I wasn't massively keen on it but had done it since I was a small child and just carried on as it was what dad wanted, when I was Confirmed (aged 15 I think) I was able to do more responsible duties, I was put on some kind of probation for a month and after the month I was asked by whoever it was, if I was happy and wanted to make it permanent, I just said no I didn't want to do it anymore, I think this guy knew my heart wasn't in it. Oddly I never spoke to my dad about it, I just told this guy my thoughts and pretty much from that point I stopped going to Sunday services completely, I do believe my dad was quite hurt about my decision but we never spoke about it.
When my mum and dad split, I found out that my mum wasn't into the whole Church thing either, she just went along with it for my dad.
The wifes side is Catholic but only her estranged dad practices any form of religion, he's a kind of Born again Christian but got involved with some proper loons, we've not seen him for at least a decade.
Neither of my daughters are Christened, which bothered the wifes dad, he would say awful things would happen to them.
I do find religion an odd thing, I guess it gives some people hope and some comfort that life doesn't all end when you die.
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