Christians are now a minority in England and Wales as the number of godless Brits grows

Christians are now a minority in England and Wales, new analysis has revealed.

More than 48% of people say they have no religion, compared to Anglicans, Catholics and all other Christian denominations who make up 43.8%.

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The number of godless Brits is growing and in 2014, the proportion of people who said they had no religion was more than double the 25% who said the same in the 2011 census.

The new report shows that churches might soon be struggling to fill pews as they also fail to bring in new worshippers.

Four out 10 adults who were raised as Anglicans now say they have no religion, and almost as many people born Catholic have abandoned their family faith to become “nones”.

The Church of England loses 12 followers for every person they recruit and the Catholic church 10.

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Academic Stephen Bullivant who analysed data from the British Social Attitudes surveys over three decades said people who were brought up as Christians no longer consider themselves as such.

“What we’re seeing is an acceleration in the numbers of people not only not practising their faith on a regular basis, but not even ticking the box,” he said.

His report ‘Contemporary Catholicism in England and Wales’ will be launched today in the House of Commons.

It found the most godless area was Wales where 59.5% say they have no religion.

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In London, the number was just 40% - but this is down to large numbers of Muslims, Hindus and Jews.

The report did not consider Northern Ireland - statistically the most religious part of the UK - or
Scotland where a survey last month revealed that 52% of the population said they were not religious.

Women are more likely to be believers - making up 58.6% of Christians - and half of all Christians are over 55.

Bullivant said churches need to take the data “very seriously” but the Church of England insisted that Christianity around the world was growing and was still the world’s largest religion.