Less than half of the population of England and Wales is Christian

Results published this week show that we are no longer a majority-Christian country. For the first time in a census, less than half of the population of England and Wales – 27.5 million people (46.2%) – described themselves as ‘Christian’. It was still the most common answer to the religious question, with ‘no religion’ coming second.

At the same time across England and Wales, the Muslim population grew from 2.7 million people in 2011 to 3.9 million in 2021 (4.5%). 37.2% said they had no religion

We can of course seek to get underneath these statistics and say that probably the decline is not so much of a real reduction in practising Christians but more about those who no longer use ‘Christian’ as their default cultural or religious identifier. More recent generations are growing up with less church influence in their schools and other life events like weddings and funerals. Also, the debates in some churches about sexuality and gender have likely turned away more who were nominally associated with the church.

But however we qualify them, these numbers are a cause of great sadness. Fewer people in the wider population want to be associated with Christianity as a good thing. Less people are regularly hearing the good news of Jesus Christ.

Many prefer other idolatrous religions – the quasi-religious experiences of being part of a cause like environmentalism, the authority of science or the well-established gods of material wealth, fame, and family. And to be honest, if all the church does is try to out-compete those gods for passion or entertainment but with no life-changing message and no authority from scripture, we will always lose.

These numbers have caused some to say it’s time to separate church and state – to ‘disestablish’ the church. I am not an Anglican nor a constitutional expert but on balance I think having the church as the state religion is a good thing. It recognises that most of our moral values are rooted in our Christian heritage, and it gives the opportunity for Christian truths to be proclaimed at major state events such as the recent funeral of the late Queen Elizabeth.

We need not panic. Many of our evangelical churches are experiencing growth and most have stable numbers. The decline in general in attendance and desire to associate is happening more in the longer established churches because they have abandoned the gospel or at least the authority of the Bible.

But this is a cause for urgent prayer and winsome evangelism. We would long for such a revival that many more truly want to say I follow Christ as my Saviour and Lord on the next census.

Graham Nicholls spoke to Talk TV about this topic. Watch the lively chat below