1.2
The Reality of Britain
in 2008?
Before
we move into considering the specific things that some of the crusading
atheists have said and the potential effect of them, to ensure we
keep a balance, it might be helpful to try to assess what the true
state of play is in Britain (our home) in 2008 (the time of writing).
As
2007 began to draw to a close, in The Times , on
the 21st December, under the title, “ 2007, a bad year for God
squadders”, columnist Gerald Baker commented:
“If
you measure intelligent sentiment by book-reading habits alone,
then atheism was a big winner in 2007. Richard Dawkins continued
to wave an angry Darwinian fist …. with his exposure of The
God Delusion . He was joined by Christopher Hitchens, whose
God is Not Great will be filling many Christmas stockings.
But the atheists didn't confine their advances to the rather narrow
field of non-fiction for grown-ups. Seizing on the old Jesuit principle
of getting them while they're young, Philip Pullman went Hollywood
this year with the Dark Materials trilogy.”
It
sounded like it was a bad time for religion. But what do others say?
In
the Economic & Social Research Council's publication,
Britain
in 2008, religion received
its fair share of coverage. An article, “Atheism – are we really
turning away from a Belief in God?” by Professor Linda Woodhead,
started out as follows:
“The
recent flurry of books on atheism, including Richard Dawkins' The
God Delusion and Christopher Hitchens, God is not Great,
plus books by Daniel Dennett, Michael Onfray and Sam Harris, has
fired speculation that atheism may be on the rise.”
The
ESRC publication does by nature use statistics, so it is helpful as
this article opens up to note:
“Survey
research suggests that the percentage of people identifying themselves
as atheists in Britain remains low at around eight per cent, with
a further ten per cent identifying as ‘agnostic', although the numbers
have been growing slowly. Around the world, there are estimated
to be more people with traditional religious views than ever before,
and they constitute a growing proportion of the world's population.”
Before
those of us with faith get too excited, Professor Woodhead tells us
that,
“Although
relatively few people identify themselves as atheists in Britain,
much larger numbers, around 20 per cent of the population, say they
are ‘not a religious person' or do not believe in God.”
To
explain this she points out that,
“it
is possible to be ‘spiritual', and to believe in supernatural powers,
energies, fates or ‘Spirit', without identifying as religious or
theistic.”
She
reported,
“Seventy
two per cent of the population of England and Wales identified as
‘Christian' in the 2001 Census, with a further five per cent identifying
with other religions.
To
conclude the paragraph she observes:
“Whatever
this signifies, it does not suggest vast reserves of militant atheists
or extensive attachment to secularism.”
In
an earlier article in the same publication, under the title, “Religion
in British Society”, Robert Pigott, religious affairs correspondent
of BBC
News, observed:
“In
research funded by the ESRC, Professor Voas used the European Social
Survey to pinpoint the emergence of what he describes as ‘fuzzy
fidelity', an attitude of uncommitted but real interest in God and
spiritual matters. Its adherents include half the population of
Britain and similar proportions in other European countries. This
group has only a vaguely defined notion of a ‘divine entity', and
says it makes little difference to their lives.
To
really put religion in perspective (apparently), scan Debrett's Review
of the Year 2007 and you will find no mention whatsoever of religion,
only those people and events with which most of us filled our minds
within that year!
So
why, one might ask, bother with this issue of the atheists and their
impact – or lack of it – on our lives?