Leadership Latest - July 2006

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Faith, ethics and some objections

Let's study religion

Interest in religion is growing among UK students.

• A 16.9% increase in the number of students taking Religious Studies A level in 2005 made it the top subject (in increase terms) for the second year running.
• In 2004 there was an increase of 13.8% on the previous year’s numbers.
• Numbers among AS students also increased in 2005 by 5.2% to 21,121 young people choosing Religious Studies at AS level.
• More than 50% off all GCSE students now choose to study religion.

Reported in the Christian Herald, 27 August 2005.

Gays and spirituality

A recent survey by the Gay Times highlighted the growing spiritual hunger among the gay community in the UK.

• Of 2,000 gay people polled 50% said they held religious beliefs.

Vicky Powell, editor of the Gay Times said: ‘We’ve never had such a large response to our online survey and this shows the depth of feelings that this subject generates for many gay people’.

Reported in The Church of England Newspaper, 24 March 2006

Thinking ethically

According to a poll carried out by Mori between July and September 2005 on corporate social responsibility, Britons have high ethical standards when it comes to business.

• 94% of the 2,025 adults interviewed thought that companies should report on their impacts on both society and the environment.
• Just over 9 in 10 people believed that companies have a responsibility to check that each of their suppliers around the world are behaving properly, and 6 in 10 said they felt very strongly about this.
• Two thirds of people interviewed wanted assurances about child labour to be included in food and clothing labels.
• More than half wanted assurances that producers have received fair wages for their work.
• 91% of respondents agreed that the government should encourage companies to take their responsibilities more seriously.
• A third of those interviewed said they take some personal responsibility when deciding which products or services to buy.
• 70% agreed that industry and commerce do not pay enough attention to their social responsibilities.

Reported in The Guardian, 28 November 2005

Funding faith

A telephone survey carried out by ICM for The Guardian newspaper showed that:

• 64% of the 1,006 adults polled thought that ‘the government should not be funding faith schools of any kind’.
• 25% of those interviewed said Muslim schools should be treated on the same basis as Christian and Jewish schools.
• 8% wanted to limit public funding to Christian and Jewish schools only.

The Church Times commented that ‘the responses are at odds with the popularity of Church of England and Roman Catholic schools, most of which are heavily oversubscribed’.

There are currently 7,000 faith schools in England, 600 secondary and 6,400 primary. The vast majority are Christian (mostly Church of England and Roman Catholic), with 36 Jewish, five Muslim, and two Sikh.

Reported in The Church of England Newspaper, 26 August 2005
 

On evolution

According to a survey conducted by Ipsos MORI for the BBC’s Horizon series in January 2006, just under half of Britons accept the theory of evolution as the best description for the development of life.

When asked what best described their view of the origin of life:

• 22% of the 2,000 participants chose creationism
• 17% opted for intelligent design
• 48% selected evolution theory
• the rest did not know.

When asked which of the above models should be taught in science lessons in British schools:

• 44% said creationism should be included
• 41% intelligent design
• 69% wanted evolution as part of the science curriculum.

Published on news.bbc.co.uk, 26 January 2006

Christian influence 
 

Churches make better neighbourhoods

A survey carried out by Opinion Research Business on behalf of the Archbishop’s Council and English Heritage in November 2005 found that:

• Nearly 60% of people in Britain believe that ‘a place of worship makes their neighbourhood a better place to live’.
• Only 11% of the 1,019 adults polled disagreed with the statement.
• 72% thought ‘a place of worship is an important part of the local community’.
• 11% disagreed with this last statement.
• 60% of those interviewed believed that places of worship should be more actively involved in their communities, as well as more accessible to local people in the vicinity.
• 80% said they had been in a church or place of worship in the last year.

Reported in The Church of England Newspaper, 3 February 2006.
 

Faith volunteers

A report commissioned by the Scout Association entitled ‘The 21st Century Volunteer’ found that those who describe themselves as ‘religious’ are twice as likely to have been involved in voluntary activities over a twelve-month period than ‘non-religious’ individuals:

• One third of regular worshippers or churchgoers volunteered over the past 12 months;
• a lower 18% of the population as a whole volunteered within the same period
• 14% of those who do not practice a religion also volunteered.

Reported in Faithworks News, Issue 6 – 2006.
 

Christian volunteers

Church of England statistics suggest that more people do unpaid work for church organisations than for any other, accounting for 8% of all adult volunteering in England.

• A quarter of those who attend church regularly (both Anglicans and those belonging to other denominations) are involved in voluntary community service outside the church.
• Volunteering by regular churchgoers in the community amounts to 23.2 million hours of community service.
• The Church of England provides activities outside church worship for 375,000 children (aged five to 16) and 38,000 young people (aged 16 to 25).
• More than 100,000 volunteers are involved in running such groups.

Reported in the Church Times, 31 March 2006.