The number of atheists in the UK now exceeds those who still believe in the existence of God, according to a report led by academics at Queen’s University.
While Northern Ireland remains the most religious part of the UK, levels of religiousness are generally in decline.
The research will paint a worrying picture for churches as more young people turn their back on the traditions of belief.
An interdisciplinary team of researchers, led by Queen’s, revealed the interim results of a landmark global project ‘Explaining Atheism’, which shows that the UK now has more atheists than theists. It explains why atheism has grown both in the UK and around the world.
The ‘Explaining Atheism’ project is led by Professor Jonathan Lanman from the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics at Queen’s, supported by additional international researchers.
“The UK is entering its first atheist age,” he said. “Whilst atheism has been prominent in our culture for some time — be it through Karl Marx, George Eliot, or even comedian Ricky Gervais — it is only now that atheists have begun to outnumber theists for the first time in our history.”
Comedian and atheist Ricky Gervais
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Dr Hugh Turpin, who works in Dublin but is from Brunel University London, was a key part of the research team. He is now extending his research to the three most religious countries in western Europe — Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Poland, to further understand the shift away from religious belief.
“While there are fewer identifying as atheist in Northern Ireland than elsewhere in the UK, the worry for churches will be the shift in views amongst young people in society,” he said.
“We already have more people identifying as ‘no religion’. That tends to be amongst the young who are moving away from following the traditional beliefs of their parents.
“From initial research, Northern Ireland is seeing more Protestants than Catholics moving away from church influence.”
“Young people are more liberal today and the concept of a church which is conservative in its viewpoint on women and same-sex relationships might not be something they feel is relevant to their lives,” he continued.
“Religion and belief in Northern Ireland has often been a fraught process, which is perhaps why the population has been slower to turn away than elsewhere in the UK. The signs are that things are shifting. There’s a relative apathy playing into that as well. Religion has played a big part in political life, and with more young people switching off from politics, religion might not be as important to them as their parents.
“We have seen young people disengaging with some political parties and their conservative approach. It could be that the shift to atheism is played out in the political arena too.”
Dr Hugh Turpin, based in Dublin for Brunel University London
“Brexit may also have a role to play in that,” he added, with young people turning away from politics, and as a consequence the culture of religion associated with it.
“The Catholic Church in Northern Ireland did not have the same level of institutionalised power as it did in the Republic of Ireland, which could be why more Catholics are continuing with their belief,” he added.
The report concluded that the strongest influences on belief are parental upbringing and societal expectations regarding belief in God.
It said that while anti-religious parents do not substantially impact whether their children believe in God, they do strongly influence whether their children are morally opposed to religion.
“Non-belief in God does not necessarily rule out belief in other supernatural phenomena, as most atheists and agnostics express some type of supernatural belief,” the report added.
“Most atheists and agnostics endorse objective moral values, human dignity, and inherent rights, as well as a ‘deep value’ for nature, at similar rates as the general population.”