Most of our current understanding of the state of religious affairs in the United Kingdom comes from the Office of National Statistics (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/focuson/religion/). These widely used numbers are derived from multiple sources including the 2001 National Census, the Labour Force survey, and the Home Office Citizenship survey. None of the questionnaires used by these sources explicitly offers the respondent to indicate that they are Agnostic[1] or Atheist[2] which leads to the errant conclusion that the United Kingdom is 71.8% Christian.

Recent research indicates that London is more of a “Post-Christian” city than a Christian city. In the London area, Atheism is the second largest religious world view. Furthermore, the study indicates that many of these Atheists are concerned that members of their community are not Atheists and nearly 5.5% of them (compared to 4.8% of those affiliated with Christianity) have attempted to convince members of their community to “convert” to their own world view. These facts combined with the fact that more than 60% of Atheists (compared to less than 5% of Christians) do not share the same faith as their parents makes Atheism the 2nd largest evangelistic[3] religion in metropolitan London.

Religious affiliation and attendance in London

While most Londoners would describe themselves as Christian, nearly one third of them would indicate that there is no God (Atheism) or that it is impossible for there to be any spiritual truth (Agnosticism).

Based on the data from a follow-up question, the first phase of this study estimates that just 23.6% of Londoners regularly attend meetings with others that share their religious world view. Most of these attendees are either Christians (9.3% of the general population which is less than ¼ of all of those affiliated with Christianity) or Muslims (4.2% of the general population which is about half of those affiliated with Islam). It is not at all surprising to find that very few Atheists or Agnostics attend meetings.

Religious Concern and Conversion in London

Perhaps the most interesting part of the first phase of this research is the estimation of the number of Londoners that are concerned about their fellow Britons following their particular religious world view and then acting on this conviction.

This study estimates that 11.8% of Londoners desire other members of their community to adopt the same religious world view as them. While most of these are Christians (5.1% of the general population and 13% of Christians) it is surprising to note that the second largest population segment is Atheists: 17.2% of Atheists which is 3.2% of the general population. While 19.1% of Muslims are estimated to desire others in their community to adopt Islam, this portion of the general population is still just 1.6%. This means that in London you are probably twice as likely to encounter an Atheist with a desire to convert you to Atheism as you are to encounter a Muslim with a desire to see you follow Islam.

This trend continues in the estimation of Londoners that act on the conviction that others should adopt their religion and have actually tried to persuade someone else to “convert” to their world view.  The study estimates that 73.3% of Muslims that desire others to adopt Islam have actually tried to persuade someone else to become a Muslim. However, because of the smaller number of Muslims, this translates into just 1.2% of the population of metropolitan London. Similarly, 38% of Agnostics and Atheists that have a desire that others adopt their own world view have acted on that conviction and have tried to convince fellow Britons to believe that there is no God or that God is unknowable. Interestingly, a similar percentage of Christians (37%) that desire others to become Christians as well have acted on that conviction. However, the larger population of Christians translates to a larger portion of the general population of evangelizing Christians compared to “evangelizing” Atheists and Agnostics.

The study indicates that these estimations have been “yielding fruit” for both Agnosticism and Atheism. In this study, a majority of Agnostic and Atheist respondents indicate that neither of their parents were either Agnostic or Atheist. In other words, at some point in their life, these respondents “converted” away from their upbringing into a different religious system. This stands in very sharp contrast to the other evangelistic religions: just 9.1% of Muslims come from homes where neither parent was Muslim and less than 5% of Christians come from homes where neither parent was Christian. Not surprisingly, a majority of Agnostics and Atheists come from homes with at least one Christian parent.


[1] Believing that spiritual truth claims are unknowable

[2] Believing that there is no higher power than humanity

[3] A religious world view that believes it is best for others to adopt the same world view. Traditionally, Christianity and Islam are considered the two major evangelistic religious systems.