LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY legless123)

I went off on a wee tangent in this post and ended up writing much more than I meant to so the Faith Based Schools post will come later.

The reason for posting this is to compare and contrast the UK's religious make-up with Americas in the hope that you'll understand a little better where I'm coming from when I get curious about Religious Right in America.

As always, these opinions are mine and mine alone. Other Brits may disagree with my observations.

Religion In Britain.

By any standards Britain isn't a very religious country. I don't personally know *anyone* who goes to Church on a regular basis. A lot of us are nominally Christians but practising Christians are actually thin on the ground over here.

Officially,(last census I can get data from) Britain is carved up like this:

Christian 71.6%
Moslem 2.7%
Hindu 1.0%
Sikh 0.6%
Jewish 0.5%
Agnostic/Atheist 15.5%
Other 0.6%
Refuse To Answer 7.3%
Buddhism 0.2%

Note: Amongst the Agnostic/Atheist are 390,000 or 0.7% who give their religion as Jedi.

The Jedi? A bit of a backlash during the last Census. We really don't like being asked our religion in Britain - we think it's our business and not the Governments so a number of people put down Jedi as a protest.


As I said, even amongst those classing themselves as Christian, church attendance is rather low. Around 6.3% of Christians regularly attend church.


6.3% of people go to church
7.5% attended regularly in 1998
29% of churchgoers are aged over 65
17% are of ethnic minority background
(8% of general UK population are ethnic minorities)
44% of London churchgoers are black

Source: Christian Research


So. We've a non-secular Government (Queen Elizabeth II is head of State and also head of the Church Of England) but we're a lot less religious than the USA. Most of us see Church as somewhere to go for weddings, funerals and Christenings.

Yup - the vast majority of people in the UK, even though they may class themselves as either Agnostic/Atheist or non-practising still prefer to get married, get buried/burnt and get Christened in Church. And no, I can't figure that out either. I think we do it because it's expected by our older relatives (most of who also don't go to Church....)

So, that’s Britain, religious-ways, in a nutshell.


Now having said all that there is still a small minority of Evangelical sects put there - and not all of them are Christian. So lets have a quick rundown of them. And no, this isn't exclusive, it's just the ones I've come across in my time roving Britain.

Jehovah Witness's.
Ye Gods these are a right pain in the arse. Every weekend these buggars are out in force making a damm nuisance of themselves. They walk around neighbourhoods in pairs, knock and peoples doors and spout nonsense at them. Most of this bunch, or at least the ones I've met, are thick as castle walls. They quote scripture at you at the drop of a hat and have a quote for every occasion. However, these quotes are mindlessly learned from a script and most of them retreat in terror if you start quoting the Bible back at them - especially quotations they themselves haven't learned. They're also vulnerable to *made-up* quotations and you can happily make up lines, passages or even entire books if you feel so inclined - they're unlikely to catch you out. They can also be gotten rid of by telling them you're a Satanist or a Wiccan. (They think the two are the same).

Mormons.
Now to be honest, I know very little about the Mormons except that they're always very well turned out - suits, ties, polished shoes - and always male. (Contrasted to the Jehovah Witnesses who are often old crones and wouldn't be out of place in MacBeth). As to the religion of Mormon - I have vague and hazy ideas but I've never bothered to give it more than a cursory once-over. Still, we do have Mormon Missionaries occasionally coming around our houses and preaching at us. A robust "Fuck-Off and don't come back" generally gets rid of them.

Salvation Armies AKA The Happy-Clappys.
Mostly harmless here in the UK and, to be fair, they do a lot of good work with down-and-outs and the homeless in the UK. They run soup kitchens, hostels, doss-houses etc. They're the absolute safety-net here in the UK. They will feed pretty much anyone and find them somewhere to sleep if they can. But they will insist on singing at you. Hymns and prayers are compulsory at Happy Clappy gigs.

Their recruitment policy is an odd one. They tend to get a lot of their Soldiers from working class families who have a generational interest in music. This is because the Sally-Army always have brass-bands and instruments are willing to provide musical tutoring and instrument loans to working class kids. When I was growing up, this was the prime reason people joined the Sally Army. These days of easy credit and better wages, most kids interested in brass music can afford to get their own instruments so the Army is declining.

The other odd thing they do is the way they raise funds. They send people around pubs to solicit donations and sell their terrible News-Sheet, the War Cry! The reason I find this odd is that they're dead set against alcohol in any form. The Demon Drink they call it. An odd, but harmless bunch.

The Boys Brigade
Now I really should know more about this mob as I was a member when I was a very young lad. Sadly, I only lasted a few weeks as I was thrown out for fighting. Basically, they're a boys club that meets twice a week and is strongly affiliated to the Church Of England. For members of the Boys Brigade, Church Attendance is compulsory and enough non-attendance and you're thrown out. Haven't though about this lot for years. In the UK, they were a religious alternative to the Boy Scouts.


As far as other Evangelicals go, we have a healthy and thriving bunch who target Universities and another bunch (American but can't remember the sect) who use very attractive young girls to lure teenagers into mini-buses where they take you away and sing at you. Adept at love-bombing. They're not terribly successful but they are enthusiastic.

And of course, we have the bloody Scientologists with their never-ending Stress Tests. You could give one of these tests to the living Buddha and even he'd fail and have to cough up for a course with them. Not sure whether I should have included them amongst British Evangelicals but, as they're the ones that bother us most in the UK I thought I'd give them a spot. My personally opinion is that they're not a religion, no matter what they say, they're a cult. A scam. A vicious corporate money making machine. But they are common in Britain’s cities. Vultures.



Err - I think that will do for now. I seem to have rambled on a bit. Next post will be on Faith Based Schools and other recent Dominion phenomena.

Cheers

Legless