(Dis)engagements With Christianity Amongst Young People In England And Scotland

Abstract

According to the 2001 UK Census, 62% of British 16-34 year olds described themselves as 'Christian'. However, church censuses conducted by the UK organization Christian Research suggests that the proportion of the general population attending church on any given Sunday is about 6.3% in England and 11.2% in Scotland. This raises questions around the extent to which young people are engaged with Christianity in Britain, and what forms this engagement might take. These points are explored in this chapter. The chapter begins by mapping some of the broad generational experiences that have impacted young people's relationships to Christianity and the Church in the post war era. It looks at more specific details of British young people's Christian beliefs, practices and affiliation, taking into account some of the variation which occurs around key sociological variables such as gender, ethnicity and social class. Keywords: British young people; christian beliefs