Standing up to be counted: understanding Pagan responses to the 2011 British censuses

Abstract

Over the past 50 years, Paganism as a religious identification has grown in Britain and Pagan groups have begun to enter the mainstream of public religious life. The numbers identifying as Pagan increased between the 2001 and 2011 British censuses, but despite Paganism's increased public profile not all Pagans feel willing or confident about openly declaring their Paganism. Census numbers fall well below estimates from other sources. In May 2013, a questionnaire was distributed to Pagans in Britain exploring how they completed the religion question in the 2011 censuses. Some 1700 responded, the largest survey so far of the Pagan community in Britain. This paper discusses Pagans' motivations for identifying or not identifying as Pagan in the censuses and the implications of their responses for the development of Paganism in Britain. More widely, it provides a case study for those seeking to understand the increasing phenomenon in contemporary societies of religious and spiritual communities that are unstructured, amorphous and post-institutional. It demonstrates that censuses and large-scale surveys can become social and community events that shape as well as measure those who participate in them.