New Survey: Religion Is Viewed as Toxic in the UK

As noted before on this blog, all things considered, in my view religion brings more evil and negatives to society than good.  That view seems to be taking hold in the United Kingdom where a new Huffington Post UK survey has revealed results that one can only hope will someday be the view held here in America.  One might say  that over all, religion has become a ‘toxic brand’ in the UK.  Here are excerpts from The New Civil Rights Movement:

Only about one in 12 people describe themselves as very religious, and 20 percent of those people think that religion is harmful to society. A quarter of very religious people and 55 percent of those surveyed think that atheists are actually more likely to be moral than religious people, which pollsters think challenges the belief that "religion is one of the last remaining bastions of British morality."

The poll also found that young people are more likely to view religion positively. Thirty percent of 18-24 year-olds think religion does more good than harm, compared to 19 percent of 55-64 year-olds. 

Linda Woodhead, a professor of sociology of religion at Lancaster University, found the results "striking."

"This confirms something I’ve found in my own surveys and which leads me to conclude that religion has become a ‘toxic brand’ in the UK," she told HuffPost UK. "What we are seeing is not a complete rejection of faith, belief in the divine, or spirituality, though there is some to that, but of institutional religion in the historic forms which are familiar to people.

Woodhead thinks Brits may be drifting away from religion for "numerous" reasons, including sex scandals in the church and conflict in the Middle East.

"I’d add religious leaderships’ drift away from the liberal values, equality, tolerance, diversity, [which is] embraced by many of their own followers and often championed by non-religious and atheist people more forcefully," she said.

Meanwhile, here in America, the Christofascists and professional Christian crowd are pursuing exactly the type of agenda that has led to the public repudiation of organized religion in the UK.  The cynic in me hopes that they continue their hate filled agenda and in the process hasten the demise of institutional religion in this country.