Source: www.guardian.co.uk
UNITED KINGDOM, October 27, 2010: The British Humanist Association has launched a campaign to encourage non-believers and the seriously lapsed to tick the “no religion” box on the 2011 census with the aim of challenging religious privilege in Britain. According to the organization, public figures have spent the last 10 years claiming that most people in this country are religious to justify the money or attention spent on these communities.
The BHA states that the census underestimates the number of non-religious people and inflates the Christian population. The official figures show that in 2001 15.1% of respondents did not answer the religion question (which was voluntary) and 7.8% of the people who did said they had no religion. That equates to 22.9% of respondents – approximately 13 million people – who were either non-religious, did not want to answer the question or failed to spot it.
Since the last census was carried out, the BHA believes the numbers of the non-religious have increased. And there have been high-profile campaigns by atheists such as Richard Dawkins and the group behind the Atheist bus. The BHA says it is time for people who never go to church or who never think about religion to come out in the open: ” What people do not realize is that by ticking the Christian box rather than the no religion box – which would more accurately reflect their identity – they have contributed to data used to justify an increase in the number of ‘faith’ schools, the public funding of religious groups, keeping Bishops in the House of Lords as of right, and the continuation of compulsory worship in schools.”
[HPI note: It is important to point out that this campaign seems to oppose a disillusioned or careless form of nominal Christianity in the UK, not the commited faithful of any religion — Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim or even Christian. It will be informative to know how many UK citizens fall into that category.]