Britainis a multi-faith society in which everyone has the right to religious freedom.Although Britain is historically a Christian society, people are usually verytolerant towards the faiths of others and those who have no religious beliefs.

Religionin the United Kingdom, and in the countries thatpreceded it, has been dominated for over 1,400 years by various forms of Christianity.

According to the 2011 Census, Christianity is the major religion,followed by Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism and Buddhism in terms of number of adherents. Among Christians, Anglicans are the most commondenomination, followed by the Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists. This, andthe relatively large number of individuals with nominal or no religiousaffiliations, has led commentators to variously describe the United Kingdomas a multi-faith and secularised society.

official/stateChurch
The United Kingdom as a whole lacks an official religion.
The official religion of England isChristianity, as practized by the Church of England (Anglican).

The Church in Wales is alsoAnglican.

In Scotland the official Church isthe Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

Other Christians in each countryalso include the Roman Catholics and the Methodists.

The Monarch of the United Kingdom is theSupreme Governor of the Church, and accordingly, only a Protestant may inherit the Britishthrone.

History of Religion in England

Britain used to be a RomanCatholic country.

In 1533, duringthe reign of Henry VIII, England brokefrom the Roman Catholic Church to form the Anglican Church.

Why did England become a Protestantcountry?

Henry VIII, theking, wanted a divorce. He wanted a son and his wife only gave birth todaughters. He asked the Pope for permission to divorce, but was refused. HenryVIII became very angry and decided to make his own church.

HenryVIII became leader of the Church of England(Anglican Church). He had the Bible translated to English and thepeople who believed in this new religion were called Protestants .

Back tobeing a Catholic Country

In 1553, Marybecame Queen. She changed the country back to Catholicism and burnedProtestants who wouldn't change at the stake (similar to a bonfire).

Allchange again

In 1558,Elizabeth became Queen. She changed the church back to Anglican and it has beenthe official religion of England since.

Religion in Britain today

The main religion in Britain is Christianity. Most Christians belong to the Church of England or the Churchof Scotland. These are Protestant Churches. There are also many RomanCatholics.

Who is the head of theChurch of England?

The Queen (the BritishMonarch) is 'Supreme Governor of the Church of England'.

Although religious faith in Britain is predominantly Christian,most of the world’s religions are also practiced. There are large Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh communities, and also smaller communities of Bahá’í, Buddhists, Jains, and Zoroastrians, as well as followers of new religiousmovements.

Christianity

Anglicanism

The Church of England is the establishedchurch in England. Its most senior bishops sit in the nationalparliament and the Queen is its supreme governor. It is also the "motherchurch" of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Church of Englandseparated from the Catholic Church in 1534 and became theestablished church by an Act ofParliament in the Act ofSupremacy, beginning a series of events known as the English Reformation. Historically it has beenthe predominant Christian denomination in England and Wales, in terms of bothinfluence and number of adherents.

The Scottish Episcopal Church,which is part of the Anglican Communion (but not a "daughter church"of the Church of England), dates from the final establishment ofPresbyterianism in Scotland in 1690, when it split from the Church of Scotland.In the 1920s, the Church in Wales became disestablished and independent from theChurch of England, but remains in the Anglican Communion

Catholic Church

The Catholic Churchhas separate national organisations for England, Wales, and Scotland, whichmeans there is no single hierarchy for the Catholic Church in the UnitedKingdom. Catholicism is the second largest denomination in England and Wales,with around five million members, mainly in England. Catholicism is Scotland'ssecond largest Christian denomination, representing a sixth of the population.

Methodism

The Methodist movement traces itsorigin to the evangelical awakening in the 18th century.The British Methodist Church,which has congregations throughout Great Britain, the ChannelIslands, the Isle of Man, Malta and Gibraltar,has around 290,000 members, and 5,900 churches, though only around 3,000members in 50 congregations are in Scotland. In the 1960s, it made ecumenicalovertures to the Church of England, aimed at church unity. Formally, thesefailed when they were rejected by the Church of England's General Synod in1972. However, conversations and co-operation continued, leading on 1 November2003 to the signing of a covenant between the two churches.

The Methodist Church in Ireland covers thewhole of the island of Ireland, including Northern Ireland where it is thefourth-largest denomination.

Other faith

Islam

Estimates in 2009 suggested a totalof about 2.4 million Muslims over all the United Kingdom. According to PewForum on Religion and Public Life, the number of Muslims in Britain could be upto 3 million. The vast majority of Muslims in the United Kingdom live inEngland and Wales.

Most Muslim immigrants to theUnited Kingdom came from former colonies.The biggest groups of Muslims are of Pakistani,Bangladeshi,Indianand Araborigins, with the remainder coming from Muslim-dominated areas such as Southwest Asia,Somalia,Malaysia,and Indonesia.Muslims are by far the poorest religious or non religious community in the UK. Muslimsalso happen to be the most disproportionately represented religious groupfacing arrest, trial and imprisonment, with 13.1% of prisoners being Muslimswhile the community represents 4% of those aged 15 years or older within thegeneral population.

Asian religions

Historic Churches inBritain

Westminster Cathedral– Catholic

Canterbury Cathedral– Church of England and Mother Church of England

Westminster Abbey– Church of England

		Detailed 2015 BSA survey on religion in the UK
Affiliation	% of UK population
Christian	42
Church of England	17
Other Christian	17
Catholic	8
Unaffiliated	49
Non-Christian faiths	8
Muslim	5
Other Non-Christian faiths	3
Don't know/refused answer	1
Total	100