The Death of Christian Britain
The Death of Christian Britain
The Death of Christian Britain
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— <strong>The</strong> <strong>Death</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Christian</strong> <strong>Britain</strong> —<br />
in his data, with the figure being over 70 per cent in 20 out <strong>of</strong> 30 data<br />
points for thirteen Huddersfield congregations), 45 it is striking how strong<br />
is the obverse argument – namely, that congregations provided intensely<br />
local foci for the vast majority <strong>of</strong> churchgoers as the scale <strong>of</strong> urban communities<br />
grew in the late nineteenth century.<br />
Overall, the factors so far considered are poor predictors <strong>of</strong> churchgoing<br />
levels in the population. Social class appears as notionally significant<br />
in correlation for some places (notably London) but poor in others, whilst<br />
everywhere it is a hopeless determinant in regression analysis. <strong>The</strong> working<br />
classes made up the majority <strong>of</strong> churchgoers in virtually every denomination<br />
in every period from 1800 to the 1960s, with the skilled working class<br />
<strong>of</strong> artisans and tradesmen being particularly numerous in congregations.<br />
<strong>The</strong> unskilled were far less numerous, and indeed were the least<br />
churchgoing <strong>of</strong> all social classes in most places (though, as the Black<br />
Country may indicate, not all). However, evidence from churchgoing<br />
censuses that lower proportions <strong>of</strong> the working classes (skilled and<br />
unskilled) attended worship compared to the middle classes may be the<br />
result <strong>of</strong> different attendance patterns – such as less frequent Sunday attendance,<br />
and more attendance at under-recorded weekday and non-regular<br />
religious gatherings – and not <strong>of</strong> being any more ‘unchurched’ than the<br />
bourgeoisie. Equally, the data from 1800 to the 1960s fail to identify a<br />
period in which there was a working-class haemorrhage from congregations,<br />
tending to undermine the notion that working-class evacuation <strong>of</strong><br />
the churches led secularisation at any point. With the whole picture complicated<br />
by regional variation, and by the possibility <strong>of</strong> increased male<br />
industrial employment having a positive influence upon working-class<br />
churchgoing, we are left with the conclusion that social class on its own<br />
fails to explain church decline in <strong>Britain</strong> between 1800 and the 1960s.<br />
GENDER AND RELIGIOSITY<br />
Women have tended to dominate church memberships and churchgoers<br />
during the last three centuries. In the membership <strong>of</strong> Baptist and<br />
Congregationalist churches between 1650 and 1980, women outnumbered<br />
men by a factor <strong>of</strong> two to one, though by somewhat less within<br />
Nonconformity as a whole. In Bradford in 1881, 71 per cent <strong>of</strong> members<br />
in twelve Nonconformist congregations were female. In West London in<br />
1902–3, 68 per cent <strong>of</strong> Church <strong>of</strong> England morning worshippers were<br />
women and 69 per cent <strong>of</strong> evening worshippers. In the whole <strong>of</strong> the capital<br />
in those years, with the inclusion <strong>of</strong> children, adult men made up only 23.9<br />
per cent <strong>of</strong> Anglican worshippers, whilst women made up 60.8 per cent <strong>of</strong><br />
all adult churchgoers to all denominations. 46 However, in Stirling between<br />
1849 and 1908 women made up only 59 per cent <strong>of</strong> communicants, the<br />
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