Young Are Atheists

The Young

London Times February 12 2015

• Almost one in five Britons is now an atheist as a generational shift away from religion gathers force, a poll for The Times has found.
  
  Experts said that the country was becoming more comfortable with atheism than with faith after the data revealed that public figures win approval for questioning the existence of God, while Christians are more than twice as likely as atheists to say that they struggle to speak openly about their beliefs.
  
  A marked divide has opened up between young and old. Almost one in three under-24s declare themselves to be atheists, compared with one in ten over-60s.
  
  The YouGov survey of 1,550 adults is one of the first studies to give a clear impression of the extent of atheism in modern Britain. Nineteen per cent of Britons said that they were atheists, while 7 per cent were agnostics and 3 per cent humanists. Forty-nine per cent said that they were Christian and 42 per cent said they had no religion.
  
  Earlier studies have suggested that a higher proportion of Britons do not believe in God, but there have been few reliable estimates for the number of atheists. This time 33 per cent said that they did not believe in “any sort of god or greater spiritual power”, compared with 32 per cent who believed in God and 20 per cent who believed in a spiritual power. The proportion of people who denied believing in any god rises to 46 per cent among 18 to 24-year-olds.
  
  The poll found that both Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem deputy prime minister, and Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, are viewed slightly more positively as a result of their admissions that they do not believe in God. David Cameron’s avowal of Anglican faith last year appears to have made no difference to his popularity, with a net 12 per cent of Christians saying that it had made them think better of him and 18 per cent of atheists saying the opposite.
  
  Stephen Fry’s widely publicised diatribe against a “capricious, mean-minded, stupid God” last month also won plaudits, with 21 per cent saying that it had improved their opinion of him.
  
  David Voas, professor of population studies at Essex university, said that Fry had offended some religious people but “delighted” atheists. “Political leaders would want to avoid polarising opinion in that way, but again it’s evidence of a sort that people can express strongly anti-religious views and receive more applause than disapproval,” he said.
  
  The contrast with the United States, where only 5 per cent of the population is atheist, is stark, Professor Voas said. “The mere fact that atheists are more comfortable than Christians in saying what they are is noteworthy. Certainly Americans would be astonished to hear that only 10 per cent of British atheists feel uncomfortable telling people their identity.”

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