RELIGION IN GREAT BRITAIN: CONFLICT OF BELIEFS

Introduction

Religion in the United Kingdom has been dominated, for over 1,400 years, by various forms of Christianity. According to some surveys, a majority of citizens still identify with Christianity, although regular church attendance has fallen dramatically since the middle of the 20th century, and immigration and demographic change have contributed to the growth of other faiths.

The Topicality of the work.Nowadays religion plays an important role in British society. Religion is closely connected with the government and economy. Consequently, it influence on different spheres of public life. This impactcreates specific features in British national character. Knowledge of religion helps deeply learn mentality, culture and values of the country.All these facts determine the necessity for research of religion in Great Britain.

The object of the represented term paper is religion in Great Britain.

The subject is peculiarity of religions in Great Britain.

The purpose of the given research paper is to identify main religious denominations in Britain, to determine public attitude to religion.

The purpose identifies the main tasks of the work: 1) to describe major religions in Great Britain; 2) to identify minor religions in Britain; 3) to analyze public attitude to religion

Chapter I. Christianity as the main religion of Great Britain. Main religious groups

According to the 2001 UK census, Christianity is the major religion, followed by Islam, Hinduism, Neo-Paganism, Sikhism, Judaism and Buddhism in terms of number of adherents. This, and the relatively large number of individuals with nominal or no religious affiliations has led commentators to variously describe the United Kingdom as a multi-faith, secularised, or post-Christian society.

There are two established or state churches in Britain: the Church of England, or Anglican Church as it is also called, and the Church of Scotland, or 'Kirk'. Inspite of the fact that these churches both are Christian they have many differences in structure.

Date: 2015-04-20; view: 3186