Με βάση τα αποτελέσματα της απογραφής του 2011 στη Μεγάλη
Βρετανία, το Ισλάμ πρόκειται να γίνει η κυρίαρχη θρησκεία εκεί την επόμενη
δεκαετία.
Οι βασικότερες αιτίες είναι:
Οι βασικότερες αιτίες είναι:
- Το δημογραφικό πρόβλημα που παρατηρείται ανάμεσα στους Χριστιανούς.
- Το ότι πολλοί Χριστιανοί στο πέρασμα των ετών οδηγούνται
στην αθεϊα.
- Σημαντική αύξηση πιστών του Ινδουϊσμού, Βουδισμού και
Ιουδαϊσμού.
- Οι μουσουλμάνοι αποδεικνύονται ως πιο «πιστοί» στις παραδόσεις
τους.
- Αύξηση της μετανάστευσης των μουσουλμάνων στη Μεγάλη Βρετανία.
One in 10
people under 25 are Muslim, while Christianity is in decline, the 2011 UK
census reveals. An explosion in the Muslim population and an aging Christian
demographic could mean Islam will be the dominant religion in the UK in 10
years.
A new
analysis of the 2011 census by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed
that the number of Christians was falling 50 per cent faster than had
previously been thought. Earlier analysis of the statistics showed only a 15
per cent decline, but the ONS found that this figure had been beefed up by 1.2
million foreign-born Christians.
Furthermore,
the re-analysis showed that the majority of Christians were over the age of 60
and for the first time less than half of young people describe themselves as
Christian. As a result the ONS has calculated that in a decade only a minority
will classify themselves as Christians in England. Christianity is still the
dominant religion in the UK with over 50 per cent of the population regarding
themselves as believers.
However,
this may be set to change as the British Muslim population has surged
dramatically over the past 15 years, increasing by 75 per cent in England and
Wales. The 2011 census puts the Muslim population of the UK at around 5 per
cent, a total that has been boosted by around 600,000 Muslim immigrants who
have arrived in the UK over the past decade.
Keith
Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society, said to UK
daily the Telegraph that the decline of Christianity is
“inevitable.”
“In another 20 years there are going to be more active Muslims than there are
churchgoers,” he said.
Moreover
the number of people identifying themselves as atheists has increased by 10 per
cent, rising from 15 per cent to 25 per cent. The change has been dubbed as a
“significant cultural shift” by the British Humanist Association, while the
Church of England has shrugged off the statistics, maintaining they still
retain a strong base of believers.
"While
this is a challenge, the fact that six out of 10 people in England and Wales
self-identify as Christians is not discouraging. Christianity is no longer a
religion of culture but a religion of decision and commitment. People are
making a positive choice in self-identifying as Christians," said a
spokesperson for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales told
press in December.
In addition
the census registered an increase in followers of Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism
and Judaism.
‘Sleepwalking
into segregation’
The rising
number of immigrants and different ethnicities in the UK has given rise to
increasing levels of segregation. Think tank ‘Demos’ has labeled the phenomenon
‘white flight’, citing the falling number of ethnic whites in areas where they
are minorities.
Demos’
investigation revealed that new ethnic minorities like Somalis where moving
into areas where older most established ethnic populations like Afro-Caribbeans
had previously been dominant.
The
population of London is indicative of the change in the British demographic
with 600,000 white Londoners moving out of the capital in the past decade. In
spite of the fact that the British capital’s population has grown by more than
a million, the number of white British residents has decreased from 4.3 million
to 3.7 million.
“We do have
an integration problem,” said Demos director David Goodhart to RT. The
“changing
ethnic composition” of the British capital is causing a large exodus of ethnic
white out of the city, he added.
Goodhart
went on to say that the problem of integration was not confined to Great
Britain and is prevalent all around the EU despite attempts to eradicate
segregation.
“Part of
the point of the euro was to disperse German power and prevent the rise of
nationalism in Europe, but it has done precisely the opposite on both fronts.
We now have serious national resentments in countries like Greece,” he
stressed.