Religious/Irreligious Beliefs in the UK: An Idiographic Mapping
In this writing, I consider religion or no religion from the viewpoints of conscious subjectivity and Agency. By this, I mean that religion or no religion can be viewed either as a subject, such as an individual who has the conscious power to relate his/her feelings, desires or beliefs within the bounds allowed by the law, conventions, and responsibilities, on the one hand, or as an agency that has the power of influence over other people, organizations, societies and even civilizations (‘civilization’, here understood as a society or group of people), on the other.
Ideographic Mapping
The
choice of the phrase ‘An Ideographic Mapping’ as part of the title emphasizes
the conscious but rigid specification of the influences of the many religious
or irreligious beliefs. The German philosopher, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
argued that space and time are only forms of intuitions that shape all
experience and though ‘things-in-themselves’ exist and help shape our
experience, they are separated from the objects of experience. For him,
therefore objects of experience are appearances and ‘things-in-themselves’ are,
however, unknowable.
The
phrase ‘ideographic mapping’ as used in this writing is meant to illustrate the
meaning of possible, dependent, cultural, or subjective phenomena. Phenomena in
this context could be viewed as religious or irreligious beliefs that
subjectively cause an individual to express his/her feelings, beliefs, or
desires, or wield power over other things.
Before
the Enlightenment, it could be argued that religion was construed as an agency
and society (anything outside the realm of religious control) as entities
(objects that were known and measured). After the series of Reformations
followed by the Enlightenment, the tide turned; religion began to see the last
of its halcyon ages; its power was a little tamed but not subdued by the
representational secularity.
It
is against this backdrop that this writer considers the title: Religious
and Irreligious Beliefs in the UK: An Ideographic Mapping. The use of an
empty scale of the British map with a variety of symbols inserted into it signifies
how the different religions and irreligion are interweaving and co-existing
side by side. They are co-equal because religious freedom is handed to everyone
as a right.
Collective and Organised vs Individual and Spontaneous Experiences
Based
on the study by Amber Pariona in 2017, where she described the “Religious
Beliefs in The United Kingdom (Great Britain)” and ranked the belief systems,
this writing fashioned the ideographic mapping. Her writing is a typical
example of the ‘turning of the tide’ of beliefs and the ‘meaning of possible,
dependent, cultural, or subjective phenomena.’ Beliefs and religious
experiences are moving away from the collective and organized experience to
that of an individual and spontaneous experience. Such personal
convictions and experiences have resulted in the decline of the number of
believers who identified themselves as belonging to any of the organized
religions and the surge in numbers of those who identified themselves as
irreligious, atheist or agnostic.
The
table below is adapted from Pariona’s table. It is a cursory look at the
instances of religious or irreligious growth, diversification, or
shrinkage.
|
Rank |
Belief
System |
Share
of British Population |
|
1 |
Irreligious,
Atheist, or Agnostic |
49% |
|
2 |
Anglican
Christianity |
17% |
|
3 |
Non-Anglican
Protestant, Orthodoxy, and other forms of non-Catholic Christianity |
17% |
|
4 |
Roman
Catholic Christianity |
8% |
|
5 |
Islam |
5% |
|
6 |
Eastern
Religions, Judaism, and other Beliefs |
4% |
The
possible phenomenon is that irreligious beliefs are growing faster than
Christianity, Islam, Eastern religions, Judaism, and other beliefs. In as much
as the Christian values are what shaped British society and in general most of
the European culture, some scholars have questioned why it should be referred
to as a ‘Christian country’ instead of a ‘secular society’. The numerous
towering spires that are landmarks cordoning off the sacrality spaces are nonetheless,
no more signs of Christianity. Some will argue that such towering spires are
now converted into hostels, flats, pubs and climbing centres. Therefore, it
seems reasonable and plausible to refer to it as a secular society since the
percentage of people who identified themselves as irreligious is the dominant
population.
The measure of a Collective Value
This
is just a hypothetical statement. Should today’s values reflect more the values
of those with the greatest percentage in terms of belief system? Is value
constant or can it change at one point? The answers to these questions may vary
depending on the way they are approached. ‘Value’ can be understood as a
principle or standard of behaviour, or it can also be understood as a personal
judgement of what is important in life. Two different terms ‘standard’ and
‘personal judgement’. Both are particularly important.
What
if in the future any other belief system mentioned in the table above, for
example, becomes dominant, should the values change and reflect more the values
of the dominant religion or irreligion or culture at that time? If in this
light, values change, there is a tendency for conflict and not a competition
between religious or irreligious chauvinism and hegemony. Hence, there is the
need for values to remain principles or standards of behaviour which also
respect individual rights and freedom. And these values which are standards
should be protected by the law and may not be moved around like any goal posts.
Sources
Religious
Beliefs in the United Kingdom (Great Britain) – Amber Pariona, April 25, 2017.
In Society. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/religious-beliefs-in-the-united-kingdom-great-britain.html
Noumenon
in Philosophical Issues, The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/noumenon (Accessed 05/12/2020).
Exploring
religion in England and Wales: February 2020 in Religion, Office for National
Statistics https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/religion/articles/exploringreligioninenglandandwales/february2020#size-of-the-religious-populations (Accessed
05/12/2020).
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