Religion in Wales
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Religion in Wales has, over the years, become increasingly diverse. Christianity was the religion of virtually all of the Welsh population until the late 20th century, but it has rapidly declined throughout the early 21st century. Today a plurality (46.5%) of people in Wales follow no religion at all.
Representing 43.6% of the Welsh population in 2021,
, was self-governing.Most adherents to organised
. Some modern surveys have suggested that most Welsh people do not identify with any religion, and record significantly less religious feeling in Wales than in other parts of the UK.Census statistics
Religion | 2001[2][3] | 2011[2][4] | 2021[1] | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
No religion | 537,935 | 18.5 | 982,997 | 32.1 | 1,446,398 | 46.5 |
Christianity | 2,087,242 | 71.9 | 1,763,299 | 57.6 | 1,354,773 | 43.6 |
Islam | 21,739 | 0.7 | 45,950 | 1.5 | 66,947 | 2.2 |
Hinduism | 5,439 | 0.2 | 10,434 | 0.3 | 12,242 | 0.4 |
Buddhism | 5,407 | 0.2 | 9,117 | 0.3 | 10,075 | 0.3 |
Sikhism | 2,015 | 0.1 | 2,962 | 0.1 | 4,048 | 0.1 |
Judaism | 2,256 | 0.1 | 2,064 | 0.1 | 2,044 | 0.1 |
Other religion | 6,909 | 0.2 | 12,705 | 0.4 | 15,926 | 0.5 |
Religion not stated | 234,143 | 8.1 | 233,928 | 7.6 | 195,041 | 6.3 |
Total population | 2,903,085 | 100.0 | 3,063,456 | 100.0 | 3,107,494 | 100.0 |
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org. |
Christianity
United Kingdom |
---|
History
Roman origins
Although Christianity arrived in
Emergence
The age of the saints (about AD 500–700) was marked by the establishment of monastic settlements throughout the country, by religious leaders such as
The Welsh bishops refused to co-operate with
Reformation
Bishop Richard Davies and dissident Protestant cleric John Penry introduced Calvinist theology to Wales. They used the model of the Synod of Dort of 1618–1619. Calvinism developed through the Puritan period, following the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II, and within Wales' Methodist movement. However, few copies of Calvin's writings were available in Welsh before the mid 19th century.[7]
Welsh as liturgical language
Some books of the
Abuses did occur, and in the 18th century some bishops granted
18th century conditions
The condition of religion in Wales was bleak from the mid-17th century to the mid-18th century. The established Church of England recovered slowly from the widespread damage brought about by the English Civil War, and the Puritan Commonwealth of Cromwell, in the mid-17th century. Poverty was widespread in the overwhelmingly rural country. The clergy were impoverished and subsisted on their own farm work on their glebes. Facilities from personages to graveyards to churches to cathedrals were commonly in physical disrepair. Membership and participation was falling.[10]
Nonconformity, membership and revivals
The Welsh Methodist revival also had an influence on the older nonconformist churches, or
Statistics of membership between 1680 and 1840 demonstrate that the established Church of England lost one-fifth of its membership. In addition, an ever-increasing number of nominal Anglicans also ceasing to practise. Nonconformity more than quadrupled, mainly from 1760 and especially after 1800. In 1800 there were twice as many Anglican churches as Nonconformist chapels; in 1850, chapels outnumbered churches by a ratio of 5 to 2. Roman Catholicism kept pace with demographic growth, but, even reinforced by Irish immigration, remained a limited force in 1840. Judaism and overt irreligion were both rare.[11]
In 1910, the nonconformist bodies numbered 550,000 members, as against 193,000 in the established Church of England. Nonconformists, led by Liberal David Lloyd George, increasingly controlled the politics of Wales, although the elite sectors were still dominated by the Anglicans.[12]
The
Disestablishment – creation of the Church in Wales
In reaction to the rise of nonconformity, some Anglicans came to recognise the weaknesses of the established church and its failure to counteract the popular aspects of nonconformity. The rigidity of the parish system and the distance between churches were quoted as examples of the failure of the church to adapt.[16]
The
Present-day Catholic Christianity
Catholics are served by the Ecclesiastical Province of Cardiff, which comprises the Archdiocese of Cardiff, the Diocese of Menevia and the Diocese of Wrexham. The bishops of these dioceses are part of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. In total, the three dioceses counted 209,451 Catholics out of a population of 3,112,451 inhabitants, equalling to a percentage of 6.7% Catholics. The three dioceses have 172 priests and 34 permanent deacons, 75 male religious and 267 female religious, and a total of 154 parishes as of 2016 (2017 for the diocese of Wrexham).[21] However, the province does not entirely coincide with Wales, as the Archdiocese of Cardiff also covers Herefordshire, in England.[citation needed]
Sabbatarianism
The Sabbatarian temperance movement was strong among the Welsh in the Victorian period and the early twentieth century, the sale of alcohol being prohibited on Sundays in Wales by the Sunday Closing Act of 1881 – the first legislation specifically issued for Wales since the Middle Ages. From the early 1960s, local council areas were permitted to hold referendums every seven years to determine whether they should be wet or dry on Sundays: most of the industrialised areas in the east and south went wet immediately, and by the 1980s, Dwyfor in the northwest as the last of the dry regions went wet after a local referendum in 1982; however, in the next referendum it returned to a dry region on Sundays from 1989 to 1996. In early 1996 the reorganisation of local government in Wales resulted in Dwyfor district being abolished. The Dwyfor area is now covered by an area committee of the Gwynedd Council and there have been no further "Wet - Dry" referendums.[citation needed]
Saints
Saint David is the patron saint of Wales.[22]
Wales is particularly noted for
Islam
The largest non-Christian faith in Wales is Islam, with about 46,000 adherents in 2011. Most Muslims live in Cardiff (23,656 in 2011, 6.8% of the population), but there are also significant numbers in Newport (6,859 in 2011) and Swansea (5,415 in 2011).[4]
There has been a Somali and Yemeni Islamic community in Cardiff since the mid-1800s, founded by seafarers to Cardiff Docks.[23][24]
Judaism
Other faiths
Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism
area of Cardiff in 1989.Other religions
In 2021 around 15,926 identified themselves being part from another religion including a reconstructed form of
Other religions | 2011[26] | 2021[27] | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pagan Religions | 4,550 | 6,481 | ||||
– Pagan | 3,448 | 5,104 | ||||
– Wicca | 740 | 867 | ||||
– Heathen | 91 | 243 | ||||
– Druidism | 243 | 222 | ||||
– Reconstructionist | 28 | 45 | ||||
Spiritualism and new religious movements | 4,424 | 5,014 | ||||
– Spiritualist1 | 3,532 | 3,833 | ||||
– Satanism | 93 | 303 | ||||
– Shamanism | 38 | 265 | ||||
– Pantheism | 111 | 146 | ||||
– Rastafari | 249 | 145 | ||||
– Witchcraft | 83 | 77 | ||||
– Animism | 54 | 69 | ||||
– Universalist | 61 | 42 | ||||
– Occult | 28 | 33 | ||||
– Scientology | 57 | 26 | ||||
– New Age | 33 | 23 | ||||
– Thelemite |
8 | 18 | ||||
– Eckankar | 12 | 10 | ||||
– Mysticism | 12 | 9 | ||||
– Unification Church | 17 | 7 | ||||
– Brahma Kumari | 8 | 6 | ||||
– Church of all Religions | 28 | 2 | ||||
Indian Religions | 108 | 111 | ||||
– Jainism | 95 | 102 | ||||
– Ravidassia | 13 | 9 | ||||
Alevism | 212 | |||||
Mixed Religion(s) | 1,659 | 420 | ||||
Iranian Religions | 325 | 312 | ||||
– Baha'í |
275 | 227 | ||||
– Zoroastrian | 50 | 64 | ||||
– Yazidi | 21 | |||||
East Asian Religions | 278 | 245 | ||||
– Taoism | 228 | 199 | ||||
– Shintoism |
34 | 38 | ||||
– Chinese Religions3 | 16 | 3 | ||||
Other Religions | 1,361 | 3,143 | ||||
– Theism2 | 181 | 131 | ||||
– Own Belief System | 107 | 130 | ||||
– Deism | 57 | 57 | ||||
– Traditional African Religion |
4 | 10 | ||||
– Druze | 11 | 7 | ||||
– Vudun |
10 | 11 | ||||
– Native American Church | 8 | 8 | ||||
– Other Religions | 983 | 2,789 | ||||
Total population | 12,705 | 15,926 | ||||
1 includes people who reported "spiritual" | ||||||
2 includes people who reported "Believe in God" | ||||||
3 includes people who reported "Confucianism" |
Irreligion
In the United Kingdom census, which asks the leading question, "What is your religion?", 46.5 per cent of Welsh people declared “No religion” in the 2021 census,[28] up from 32.1% in 2011; and over twice the 18.5% in 2001.[2] This included 66% of those aged 27.[29]
Commenting on the figures, Humanists UK said: "[T]he results show that Wales faces a non-religious future, and that public bodies need to keep up with today’s demographics."[30]
Notable places of worship
- Bangor Cathedral – Church in Wales
- Brecon Cathedral – Church in Wales
- Cardiff Cathedral– Roman Catholic Church
- Llandaff Cathedral – Church in Wales
- Newport Cathedral – Church in Wales
- Sikh Gurdwara Cardiff – Sikh Gurdwara Cardiff
- St Asaph Cathedral – Church in Wales
- St David's Cathedral– Church in Wales
- St. Joseph's Cathedral, Swansea– Roman Catholic Church
- Congregational church
- Wrexham Cathedral – Roman Catholic Church
See also
References
- ^ a b "Religion, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics". www.ons.gov.uk. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
- ^ a b c "2011 Census: Key Statistics for Wales, March 2011". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
- ^ "Religion (2001 Census)". data.gov.uk. 9 February 2010. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
- ^ a b c "2011 Census: KS209EW Religion, local authorities in England and Wales". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
- ^ a b "The Age of the Saints". BBC Wales.
- ^ Lloyd, J.E. (1911). A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest. Vol. 1. London: Longman, Green, & Co. pp. 143–159.
- ^ D. Densil Morgan, "Calvinism in Wales: c.1590-1909," Welsh Journal of Religious History (2009), Vol. 4, p22-36
- ^ a b c The Cymmrodorion (1773). The Depositions, Arguments and Judgement in the Cause of the Church-Wardens of Trefdraeth, In the County of Anglesea, against Dr. Bowles; adjudged by the Worshipful G. Hay, L.L.D. Dean of the Arches: Instituted To Remedy the Grievance of preferring Persons Unacquainted with the British Language, to Livings in Wales. London: William Harris. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
- ^ Church of England; William Vickers, ed. (1785). The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments.
{{cite book}}
:|author2=
has generic name (help) - ^ Alfred George Edwards, Landmarks in the History of the Welsh Church (1912) pp. 161ff
- ^ Clive D. Field, "Counting Religion in England and Wales: The Long Eighteenth Century, c. 1680–c. 1840." Journal of Ecclesiastical History 63#4 (2012): 693-720.
- ISBN 9780312425159.
- ^ E. Cynolwyn Pugh, "The Welsh Revival of 1904–1905." Theology Today 12.2 (1955): 226-235.
- ^ Clive D. Field, "'The Faith Society'? Quantifying Religious Belonging in Edwardian Britain, 1901–1914." Journal of Religious History 37.1 (2013): 39-63.
- ^ 2011 Census Religion tables for Urban Areas.
- ^ "Welsh Church Improvement". Welshman. 3 March 1865. p. 6. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
- ^ Wightwick, Abbie (20 May 2018). "Church in Wales to spend £10m to 'breathe new life' into its churches". WalesOnline. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
- ^ "National level population estimates by year, age and UK country". statswales.gov.wales.
- ^ "Church in Wales Membership & Finance 2018" (PDF).
- ^ "Wales Population 2023 | Population UK".
- ^ "Cardiff (Archdiocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org.
- ^ "St David: The greatest figure in the Welsh Age of Saints". VisitWales.
- ^ "Somali Seafarers in Wales". The Black Presence in Britain – Black British History Website. 9 October 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
- ^ "Immigration and Emigration, South East Wales, Somali Community". BBC. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
- ^ "Religion (Detailed) - Office for National Statistics".
- ^ "QS210EW (Religion (detailed)) - Nomis - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics". www.nomisweb.co.uk. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
- ^ "Religion (detailed) - Office for National Statistics". www.ons.gov.uk. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
- ^ "Ethnic group, national identity, language and religion in Wales (Census 2021)". GOV.WALES. 29 November 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
- ^ "Oh God! Is religion dying in the UK?". Firstpost. 31 January 2023.
- ^ "2021 Census: Most people in Wales under 74 tick 'No religion'". Humanists UK. 30 January 2023.
Further reading
- Cragoe, Matthew. "George Osborne Morgan, Henry Richard, and the Politics of Religion in Wales, 1868–74." Parliamentary History 19.1 (2000): 118–130.
- Davies, Ebnezer Thomas. Religion in the Industrial Revolution of South Wales (U. of Wales Press, 1965).
- Field, Clive D. "Counting Religion in England and Wales: The Long Eighteenth Century, c. 1680–c. 1840." Journal of Ecclesiastical History 63.04 (2012): 693–720. New estimates of the religious composition of the population in 1680, 1720, 1760, 1800 and 1840.
- Harris, Chris, and Richard Startup, eds. The Church in Wales: The Sociology of a Traditional Institution (U of Wales Press, 1999), the Church of England.
- Jenkins, Geraint H. Literature, religion and society in Wales, 1660-1730 (University of Wales Press, 1978)
- Jones, Anthony. Welsh chapels (National Museum Wales, 1996).
- Jones, David Ceri, and Eryn Mant White. The Elect Methodists: Calvinistic Methodism in England and Wales, 1735-1811 (U of Wales Press, 2012).
- Jones, J. Gwynfor. "Reflections on the religious revival in Wales 1904-05." Journal of the United Reformed Church History Society 7.7 (2005): 427–445.
- Morgan, Barry. "The Church in Wales." in Ian S. Markham and J. Barney Hawkins IV, eds., The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to the Anglican Communion (2013): 452–463.
- Morgan, D. Densil. The Span of the Cross: Christian Religion and Society in Wales, 1914-2000 (U of Wales Press, 1999) online
- Morgan, D. Densil. Wales and the Word: Historical Perspectives on Religion and Welsh Identity (2008)
- Morgan-Guy, John. Religion and Society in the Diocese of St Davids 1485–2011 (Routledge, 2016).
- Pope, Robert, ed. Religion and National Identity: Wales and Scotland c. 1700-2000 (2001). online
- Randall, Ian. "Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Methodist Spirituality." Wesley and Methodist Studies 5 (2013): 97–122. (1899-1981)
- Thomas, James Edward. Social Disorder in Britain 1750-1850: The Power of the Gentry, Radicalism and Religion in Wales (IB Tauris, 2011).
- Walker, David, ed. A History of the Church in Wales (Church in Wales Publications for the Historical Society of the Church in Wales, 1976).
- Williams, Glanmor, ed. Welsh reformation essays (University of Wales Press, 1967)
- Williams, Glanmor. Renewal and Reformation: Wales C. 1415-1642 (Oxford University, 1993) online.