Half of Britons think religion does more harm
than good
By Press Association 4:36PM GMT 04
Nov 2014
Even a fifth of those who see themselves as
devout say religion is harmful to society, study finds
More than half of
Britons believe religion does more harm than good, with less than a
quarter believing faith is a positive force, according to a new
survey.
Even 20% of British
people who describe themselves as being ''very religious'' said
religion was harmful to society.
The study for the
Huffington Post UK revealed that only 8% of Britons describe
themselves as very religious, with more than 60% saying they were
not religious at all.
The poll shows more
people believe being an atheist is likely to make you a good person
than being religious.
In fact, one in
eight Britons said atheists tend to be more moral, compared to just
6% who say atheists are less moral, challenging widely held beliefs
that religion is one of the last remaining bastions of British
morality
Of the 2,004 people
surveyed, 56% described themselves as Christian, 2.5% were Muslim,
1% were Jewish and the remainder were of another faith or
none.
The majority of
British people believe religion is not more likely to make you a
moral person. More than 55% said atheists are just as likely to be
moral people as religious people.
Young people are
actually more likely to have a positive view of religion. Around
30% of 18-24 year olds believe religion does more good than harm,
compared to just 19% of 55-64 year-olds.
Survation carried
out the survey for HuffPost UK in Britain in October.