A recent study showed that an astonishing 93 per cent of Christians living in the United Kingdom feel that their faith is being marginalized by society, The Christian Institute reports.
“The State of the Faith,” conducted by Premier Christian Radio, found out that nearly half of the 12,000 respondents said they personally experienced prejudice because of their faith. In addition, only 18 per cent of those surveyed thought that Christianity is given the same respect as other worldviews and religions.
Meantime, Nola Leach, chief executive of Care, a Christian lobbying group in the U.K., was not surprised with the study’s results. She said she has been seeing “worrying signs” that Christianity is being marginalized in Britain, The Blaze reports.
The results of the survey may come as a surprise. “It’s clear that we are not the liberal accepting society we think we are if we don’t tolerate and accept everyone, including Christians,” said Peter Kerridge, Chief Executive of Premier Christian Radio.
The study also found that 70 per cent of young Christians, age 15-19, experienced prejudice. Deputy Director for Public Affairs at The Christian Institute, Simon Calvert, believed that the country’s education system is partly to blame for this problem.
Calvert noted that British schools were so focused on instilling certain values and ideas to students that it created an unfriendly atmosphere for Christian students.
Meantime, Nola Leach, chief executive of Care, a Christian lobbying group in the U.K., was not surprised with the study’s results. She said she has been seeing “worrying signs” that Christianity is being marginalized in Britain, The Blaze reports.
“Partly because of illiteracy [and] partly because of those who have a very different agenda, we may be moving into a period when debate is shutdown — where you can’t have an honest debate and agree to differ,” she said.
Kerridge feared that a person of faith leads a difficult life if he feels that society has prejudices against his religious views. “People of faith, from all religions should be allowed to live and work in freedom.”
Calvert called for changes in British society, specifically, in its education system. “Something needs to be done about that and I think it’s about time the Department for Education started listening to the experiences of Christian young people.”
Sources:
Christianorguk. (2017). The Christian Institute. http://www.christian.org.uk/news/premier-radio-nine-ten-christians-feel-marginalised/
Theblazecom. (2017). TheBlaze. https://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/07/17/astonishing-number-of-uk-christians-say-their-faith-is-marginalized/
