Rational Scots

SCOTLAND is one of the least religious areas in the UK, behind only the south-east of England and Wales, according to a new report.

The study, which is billed as the first in-depth look at the non-religious in the UK, found overall 48.6 per cent of the population in the UK now identify as non-religious.

In Scotland this figure rises to 55 per cent, behind Wales at 56 per cent and the south-east of England at 58 per cent. The most religious area was Inner London, with just 31 per cent saying they had no religion – called ‘nones’ in the report.

The research, carried out by St Mary’s University in Twickenham, London, also found for every person brought up with no religion who has become a Christian, 26 people who were brought up as Christians now identify as having no-religion.

Report author professor Stephen Bullivant, director of the Benedict XVI Centre for Religion and Society at St Mary’s, said growing numbers of people were likely to say they had no religion. “As more and more people have done that in society, the default setting is to say you have no religion - whereas 40 years ago the default setting would have been to tick Church of England or Church of Scotland for example,” he said. “Added to that trend, people who have been brought up as non-religious tend to stay as non-religious.