US AND UK PERSPECTIVES ON RELIGION AND BELIEF
US AND UKPERSPECTIVES ONRELIGION AND BELIEFwww.britishcouncil.orgUS AND UK PERSPECTIVES ON RELIGION AND BELIEF 1
US AND UK PERSPECTIVES ON RELIGION AND BELIEFAuthor: Gerald FitzGeraldWe would like to thank all who have supported the publication of this report. Brenna Fawson made a particularlysignificant contribution in assisting with research and editorial advice at various stages. We also wish to thank AlisonBaily, Mona Lotten, Peter Mandaville, Daniel Philpott, and Dan Shah, who reviewed and/or read the report andprovided valuable and insightful comments and suggestions for improvement. We would also like to thank MaureenMichaels for survey question formulation and response tabulation. This report was made possible with support fromAva Baksh, Alison Corbett, Amanda Craig, Kathy Culpin, Leigh Gibson, and Melissa Wear.The author retains sole responsibility for any errors or omissions in the text.Layout: Holly Halvorson Reese, www.hhgraphics.net 2019 British Council USA3100 Massachusetts Avenue NWWashington, DC 20008ABOUT THE BRITISH COUNCILThe British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. Wecreate friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. We do this bymaking a positive contribution to the UK and the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities,building connections and engendering trust.We work with over 100 countries across the world in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education andcivil society. Last year we reached over 65 million people directly and 731 million people overall including online,broadcasts and publications. Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK BritishProvided such reproduction is for non-commercial use, this publication, or parts of it, may be reproduced if authorand source are quoted.US AND UK PERSPECTIVES ON RELIGION AND BELIEF2
TABLE OF CONTENTSForeword4Executive Summary5Introduction6Religious Affiliation and Attendance in the UK and US10SECTION 1Freedom of Religion or Belief as a Human Right12Freedom of Religion or Belief as an ImportantFoundation of the UK and US14SECTION 2The Relationship Between Religious Freedoms and Peaceful Societies16The Relationship Between Religious Freedoms and Strong Economies19The Relationship Between Religious Freedoms and Innovation22SECTION 3Perceptions of Groups Suffering the Most Harassment and Discrimination24Threats to Peace within the UK and the US27The Importance of Leaders Reflecting Values and Beliefs29Use of the Internet and Social Media for Information on Religion and Belief32SECTION 4Religion and International S AND UK PERSPECTIVES ON RELIGION AND BELIEF Table of Contents3
FOREWORDFrom a cultural relations perspective, it’s important toremember that more than eight out of ten peopleworldwide identify with a religious group and thatreligion is an essential component of individual and1group identity for many. Indeed, it is projected that theshare of the world’s population that identifies with a2religion is likely to increase in the coming decades.As delegates gathered in 1948 to draft the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a strongconsensus emerged that the freedom of thought,conscience and religion should be assured to all.However, considerable differences remain over what thismeans in practice. While there is almost universalrecognition of the freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) asa fundamental human right, several global studies haveconcluded that violations of the freedom of religion and3belief are worsening, in both depth and breadth. Thechasm between aspiration and practice remains wide.Millions of people across the world, believers of all faithsand none, are victims of persecution or discriminationbecause of their religion or belief with no particularreligion or belief as the primary offender or victim.The promotion of freedom of religion or belief forms anincreasingly important component of the UK’sinternational human rights programme. Thiscommitment to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB)advocacy is illustrated by the recent appointment of thePrime Minister’s Special Envoy on Freedom of Religionor Belief. It is also evident in the three-fold growth tomore than 120 members of the All-Party ParliamentaryThe British Council’s surveys in this report demonstratethat vast majorities of Brits and Americans agree thatfreedom of religion or belief is both a fundamentalhuman right and a fundamental guiding principle of theUK and the US. However, the British Council’s conveningsof experts working at the nexus of religion andinternational affairs suggest that foreign policybureaucracies remain ill-equipped to engage effectivelywith religious actors.While the UK and the US have very different churchstate histories and institutional arrangements, thesedifferences can be a source of strength. Increasingtransatlantic cooperation on FoRB advocacy candemonstrate that a wide variety of historical paths andchurch-state arrangements can produce freedom ofreligion and belief. However, we must also recognize thatwhile the UK and the US enjoy some of the strongestprotections of FoRB, it took centuries for these to takeroot domestically and they remain far from perfect inthe present day.Leigh GibsonDirector USABritish Council1The Changing Global Religious Landscape.” 2017. Washington DC: Pew Research Center, 8.2ibid.3For an overview of recent reports, see Idris, Iffat. 2018. “Threats to and Approaches to Promote Freedom of Religion orBelief.” DFID.US AND UK PERSPECTIVES ON RELIGION AND BELIEF Foreword4Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief(APPG FoRB) over the past 5 years.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThe findings of the British Council’s convenings ofexpertise in religion and international affairs highlightthe need for a much better appreciation of the role ofreligion in international affairs among foreign policyestablishments. It is suggested that this will requiredeveloping more robust religious literacy training fordiplomatic personnel than those currently available.Finally, the British Council’s convenings suggest that it isimportant to enhance capacities for ‘religiousengagement.’ Experts note that religious engagementcan create the preconditions for FoRB and thus providea more organic, bottom up, approach to promoting FoRBinternationally.Public opinion surveys commissioned by the BritishCouncil and conducted in the UK and US suggest thatBrits and Americans share overall similar attitudestoward the importance of religion and religioustolerance within their societies.Still, while vast majorities are in overall agreement thatfreedom of religion or belief is a fundamental humanright and a foundation of the UK and the US, Americansare far more likely to strongly hold these attitudes.For example, 80% of people in the UK and 89% of people in the USare in overall agreement that freedom of religion orbelief is a fundamental human right. However, 64% ofAmericans “strongly agree” freedom of religion is abasic human right compared to 46% of people in theUK. 73% of people in the UK and 86% of people in the USalso agree freedom of religion is an importantfoundation of their respective societies, yet 57% ofAmericans “strongly agree” with this assertioncompared to 37% of people in the UK.The British Council’s surveys of Brits and Americans alsoexamined public perceptions of the relationshipbetween freedom of religion and a variety of socio-economic outcomes and found opinions on severalconcepts fairly divided.Overall, people in the UK and the US are more likely toagree than disagree that “countries with more religiousfreedoms are more peaceful than countries with fewerreligious freedoms.” Nearly half in the UK (48%) agreethere is a relationship between religious freedoms andpeaceful societies, but only one-in-five (19%) “stronglyagree,” while one-in-four disagree (27%) or say they are“not sure” (25%). A greater percentage of Americansagree overall (56%) and “strongly agree” (26%) thatcountries with more religious freedoms are morepeaceful than countries with fewer religious freedoms,though one-in-five disagree (22%) or say they are “notsure” (21%). When asked to rank the greatest threats to peacewithin the UK, the British public puts religiousextremism on top (20%) followed by internationalterrorism (18%) and immigration (17%). Americans rank racism (20%), domestic terrorism(19%) and political extremism (19%) as the threegreatest threats to peace in the US.Brits and Americans are also more likely to agree thandisagree that countries with greater religious freedomshave stronger economies and are more innovativesocieties than countries with fewer religious freedoms.At the same time, there are significant percentages whoindicate they are “not sure” if these benefits can becorrelated with greater religious freedoms.Having a Prime Minister of the United Kingdom orPresident of the United States who shares the moralvalues and religious beliefs of its citizens is relativelyimportant to Brits and Americans, from 57% of people inthe UK to 67% of people in the US, but many, includingmore than four-in-10 of those who are not religiouslyaffiliated, report it is not important to have leaders whoreflect their values or beliefs.US AND UK PERSPECTIVES ON RELIGION AND BELIEF Executive Summary5
INTRODUCTIONThe fact that more than 8 out of 10 people worldwideidentify with a religious group underlines the importanceof taking religion into account as a key component of4cultural relations work. In spite of the increasingnumber of people who do not affiliate with any religionin many parts of the Global North, the so-called religious‘nones’ (shorthand for those who identity as atheist,agnostic, or have no particular religion) are in factprojected to decline as a share of the world’s population5in the coming decades.The British Council-commissioned surveys that form thebasis of Sections 1, 2, and 3 of this report gaugeprevailing public attitudes in the UK and the US towardselected policy-relevant aspects of religion and belief.Two waves of surveys were conducted in each countryby Ipsos Public Affairs, using Ipsos’ proprietary, non6probability, consumer online panel.By examining public attitudes towards various aspectsof religion and belief, we hope to prompt transatlanticdialogues on key aspects of the perspectives presentedin this report. For example, are prevailing assumptionsabout the positive benefits of promoting freedom ofreligion or belief (FoRB) supported by the existing bodyof social science research on the correlations between7FoRB and economic growth, innovation, and peace? Towhat extent do public perceptions of the groupssuffering the most harassment and discrimination reflectthe reality insofar as we can measure it? How is theinterplay between religion and the rise of social medialikely to (re)shape religious practice and belonging? Thisreport hopes to prompt new dialogues betweenacademics, policy makers, and transatlantic publics onthese and other questions raised by the selected topicsaddressed in the surveys.In 2016, a panel of academic and policy expertsconvened by the British Council’s Bridging Voicesproject concluded that increased collaboration inpromoting FoRB “ powerfully demonstrates that a widevariety of historical paths and church-state settlements4“The Changing Global Religious Landscape.” 2017. Washington DC: Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, 5.5Ibid, 5.6For additional information, see the methodology section at the end of this report.7In this report, we use the term “freedom of religion or belief” to refer to the right to have, adopt, change, or renounce areligion or belief; to be free from coercion and discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief; to manifest and practiceone’s religion or belief; and to ensure the religious and moral education of one’s children. For more, see “InternationalStandards on Freedom of Religion or Belief.” United Nations Human Rights; Office of the High Commissioner.US AND UK PERSPECTIVES ON RELIGION AND BELIEF Introduction6
8can lead to robust religious freedom.” Their final reportalso suggested that FoRB advocacy take into account “ which state or states are best positioned—by virtue oftheir history, demographics (including diasporacommunities), church-state arrangement, or particulardiplomatic leverage—to engage a third party country on9a given religious freedom concern.” While manycountries play an important role in FoRB advocacy, webelieve that the stark differences in the church-statetrajectories of the UK and the US, as well as the natureof the ‘special relationship’ that underpins postwarinternational human rights frameworks, provides specificopportunities for deeper and more effective10governmental cooperation on FoRB advocacy.We believe that enhancing FoRB advocacy and religiousengagement—and attention to religious engagementmore broadly—is of increasing importance for tworeasons. First, we operate in a global environment where11overall levels of restrictions on religion are increasing,whether resulting from government actions or fromhostile acts by private individuals, organizations, andsocial groups. The Pew Research Center estimates thatthe share of countries that exhibit high or very highlevels of overall restrictions on religion rose to 8312countries (40%) in 2016 up from 58 (29%) in 2007. Ofparticular concern in recent years is the egregioustreatment of Uighur Muslims in China, Rohingya Muslimsin Myanmar, and Christians, Yazidis and other religiousminorities at the hands of ISIS. This worrying trendrequires us to reassess the efficacy of current strategiesand models of FoRB promotion.Second, the demise of the secularization-modernizationthesis, which erroneously predicted the disappearanceof religion from the public sphere, compels renewedattention to international FoRB advocacy—and religiousengagement more broadly. New post-secularunderstandings demand that policy makers,practitioners, and academics be more mindful of notprojecting outmoded domestic understandings ofsecularism into the international arena, explore ways tobroaden and deepen engagement with religion andreligious actors, and re-examine a lingering tendency to13treat FoRB as a “lesser right.” These post-secularunderstandings also prompt us to survey otheremerging topics, such as the role that social media andother information communication technologies may beplaying in (re)shaping the ways in which people of allfaiths and none embody and live their religion or belief.This report will first provide an overview of religiousaffiliation and attendance in the US and the UK. Here,not surprisingly, we see that the characteristics ofreligious identification and practice substantially differsacross the two countries and over time. However, itbears repeating that the “rise of the religious ‘nones’” inboth countries belies a global landscape where theshare of religious ‘nones’ is predicted to decline. InSection 1, we move to examine public attitudes as towhether (or not) respondents in the UK and the USconsider Freedom of Religion and Belief to constitute (1)a fundamental right and (2) an important foundation ofthe UK and the US. In Section 2, we examine publicattitudes toward specific correlations between freedomof religion or belief and peaceful societies, strongeconomies, and innovation. In Section 3, we look atperceptions of harassment and discrimination, attitudeson whether (or not) it is important for leaders to reflectrespondents’ values and beliefs, as well as the use of theinternet and social media for information about religion.Finally, Section 4 of this report distills selected findingsof 5 years of British Council convenings of expertsworking at the intersection of religion and internationalaffairs.Before we delve into recent data on affiliation andattendance, however, we would like to take a moment tocompare and contrast the divergent church-state pathsfollowed by the UK and the US and sketch a broadoverview of the emergence of the rich religiouspluralism enjoyed in both countries in the present day.The purpose here is to highlight that strikingly differentpaths can lead to religious pluralism and religiousfreedom, bearing in mind that freedom of religion andbelief is far from perfect in both the UK and the US in thepresent day.8Petito, Fabio, Daniel Philpott, Silvio Ferrari, and Judd Birdsall. 2016. “FoRB – Recognising Our Differences Can Be OurStrength: Enhancing Transatlantic Cooperation on Promoting Freedom of Religion or Belief.” Policy Brief. University of Sussexand University of Notre Dame.9Ibid.10The right articulated in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is typically referred to as “freedom of religionor belief” in Europe and “religious freedom” in North America. This subtle difference in terminology reflects differences inthe history of religion, politics, and demographics in each context. For a more thorough discussion, see Petito et al. 2016.“FoRB – Recognising Our Differences Can Be Our Strength: Enhancing Transatlantic Cooperation on Promoting Freedom ofReligion or Belief.” Policy Brief. University of Sussex and University of Notre Dame.11For the purposes of this report, we define ‘religious engagement’ as a more broad-based analysis of religious dynamics thatinvolves dialogue with diverse religious actors on a wide range of issues in a given context.12“Global Uptick in Government Restrictions on Religion in 2016.” 2018. Washington, D.C: Pew Research Center.13For an excellent discussion, see Petersen, Marie Juul, and Katherine Marshall. 2019. “The International Promotion of Freedomof Religion or Belief.” Copenhagen: Danish Institute for Human Rights, 8-13.US AND UK PERSPECTIVES ON RELIGION AND BELIEF Introduction7
RELIGION AND STATE IN THE UK AND THE USThe arrival of religious refugees on Plymouth Rock inMassachusetts represents an iconic moment in thecultural relationship between the United States and theUnited Kingdom. The distinct legacies produced by thiscritical juncture—and later solidified by theEnlightenment rationalism of Jefferson and Madisonalong with the religious revivals of the ‘Great Awakening’of the 1740s—drove popular support fordisestablishment in the American colonies in the last14half of the eighteenth century. The Declaration ofIndependence in 1776, the enactment in Virginia ofJefferson’s “Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom” in1785, and the ratification of the First Amendment to theConstitution in 1791, cemented the divergent path ofchurch-state institutions and religiopolitical culture inthe United States. Separation of church and state in theUS remains a fundamental and defining feature ofAmerican democracy, an institutional arrangementdesigned with the intention of protecting religiousliberty and helping religion to flourish.In the United Kingdom, the 1689 Toleration Act’sacceptance of Protestant non-conformity, along with theRoman Catholic and Jewish emancipation movements ofthe early 19th century, indicated the Anglicanestablishment’s adoption of increasingly permissivepolicies toward other denominations and religiousgroups over a 150-year time period. As Steve Bruce andChris Wright note, “ only when the fragmentation of thereligious culture had gone so far as to be obviouslyirreversible and the price of trying to enforce religiousorthodoxy became too great did the establishmentaccept that there could no longer be an effective state15religion.” The fact that Anglican establishment has notbeen politically contentious since the early twentiethcentury is an acknowledgement of the public character16of religion in the United Kingdom today. Indeed,scholars of religion-state relations no
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