![Sample our Humanities journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5939/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Humanities.jpg"})
Abstract
James Lewis challenged the assertion that religious ‘nones’ are becoming more like the general population. The evidence he offers is insufficient to make his case, however: the generational dynamics of religious change are invisible if one takes a cross-sectional snapshot of the entire population, undifferentiated by age. In addition, write-in responses on census and survey forms do not provide a good basis for studying the characteristics of the very large and growing number of people who are non-religious.
Notes
1. For a variety of reasons related to wording and context, religious affiliation is high according to the census and much lower according to the British Social Attitudes survey (Voas and Bruce). The best data on belief in God, in categories ranging from outright atheism to complete conviction, come from the 2008 International Social Survey Programme module on religion. The 2008 European Values Study gave respondents the opportunity to describe themselves as atheists.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
David Voas
David Voas is Professor of Population Studies in the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex, UK. He is co-director of British Religion in Numbers (www.brin.ac.uk), a British Academy Research Project. CORRESPONDENCE: [email protected]