Flagships in a sea of unbelief? Christian affiliation around big church buildings in England
Census data have prompted research on why there is so much local variation in religious identity. This study uses the key statistics of the 2011 UK National Census, aggregated by electoral wards, to investigate whether the presence of an important church building (a flagship' cathedral or cath...
| Published in: | Journal of contemporary religion |
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| Authors: | ; |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Carfax Publ.
[2017]
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| In: |
Journal of contemporary religion
Year: 2017, Volume: 32, Issue: 3, Pages: 479-493 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
England
/ Cathedral
/ Environmental influence
/ Population
/ Denomination (Religion)
|
| Further subjects: | B
Cathedrals
B Census B vicarious religion B Greater Churches B Christian affiliation B Mission (international law |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | Census data have prompted research on why there is so much local variation in religious identity. This study uses the key statistics of the 2011 UK National Census, aggregated by electoral wards, to investigate whether the presence of an important church building (a flagship' cathedral or cathedral-like parish/abbey church) correlates with higher Christian affiliation than would be expected if there were no such church building nearby. Using all 6,712 English wards within 30 km of a large church, those within 3 km had about 5%-7% fewer self-identified Christians than those further away. However, when social demography is controlled for, wards closest to large churches had around 1% more Christian affiliates than expected. Greater than expected levels of affiliation persisted when the analysis was restricted to buildings outside urban conurbations or just to Anglican or just to Roman Catholic cathedrals. Reasons for this proximity' effect are discussed, including the possibility that the sheer physical presence of such a building may heighten the chance of individuals self-identifying as Christian. |
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| ISSN: | 1469-9419 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of contemporary religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/13537903.2017.1362891 |