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Diverse Faiths
Britain is a multifaith society in which everyone has the right to religious freedom. Although Britain is historically a Christian society, people are usually tolerant towards faiths of others and also those who have no faiths. In major cities of Britain today most of the world religions are practised.
In 2001 Census people mentioned their religious identity to a voluntary question as follows:
Population of Great Britain: by religion, April 2001
Non-Christian Total population (Numbers) (Percentages)
be religious population
(Percentages)
Christian
41,014,811
71.8
51.9
Muslim Hindu Sikh Jewish Buddhist Any other religion
1,588,890 558,342 336,179 267,373 179,157 159,167
2.8 1.0 0.6 0.5 0.3
51.9 18.3 11.0 8.7 4.9 5.2
0.3
3,059,108
5.4
100.0
All non-Christian religious population
No religion Religion not stated
8,596,488 4,433,520
15.1
7.8
All population
57,103,927
100.0
According to the statistics of Jain Organisations Jain population is estimated to be about 30,000. As there was no separate box for Jains, Jain community was confused and the population stated in Census Statistics from other religions box is grossly under numbered.
Let us now give very short summary for the major nine faiths who are the founders of the Interfaith Network.
