May 2016
Featured in this insight: Culture, heritage & leisure, Local & regional government
Survey finds the public believe there’s no place in politics for religion: A recent survey by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association has revealed that the public largely support the segregation of politics and religion. However, the survey revealed that most religious people are open to taking onboard non-religious ideas, whereas the majority of Muslims are not.
Of the Atheists in the survey, 73 per cent supported the segregation of politics and religion. This was also the case amongst all the religions in the survey, except Islam.
The researchers discovered that the most secular group (including Atheists) in the survey was the Jewish individuals, of which 79 per cent agreed that politics and religion should be separated. However, it is important to note that for the minority faiths the survey sizes were small.
Of the 1,039 Christians in the survey, 56 per cent agreed that religious beliefs should not have an impact on politics. On the other hand, 8 per cent said that they disagreed with the statement.
The support for separating politics and religion depended greatly on the religion of the participants and varied from 31 per cent to 79 per cent. The Muslims in the survey were found to be the only group in the survey with a majority separating politics and religion.
Of the British Muslims in the survey, 15 per cent strongly agreed with the principle, whereas 16 per cent agreed. A further 36 per cent strongly disagreed or disagreed. The Muslims in the survey were also found to be the most likely to say that they do not know.
Approximately 1 in 3 British Muslims in the survey said that they felt religion should not interfere with politics, which suggests that some British Muslims are in fact secular.
View more of our sector specific insights: Culture, heritage & leisure, Local & regional government
