God bless this mess: Study says UK's Christian beliefs had 'important' role in Brexit
- Reference: 1618910107
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/04/20/christianity_brexit/
- Source link:
In their recently published book, [1]Religion and Euroscepticism in Brexit Britain , Brunel University academic Dr Stuart Fox and the University of Exeter's Dr Ekaterina Kolpinskaya investigate how religious beliefs in Britain influenced the vote to leave the EU.
[2]
Their research suggests that one in five Brits' faith made them more likely to vote Leave, while a quarter of voters' beliefs helped place them in the Remain camp.
Catholics, Presbyterians, regular churchgoers, and those with the strongest religious beliefs were most likely to oppose Brexit, but "Anglicans were very likely to vote Leave," according to Dr Fox, a British Politics lecturer and expert in voter behaviour.
[3]
Explaining this observation, he said: "A typical Catholic would vote to remain in the European Union. Catholics are used to the idea of a cross-national authority as in the Pope and the Vatican, so for them, the idea of being governed by an international body like the EU is quite normal.
"Anglican history, meanwhile, is defined by trying to remain separate from the European superblock, and to do that you need a strong independent nation state. For them, anything that challenges it isn't going to be something they're a fan of."
The Church of England was founded after King Henry VIII couldn't get papal approval for the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon so they decided to make a spinoff from Catholicism, which came to be known as Anglicanism. Old habits die hard, the political boffins said, and it also seems the perfect moment to dredge up this golden oldie from children's television.
[4]Youtube Video
The authors also reckon religion will influence the UK's local elections next month, suggesting that Labour's traditional support among Catholics has crumbled and "virtually all" Christian denominations in the country are now more likely to vote Conservative.
"There is still a substantial 'religious vote' in British politics," said Dr Kolpinskaya. "Our study shows the nature of a religious vote change – with formerly strong ties between Labour and Roman Catholics, for example, weakening. The Conservatives, by contrast, have consolidated much support among Christians by growing their Protestant vote and adding Catholics to it."
Concluding, the authors argue that religion played a larger part in the UK voting to Leave than expected. "Faith also contributed to the rising Euroscepticism that pressed David Cameron to hold a Referendum in the first place," added Dr Kolpinskaya, "and the stunning victory for Boris Johnson's Conservative Party in the 2019 General Election."
So there you have it. If you're still sore about Brexit and the current state of British politics, blame theists and their belief in a creator who intervenes in their universe but is unbothered by a lot of stuff you'd think would be concerning. Apparently that leaves poor old [5]pastafarians out, but you can't have everything. ®
Bootnote
[6]
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[1] https://www.routledge.com/Religion-and-Euroscepticism-in-Brexit-Britain/Kolpinskaya-Fox/p/book/9780367342258
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YH6mN1yM2GihC5dy3nzfgAAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YH6mN1yM2GihC5dy3nzfgAAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRiF_kIJFC0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2016/04/14/flying_spaghetti_monster_is_not_god_rules_mortal_judge/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YH6mN1yM2GihC5dy3nzfgAAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://account.theregister.com/login
[8] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: I find myself saying...
Why not buy them in Spain?
My experience from living abroad in several countries is that the person sent to fix some problem in the house will soon spot the "alien parts" and immediately not understand anything, then begin the process of sucking air in through the front teeths, which indicates a steep price increase coming up, in any country!
Not worth it, IMO. The local stuff might be shit, but, it is *their shit* and whenever shit is involved, going with the flow is the done thing.
Re: I find myself saying...
Can't get them here and anything that looks like them is twice the price. It was cheaper buying them from the UK and paying import tax.
Re: I find myself saying...
It's what 'we' voted for! Currently I'm sourcing keyboards from the US because Amazon (seller) will not ship the ones I want from the UK any more.
(Added a few other choice US only goodies to the order for good measure.)
I'm sure the US is more overtly Christian than the UK...
Re: I find myself saying...
because Amazon (seller) will not ship the ones I want from the UK any more.
Which is daft, and just shows that the new rules are designed solely to punish the UK, not to benefit people in the EU.
Re: I find myself saying...
It's just taken me 3 months to get a set of house keys to Portugal (not being able to travel myself owing to the Covid flight ban), so good luck with 5 radiators!
Re: I find myself saying...
Yep, importing my household goods and chattels to a new house in Germany took six weeks and included a lightning dash to a customs post to sign some paperwork. And a stern warning that I wasn't allowed to sell any of it inside a year.
Meanwhile, I can't by a twenty-five quid benchtop power supply from CPC... export regulations say we can't deliver, sir.
Religion in the UK?
I did not think they did that any more.
I personally know no-one in the UK who goes to church, mosque or synagogue regularly.
Although most will tick the "christian" box on a form they don't really believe it other than it provides an atmospheric venue for weddings and funerals.
Given that the fastest growing religion in the last census was "jedi" the UK is
pretty much an agnostic country.
The remoaner vs. brexiteer correlation is probably because Anglicans are more
likely to be ethnic English with all grandparents born in England, Catholics
are more likely to have some sort of migrant background (Irish, Italian, Polish etc.).
Re: Religion in the UK?
The English don't go to church, but they church they don't go to is CofE, not one of those suspicious new foreign ones...
Re: Religion in the UK?
Hello
Just to be clear, I am a Christian, my wife is a Priest in the Church of England, My patents are Methodist Ministers (retired).
Just to deal with the "Jedi" thing : Growth numbers is not the same as Stock numbers. That said numbers in all churches are declining in general, numbers in the under 40's are low.
I think my experience of the Brexit and the church leads me to a few observations
1) Some people will divorce their Faith and politics and say that one does not infulance the other (I'm not sure I believe them)
2) I have heard theological arguments for both leave and remain, I personally find the remain ones more persuasive.
3) the church of England is very broad, making any assumptions about it as a group (even that they are all Christians!) is a bit if an ask.
On the day of the vote, I was in [1]Taize with people from across Europe. It was a good place to be to remind you of what europe can be about.
[1] https://www.taize.fr/en
So, if Catholics believe in an over-arching EU government, and Anglicans believe in a British government, does that make an anarchist automatically an atheist, and if you believe in multiple gods, does that mean that you want to be part of an anarcho-syndicalist-commune?
expanding the readership
"If you feel some type of way about what you just read and fancy an all-caps rant, you can sign up to our forums here."
It'll be great to see some frothy religious views on technology for a change
Love your neighbour
I seem to recall.
Re: Love your neighbour
We have to consider that what is written in the bible is of its time.
Remember that the bible was written before France was discovered.
Re: Love your neighbour
France has been discovered? Who knew?
"Brexit-induced rage"
Christ, grow up.
Jesus, change the record.
Lies, damned lies, and statistics...
Not sure how "If you're still sore about Brexit ... blame theists" squares with "one in five [20%] Brits' faith made them more likely to vote Leave, while a quarter [25%] of voters' beliefs helped place them in the Remain camp."
Wouldn't that mean the religious types were more likely to vote Remain?
Ah, Those Protestants
Up to no good as usual.
I find myself saying...
CHRIST!! quite a lot these days. I'm currently playing export ping pong with 5 radiators that I'm trying to get to my house in Spain. For anyone else doing this kind of thing, the Spanish now want a recipient NIE on the documents otherwise it gets knocked back.