A 15-minute podcast with two of the guest speakers from our November 2020 virtual conference on Faith & Belief 2040, looking ahead to the likely changes to the UK's faith and belief landscape over the next 20 years and how society might need to respond.
Our Programme Officer, Emily Gow, speaks to:
- Professor Linda Woodhead - Distinguished Professor of Sociology of Religion, Lancaster University
- Mamataj Begum - a representative of the Faith and Belief Forum's Youth Council
This podcast explores what academic research suggests is going to change in terms of the UK's faith and belief landscape, over the next 20 years. It looks at how a growing proportion of people in the UK identify as having 'no religion' and no longer want to identify with any one organised religion, to the extent that this is now the majority identification. It also remarks on the declining influence and prominence of Christianity in British life today, and the increasing diversification of faith and belief in the UK, and looks at how society might need to respond between now and 2040.
Linda and Mamataj discuss how these changes might affect the way people identify themselves. Mamataj approaches this from her perspective as a second-generation immigrant to the UK, and a member of the 'Millennial' generation, who tend to approach their faith in different ways to the older generations, finding new spaces (including virtual spaces) for religious observance and prayer.
Both speakers reflect on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on these ongoing trends.
They also look at how the way communities use and assume greater control of their religious buildings might change over the next 20 years.
Full details of our four-part Faith & Belief 2040 conference can be found here.