There are a number of key sources for religion data which have been used in the Focus on Religion report. The exact question wording from each of these sources is detailed below:
2001 England and Wales Census
What is your religion?
None Christian (including Church of England, Catholic, Protestant and all other Christian denominations)Buddhist Hindu Jewish Muslim Sikh Any other religion (please write in)
2001 Scotland Census
What religion, religious denomination or body do you belong to?
None Church of Scotland Roman Catholic Other Christian (please write in) Buddhist Hindu Jewish Muslim Sikh Another religion (please write in)
What religion, religious denomination or body were you brought up in?
None Church of Scotland Roman Catholic Other Christian (please write in) Buddhist Hindu Jewish Muslim Sikh Another religion (please write in)
2001 Northern Ireland Census
Do you regard yourself as belonging to any particular religion?
Yes No
If yes What religion, religious denomination or body do you belong to?
Roman Catholic Presbyterian Church in Ireland Church of Ireland Methodist Church in Ireland Other, please write in
If no What religion, religious denomination or body were you brought up in?
Roman Catholic Presbyterian Church in Ireland Church of Ireland Methodist Church in Ireland Other, please write in
Labour Force Survey (2002 onwards)– Great Britain
What is your religion, even if you are not currently practising
Christian Buddhist Hindu Jewish Muslim Sikh Any other religion Or no religion at all
Labour Force Survey (2002 onwards)– Northern Ireland
What is your religious denomination?
Catholic Presbyterian Church of Ireland Methodist Other Protestant Other religion No denomination
Home Office Citizenship Survey
What is your religion?
No religion Christian (including Church of England, Catholic, Protestant, and all other Christian denominations) Buddhist Hindu Jewish Muslim Sikh Atheist/agnostic Any other religion
Religion data for Great Britain
The way in which people answer questions on religion is very sensitive to the exact question wording. This is particularly true for people who have a loose affiliation with a religion. Slight differences in question wording can produce large differences in the proportion of people who say they are Christians or have no religion, although the proportion of people from other religions tends to be more stable.
Since the Labour Force Survey asked the same question on religion across Great Britain, data from Scotland can be easily compared with data from England and Wales. The proportion of people who said they were Christian was very similar in Scotland to the proportion that answered this way in England and Wales.
The 2001 Census in Scotland asked two questions on religion: current religion and religion of upbringing. Neither of these was the same as the Census question asked in England and Wales.
The 'religion of upbringing' question produced very similar results to England and Wales 2001 Census data and therefore data from this question has been combined with England and Wales data in the Focus on religion report to produce overall figures for Great Britain.
Comparing responses to LFS religion question with responses from Census 2001
Notes to table: 12001 Census question in England and Wales asked respondents:'What is your religion?' 2Religion question on Labour Force Survey asked respondents:'What is your religion even if you are not currently practising?' Data are for 2003/2004. 32001 Census question in Scotland asked respondents, firstly: 'What religion, religious denomination or body do you belong to?' 42001 Census question in Scotland asked respondents, secondly: 'What religion, religious denomination or body were you brought up in?'
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