Census

There is a census on the way in the UK, and there are arguments around the net focussing on the question about religion.

Last time, 72% of the population of the UK ticked the box that said "Christian".

However, there are not 45 million people in church every Sunday.

Obviously, people are ticking the box because they think they ought to, or out of habit.

We need a better set of options, to get a better picture of British religiosity.

I propose:

• Actively Christian
• Christian by upbringing only
  
• Actively Jewish
• Jewish by upbringing only
  
• Actively Muslim
• Muslim by upbringing only
  

etc

Along with ...

• Atheist
• Humanist
• Atheist/Humanist
• Don't care about religion
• Other ____________

This will give a much more realistic picture of British religiosity because it will force people to actually think about their answer. They won't sit and think, "Well, I'm not a Muslim, and I'm not Jewish, and I kind of think there's a god, so I'll tick Christian". Instead, they will have to be a bit more honest with themselves.

The answers would be fascinating ...