Australia’s Largest Christian News Site

The new poll also found that 58 per cent of British adults believe Christianity still has something positive to offer public life.

A new poll has found that a majority of Britons believe moving away from the country’s Christian roots would harm future generations, in findings released to coincide with a major Oxford conference on Christian revival.

The survey, conducted by polling firm Whitestone and published Tuesday by GB News, found that 52 per cent of Britons believe loosening ties with the church would be detrimental to future generations, against just 19 per cent who consider it beneficial.

A further 58 per cent said Christianity still has something positive to offer Britain in governance and public morality.

“A new cultural, political and moral moment is emerging,” said conference organiser Dr Jonathan Price, Director of the Centre for Theology, Law, and Culture at Pusey House, Oxford. “From Badenoch, Farage and Lowe on the Right associating Britain with its historic Christian identity, to Glasman and Blue Labour on the Left doing the same, this poll tells us politicians have an audience among voters.”

A Nation Divided

The poll, which surveyed more than 2,000 British adults, also exposed sharp divisions. Only 39 per cent of respondents said they consider Britain a Christian country today. Just 11 per cent believe Britain currently has shared moral values and strong institutions — though 65 per cent said such foundations are crucial to holding society together.

The gap between what Britons value and what they believe exists points to a significant loss of confidence in national life.

Party affiliation revealed distinct fault lines. Reform UK voters proved the most sober in their assessment, with 78 per cent saying the country has lost a shared sense of right and wrong, and 63 per cent saying British identity itself had become unclear.

Conservative voters shared anxieties about Christian decline but were less confident that moral renewal remained within reach.

Green voters stood out as the most secular, with nearly three-quarters expressing concern that invoking shared moral frameworks amounts to imposing values on others.

Oxford Conference on Post-Liberal Hope

The poll was released to mark the opening of a two-day conference at Pusey House, Oxford, titled “Christian Revival: Our Post-Liberal Hope.” Speakers include parliamentarian Danny Kruger MP, author Rod Dreher, philosopher and neuroscientist Dr Iain McGilchrist, and Lord Glasman of Blue Labour.

Conference organisers described the event as a response to the collapse of the “long post-war consensus in the West — politically defined by liberal democracy, economically by globalisation, and morally by a shared repudiation of past horrors.”

In its place, organisers said, a trans-denominational Christian restoration is gathering force — “not as private consolation, but as public truth.”

The conference was presented in partnership with the Danube Institute, a Budapest-based think tank, and live-streamed on YouTube for a global audience.

The poll’s findings are consistent with a surge in church attendance reported in Britain last year. A Bible Society UK study found monthly church attendance in England and Wales had grown 50 per cent since 2018, driven largely by young adults, with Gen Z four times more likely to attend than six years prior.

Persecution Rises as Revival Grows

The Whitestone findings come weeks after Open Doors published its annual World Watch List, reporting that 388 million Christians globally are now suffering for their faith — a rise of eight million on the previous year.

The number of countries classified at “extreme” persecution levels rose from 13 to 15, with North Korea remaining the worst-rated country for Christian persecution.

The tension between growing public sympathy for Christianity in the West and rising persecution overseas reflects the broader moment the Oxford conference sought to address: a faith under pressure globally, yet showing unexpected signs of renewal in post-Christian societies.

That pattern is not limited to Britain. Across the Western world — including Australia — questions about the public role of Christianity, the sustainability of secular moral consensus, and the foundations of shared national identity are re-entering mainstream debate.

The conference continues Thursday with sessions examining Christian engagement in political life and the relationship between church and state in a post-liberal era.

___

Image courtesy of Unsplash.