Almost one in five Britons is now an atheist as a generational shift away from religion gathers force, a poll for The Times has found.
Experts said that the country was becoming more comfortable with atheism than with faith after the data revealed that public figures win approval for questioning the existence of God, while Christians are more than twice as likely as atheists to say that they struggle to speak openly about their beliefs.
A marked divide has opened up between young and old. Almost one in three under-24s declare themselves to be atheists, compared with one in ten over-60s.
The YouGov survey of 1,550 adults is one of the first studies to give a clear impression of the extent of atheism in modern Britain.
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That said – to be fair – the context is that the CoE is broadcasting fundamental doubts about the reliability of scripture on a host of issues. Given the context, one would expect those outside of the church to receive the message. I would hardly expect young Britons to respond otherwise: “If the church has been wrong on something as basic as X, then why not on Y?”