A growing number of Britons who leave Christianity are turning to paganism or other forms of spiritualism instead of converting to other major religions, a new study has found. 

The survey, released by the Institute for the Impact of Faith in Life, questioned 2,774 adults who self-identified as having “experienced a change in their religious belief,” seeking to provide insight into “how, why, and in what direction Britons are moving between faiths, spiritualities, and non-belief.”

The researchers conclude that “Britain is not secularising in a straightforward way” but rather “undergoing a re-composition of belief, a shift away from inherited institutional structures towards personalised, practice-based, and wellbeing-oriented forms of faith.”

Forty-four percent of respondents said they left Christianity, while only 17% said they had newly become Christians. Meanwhile, 39% of respondents said they had become an atheist or agnostic. 

“Britain is undergoing a profound reconfiguration of religious identity,” researchers Charlotte Littlewood and Rania Mohiuddin-Agir write in their 50-page report. “Although the 2021 census revealed a historic decline in Christian affiliation, this development does not reflect a disappearance of religion but rather a diversification and personalisation of belief.”

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Rising number of Brits leaving Christianity turning to paganism https://t.co/9sy0TOOhDx

— The Christian Post (@ChristianPost) December 9, 2025

At Pennsylvania State University, which has 64,000 undergraduate students, Stephanie Stama, an assistant director at the student psychological services centre, reports that “it is increasingly common for us to hear that students have lost a significant amount of money” in sports betting and that it “is interfering with basic needs like eating and sleeping”. An 18-year-old student at URI, who declined to be named, confesses that he can no longer feel enjoyment from watching sports without the high from betting.

Timothy Fong, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles sees a similar pattern. Every one of his clients as of late has been an 18- to 24-year-old man seeking help for a sports-betting or cryptocurrency addiction. The financial wreckage can be severe, too. John Simonian, a personal-bankruptcy attorney in Rhode Island, says he never used to see young men filing for bankruptcy, “but now it’s not surprising”. Sports betting, he notices in young clients’ bank statements, is often one part of the equation.

Institutions have had an uneven and clunky response. Between 2021 and 2023 a handful of universities partnered with sports-betting firms directly, receiving cash for sponsorship and naming rights. Most have since ended the agreements. But in America there is the added complication that many campuses are filled with both bettors and those being bet on. March Madness, the annual basketball tournament played by college athletes, is by some accounts the most-bet-on event in the country, with more than twice as much wagered on it as the Super Bowl.

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Student-athletes now face a torrent of abuse from losing gamblers. Last year the governing body of American college sport recorded 740 instances of harassment directly attributed to sports gambling https://t.co/X73pIEgdBm

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) December 8, 2025

We offer thanks, most gracious God, for the devoted witness of Richard Baxter, who out of love for thee followed his conscience at cost to himself, and at all times rejoiced to sing thy praises in word and deed; and we pray that our lives, like his, may be well-tuned to sing the songs of love, and all our days be filled with praise of Jesus Christ our Lord; who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

(Moved from yesterday; KSH).

#OTD December 8, 1691:
Richard Baxter, one of England’s most influential Puritan ministers and theologians, died in London. Known for his prolific writing, Baxter authored nearly 200 works, including The Reformed Pastor and The Saints’ Everlasting Rest.

Baxter rejected the idea… pic.twitter.com/qPxHmynFHr

— ☧ Today in Christian History (@HistoricalRook) December 8, 2025

Nicholas Ferrar, like his great friend, George Herbert, was a courtier turned clergyman. Born in London, he was educated at a boarding school in Berkshire and at Clare College, Cambridge. He was appointed to the service of Princess Elizabeth, daughter of James I, who married the Elector Frederick V, and travelled to the continent. In the coming years, Ferrar travelled widely and, a brilliant scholar, learnt to speak Dutch, German, Italian and Spanish, as well as engaging in the study of medicine in Leipzig and Padua.

On his return to England in 1618, Ferrar was involved with the London Virginia Company, which was the family business, and he was also, for a time, a Member of Parliament. In 1626, following ordination as a deacon by the controversial Bishop (later Archbishop) William Laud, there was a major life-change when he and his extended family moved to the manor in Little Gidding in Huntingdonshire and restored St John’s church for their own use. There they lived a life of extreme simplicity, devotion and practical service.

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Nicholas Ferrar and his friend the poet George Herbert in 1960s glass by Carl Edwards in Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. Ferrar established the early 17th Century community at Little Gidding in what is now Cambridgeshire. Herbert was prebend of neighbouring Leighton Bromswold. The… pic.twitter.com/8IGVScx6fJ

— Simon Knott (@SimoninSuffolk) October 29, 2023

Lord God, make us so reflect thy perfect love; that, with thy deacon Nicholas Ferrar and his household, we may rule ourselves according to thy Word, and serve thee with our whole heart; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

(Moved from yesterday; KSH).

It was a pleasure to attend Nicholas Ferrar Day at Little Gidding today, joining the community in prayer and hospitality, with the Rev Canon Alison Myers (Warden of @LaundeAbbey) preaching at Ferrar House. #littlegidding #nicholasferrar #tseliot pic.twitter.com/u9KBp4uEdA

— Aaron Saunderson-Cross (@saundersoncross) December 6, 2025

O thou, who hast foretold that thou wilt return to judgment in an hour that we are not aware of, grant us grace to watch and pray always, that whether thou shalt come at even, or at midnight, or in the morning, we may be found among the number of those servants who shall be blessed in watching for their Lord, to whom be all glory now and for evermore.

Straight into the dragon’s lair.This is the very heart of our galaxy, 26,000 light-years away, where four million suns’ worth of mass is crushed into a single point: Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole that rules the Milky Way.Everything you see here is violence wearing… pic.twitter.com/BEnF5hMOTT

— Black Hole (@konstructivizm) December 9, 2025

Then Amazi′ah the priest of Bethel sent to Jerobo′am king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos has said,

‘Jerobo′am shall die by the sword,
    and Israel must go into exile
    away from his land.’”

And Amazi′ah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there; but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”

Then Amos answered Amazi′ah, “I am no prophet, nor a prophet’s son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ “Now therefore hear the word of the Lord.

You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,
    and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’

Therefore thus says the Lord:

‘Your wife shall be a harlot in the city,
    and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,
    and your land shall be parceled out by line;
you yourself shall die in an unclean land,
    and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’”

–Amos 7:10-17

Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar, window 9
‘Evening Snow’
Artist: SR Badmin pic.twitter.com/y5GwMyLwsT

— Helen Day (@LBFlyawayhome) December 9, 2025