The Project and the Sources Clive D. Field

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1 The Project and the Sources Clive D. Field School of History and Cultures, University of Birmingham Institute for Social Change, University of Manchester

2 Overview Includes Project... slides 3-10 Official Sources... slides Unofficial Sources... slides Archival Examples... slides Contacts... slide 24 Out of scope Actual facts and figures about religious change Consideration of how far religion can be quantified 2

3 Project I. Funding Part of AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme, directed by Professor Linda Woodhead 12 million awarded to 75 original research projects over BRIN awarded 267,000 to develop online centre for British data on religion over BRIN builds on earlier ESRC-funded work: - Churches and Churchgoers (1977) - Reviews of UK Statistical Sources: Religion (1987) BRIN complements adherents.com, ARDA, ARK and other non-british websites 3

4 Project II. Team Based at Institute for Social Change, Faculty of Humanities, University of Manchester Co-directors David Voas (demographer/social scientist), and Clive Field (historian). Both with established research reputations in quantification of religion Siobhan McAndrew, research associate Sam Smith, technical adviser University of Manchester committed to maintain and continue to develop BRIN post-project 4

5 Project III. Statistics in Scope Historical (from 17 th century) and contemporary National (excluding Northern Ireland) with selection of local Published (print and online) and unpublished Serial (recurrent) and non-recurrent Collected by state, faith communities and other agencies Organizational and measures of personal beliefs, practices and attitudes Full spectrum of religions (including non- Christian and alternative) and irreligion 5

6 Project IV: Goals Promised project deliverables (all online): - Fully searchable guide to statistical sources - Key time series data (subject to copyright) - Interpretation and visual presentation of data To meet needs of: - Academics - Policy-makers - Media - Faith communities - General public 6

7 Project V. Innovation Broad temporal, geographical and thematic coverage Integrates historical and contemporary data Offers interpretation as well as raw data Bridges academic and non-academic worlds Online resource with interactive features Facility for (moderated) external expert input Entirely free at point of end-use Will be continuously updated post-project 7

8 Project VI. Website brin.ac.uk to be formally launched March at Conference for Innovative Methods in the Study of Religion, Royal Mint, London Website features include (at varying stages of development): - Database of sources - Maps, charts and tables - Commentaries - News - Links - FAQs - Site search - But no datasets 8

9 Project VII. Database Example Religious beliefs, practices and attitudes BRIN ID: 255 Faith Community: General, Christianity (Church of England) Type of Data: Religious beliefs, practices and attitudes Date: 2008, November Geography: United Kingdom Sample Size: 15,456 Population: Adults aged 50 and over Subject Keywords: Agnosticism, atheism, Church and state, church attendance, churchgoing, Church of England, disestablishment, God, influence of religion, older people, places of worship, prayer, religious affiliation, state funding, strength of religious beliefs, younger people Collection Method: Online interview Collection Agency: Populus Sponsor: Saga Published Source: Daily Telegraph, 2 January 2009 Baptist Times, 8 January 2009 Church of England Newspaper, 9 January

10 Project VIII: Challenges Huge scope in retrospect, original application should have bid for more resources! Reviews of UK Statistical Sources: Religion (1987) required more extensive overhaul than originally envisaged Copyright-clearance took longer than anticipated Software bugs Variable data quality and reconciliation issues Missing data and lost/destroyed records 10

11 Sources I: Official Key driver was alliance of Church and state Data mostly collected by Church for state, which lacked data-gathering infrastructure Particular preoccupation with Roman Catholics and Protestant Nonconformists National censuses England and Wales 1603, 1676; Scotland 1755; Ireland , Censuses of Roman Catholics, England and Wales, , 1767, 1780 Census of Nonconformists, England and Wales, Registration of meeting-houses from

12 Sources II: Official Parliamentary statistics of established churches, especially from 1830s Parliamentary statistics of education Registration of marriages from 1838/1855 Censuses of religious profession in Ireland, 1834 and decennially from 1861 Census of church accommodation and attendance in Great Britain 1851 Certification of places of worship from 1852 Religious profession of soldiers, prisoners etc. Religious charities from

13 Sources III: Official 1914-Present Previous series (marriages, soldiers, prisoners, charities, education, Irish religious profession etc.) continued Religious profession of Royal Navy from 1939 and Royal Air Force from 1963 Some non-recurrent opinion surveys, eg Sunday Religious profession in 2001 and 2011 censuses (subordinate to ethnicity) Citizenship Survey biennially from 2001 Religious profession in annual Labour Force Survey from 2002 (earlier in Northern Ireland) 13

14 Sources IV: Unofficial Established Churches Church of England and Church in Wales Diocesan clergy visitation returns from 1706 Individual clergy pioneers, eg Abraham Hume Centralized data collection from 1891 Church of England Statistical Unit from 1955 Ad hoc, non-recurrent research by central departments and some dioceses from 1960s Church of Scotland Centralized data collection from

15 Sources V: Unofficial Free Churches Some suspicion of statistics: King David s sin in numbering people of Israel 18 th /19 th century cross-denominational initiatives (eg Evans List ) in support of easing of legislative restrictions on Dissent and campaign for disestablishment of Church of England Centralized data collection starts with Methodists 1766, but for other large denominations only in late 19 th century Sundry ad hoc research from 1960s 15

16 Sources VI: Unofficial Roman Catholic Church Most 17 th /18 th -century statistics collected by state/ Church of England Periodic returns to Vatican from 1773 Restoration of hierarchies 1850/1878 spurs datagathering, but no national system and no proper quality control Newman Demographic Survey, briefly lays foundations for national system Since Survey s demise, no effective centralized datagathering Voluntary endeavours of Pastoral Research Centre from

17 Sources VII: Unofficial Ecumenical Some of most successful 20 th -century efforts international and largely missions-based, including World Religion Database Several stalled national initiatives, eg British Council of Churches; Nationwide Initiative in Evangelism; Inter- Church Research Group; Churches Information for Mission Christian Research most productive since 1982, now part of Bible Society. Publishes UK Christian Resources Handbook and Religious Trends, conducts censuses of churchgoing, etc. 17

18 Sources VIII: Unofficial Non-Christian Faiths Judaism Data-gathering from mid-19 th century, initially driven by external factors (Jewish emancipation, aliens question etc.) but efforts intermittent Board of Deputies of British Jews sets up Statistical and Demographic Research Unit 1965 Also independent Institute for Jewish Policy Research Other faiths Virtually no statistics collected from within faith communities most data collected by outsiders 18

19 Sources IX: Unofficial Other Agencies Social investigators from 1830s, but mostly localized and ad hoc surveys Opinion pollsters from 1937 Academic researchers from 1930s, including community studies and some serial datasets Print media, including late 19 th century local censuses of churchgoing, and latterly readership surveys and opinion polls Broadcast media from 1930s, especially audience research and opinion polls 19

20 Archival Examples I Many statistics collated and published, in print or (increasingly) on web Following collation and publication, original schedules etc. often destroyed Much material never published, some surviving in archives (examples follow) but much lost Often unclear what has survived, especially for post era Hence importance of current religious archives survey (including question on statistical sources) 20

21 Archival Examples II 1603 Religious Census British Library, Bodleian Library, local repositories 1676 Religious Census William Salt Library, Lambeth Palace Library, local repositories , 1767, 1780 Papist Returns House of Lords Record Office 18 th /19 th Century Church of England Clergy Visitation Returns local repositories and Dissenting Lists Dr Williams s Library 21

22 Archival Examples 1755 Religious Census National Library of Scotland 1829 Return of Sectaries local repositories 1851 Religious Census The National Archives Ecclesiastical/Church Commissioners Church of England Record Centre Religious Profession of Armed Services Ministry of Defence Mass-Observation Surveys Mass-Observation Archive, University of Sussex III 22

23 Archival Examples IV Newman Demographic Survey Pastoral Research Centre Audience Research Data BBC, Broadcasters Audience Research Board Methodist Sociological Group Surveys John Rylands University Library Opinion Poll Data polling agencies and/or clients, Clive Field collection Official/Unofficial Datasets Economic and Social Data Service, Roper Center Ad hoc Christian Surveys Christian Research 23

24 Contacts website 24

25 Thank you - Any questions? 25

Trends in International Religious Demography. Todd M. Johnson Gina A. Zurlo

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