The book written by Dr Stuart Fox and Dr Ekaterina Kolpinskaya used data from Understanding Society (Wave 8). Their research found that as many as one in five British adults exhibited religious characteristics that made them more likely to vote Leave in the 2016 referendum, and the religious characteristics of a quarter made them more likely to vote Remain.
The key to identifying this ‘religious effect’ lies in recognising that religion means more than our identity with a particular community or institution: it also refers to religious behaviour (such as going to church or praying) and beliefs (such as in God).
Key findings
- Of the large Christian communicates in the UK, Anglican Christians were the most likely to support Brexit in 2016, with 55% voting Leave. The researchers think this could be because being a member of the Church of England helps foster an attachment to an English heritage and national identity, of which the Church is a key component.
- Anglicans are also likely to share the Church of Englansd historic opposition to Catholic supranationalism in Europe – where the Catholic Church is seen as a world-wide organisation, rather than a national one. This could cause people to be sceptical about the benefits of social, economic and political change that erodes national borders and the power of the British state. In other words, Anglicans are more likely to hold to English national identities and to be conservative when it comes to social, economic and political change – both traits strongly associated with support for Brexit.
- In contrast, 61% of Catholics voted Remain because they are far less likely to have such attachments to English national identity or institutions, and Catholicism is associated with worldwide institutional leadership in the form of the Vatican.
- People who ‘practically never’ attended religious services were also more likely to support Brexit, reflecting the impact of regularly interacting with religious communities and leaders on our social networks (which tend to be more extensive for the religiously active) and our subsequent tolerance for ‘outsiders’.
The authors said, “The importance of this ‘religious effect’ is growing. As UK in a Changing Europe research has shown, the ‘Remainer’ and ‘Brexiteer’ identities continue to have resonance even now that Brexit has been delivered.
“Those characteristics that shape Euroscepticism (such as national identity and social conservatism) also shape how voters feel about the performance of the government, their support for policies in a host of areas (including healthcare, crime, education, foreign affairs and welfare), and who they vote for in elections.
“Through its impact on national identity, political ideology and historic attachments to political institutions, therefore, religion will be an important determinant of British public opinion for the foreseeable future.”
Politics and social attitudes
