United Kingdom
Religious beliefs in United Kingdom
Individuals in the country are free to decide and stick to their own religious faith. The major religion among British is Christianity. Other religion exercised in the country are Baha'is, Buddhists (around 50,000 members), Hindus (about 500,000 members), Jews (almost 300,000 members), Muslims (around 1.5 million members), Sikhs (above 400,000 members), and Zoroastrians. In 2001 census, almost 23% of the country’s population stated not belonging to any religion.
Presbyterian Church (in Scotland) and Anglican Church (in England) are both Protestant churches and considered as the official cathedrals in the country. In Republic of Ireland, the official church is Roman Catholic Church and has almost 400,000 Catholics in Northern Ireland.
Some of the notable churches, mosques and temples in the country are Westminster Cathedral (Roman Catholic), Westminster Central Hall (Methodist), Westminster Abbey (Church of England), St David's Cathedral (Church in Wales), Neasden Temple (Hindu), Metropolitan Tabernacle (Baptist), Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha (Sikh), Finsbury Park Mosque (Islamic), Crathie Kirk (Church of Scotland), Brompton Oratory (Roman Catholic), Birmingham Central Mosque (Islamic) and Bevis Marks Synagogue (Jewish).
Religion is a mandatory subject in the curriculum. Almost 30% of the 24 state-supported schools in the country are faith schools. The Christian state-supported schools are mostly Roman Catholic or Church of England denomination. There are also 2 Sikh, 7 Muslim and 36 Jewish faith schools.
