'The Faith Society'? Quantifying Religious Belonging in Edwardian Britain, 1901-1914.

Historians disagree about how the Edwardian era fits into the jigsaw of secularisation in Britain. Was it a time of religious crisis ( Keith Robbins, Hugh Mc Leod) or a faith society ( Callum Brown)? This article subjects the debate to quantitative scrutiny by examining the available statistics of church attendance and church membership/affiliation for 1901-1914. A mixed picture is reported, with elements of sacralisation and secularisation co-existing. Although churchgoing was already in relative and absolute decline, one-quarter of adults (disproportionately women) still worshipped on any given Sunday and two-fifths at least monthly. Moreover, hardly anybody failed to be reached by a rite of passage conducted on religious premises. Only 1 per cent professed no faith and just over one-half had some reasonably regular and meaningful relationship with organised religion in terms of church membership or adherence. For children, perhaps nine-tenths attended Sunday school, however briefly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]