The Relationship Between Religion and Ethnicity

ETHNICITY IN THE UK:

• The main ethnic minority groups in the UK:

  • Pakistani

  • Bangladeshi

  • Indian

  • Irish

  • African-Caribbean

  • Black African

  • Chinese

• The UK in the 21st century is a multi-faith and multicultural society. Every ethnic group enjoys the right to religious freedom. A wide variety of ethnic groups are permitted to conduct their rites and ceremonies, to promote their beliefs within the limit of the law, to own property and run school and to conduct a range of charitable activities.

HOW MULTICULTURAL IS THE UK?:

• Christian – 59.5%

• Buddhist – 0.4%

• Hindu – 1.3%

• Jewish – 0.4%

• Muslim – 4.4%

• Sikh – 0.7%

• Other – 0.4%

• Total for non-Christian religions = 7.7%

• No religion – 25.7%

• Religion not stated – 7.2%

• This was taken from the 2011 Census, although there could be problems with it:

  • Language barriers.

  • Fear of freedom of religion (in families + the census).

  • Response number.

  • They’re one-dimensional, the Census only asks “what is your religion?”, it doesn’t ask about everyday practice or belief (Davies).

  • Fail to distinguish between various schools of thought and belief within various religions.

IMPORTANCE OF RELIGION IN DIFFERENT ETHNICITIES’ LIVES:

• White Christians placed religion as being 10th most important – making it last.

• 70% of Black Christians placed it at 3rd.

• Asians placed religion 2nd, only after family.

• People of mixed race backgrounds placed it 7th.

ACTIVE PRACTICE OF RELIGION:

• Of the people claiming religious affiliation, these 2008-9 statistics detail how many actively practiced:

  • Christian – 32%

  • Muslim – 80%

  • Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs – over two thirds

• Jews are also more religiously observant than Christians, and according to current trends, practising Muslims will soon outnumber practising Anglicans.

• Over half of churchgoers in London are Black, yet the proportion of Black people in London is less than 20%.

ALTERNATIVE RELIGIONS TO CHRISTIANITY EMERGING IN THE UK:

• Observance of African forms of Christianity spirituality has dramatically increased in both the mainstream churches and in the Black-led Pentecostal and Baptists churches over the past 25 years.

  • This is probably because a third of all immigrants to the UK in the past 15 years have come from Africa.

• London has a unique character – it has the largest proportion of people who self-identify as Jews, Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists. There has also been a growth in the number of Chinese, Croatian, Portuguese, Russian and Tamil Christian churches.

• There’s some evidence that African-Caribbeans are more likely to be involved in sects. Rastafarianism is popular among young Africa-Caribbean men in inner city areas like Brixton. It gives them a distinctive group identity, which is often interpreted by the police and judicial system to be in opposition to establishment views.

FUNCTIONALISTS ON ETHNICITY AND RELIGION:

• Cultural Transition:

  • Religion can be a way of coping with the stress of migration. It can help ease people into society by providing a familiar community in an alien society.

  • Bruce:

    • Suggests religious institutions have provided a community focal point for Irish, African-Caribbean, Muslim, Hindu and Black African immigrants.

  • Indians and Pakistanis first came to Britain in the 1950s – there were no Muslim or Hindu infrastructure in place. Building temples and Mosques from scratch in the face of hostile opposition reinforced their sense of social solidarity and community as well as their commitment to living in the UK.

  • Some sociologists have stressed the role of Mosques in providing Muslim women, who often have low rates of economic activity, with a focus for social life and community.

• Cultural defence:

  • Bruce:

    • Religion helps support and preserve identity, culture and language in an uncertain and hostile, perhaps even racist, environment.

    • It can provide emotional, social and economic support, by providing young people with opportunities to learn more about their religion and culture, and by speaking out against intolerance, discrimination and inequality.

CRITICISMS OF FUNCTIONALISM:

• Overstating religion as a source of community ignores divisions and conflicts within ethnic minority religions, e.g between Sunni and Shia Muslims.

• Also ignores differences between a law-abiding Muslim majority and a very small minority of devout, disaffected and fundamentalist Islamists who identify or sympathise with groups like ISIS.

• Modood:

  • First generation immigrants may be undermined by their grandchildren on issues like dress, alcohol and women’s education.

MARXISTS ON ETHNICITY AND RELIGION:

• Ethnic minority religions, like all religions, create a sense of false consciousness.

• People seek comfort and compensation through religious beliefs and practices, rather than actively and practically seeking to change their social and economic situation, for example through political protest.

• Some ethnic minority religions, like Hinduism and Sikhism, promote the view that socio-economies are preordained by God and therefore are unchangeable.

CRITICISMS OF MARXISM:

• It suffers from economic reductionism and determination.

• Argues that ethnic minority religions are shaped by economics, and in particular by the social class relationships generated by the capitalist economic system.

• Gramsci and Maduro argue that religious ideas can sometimes act independently of the economic system, and that ethnic minority religions have promoted positive social change in some societies.

WEBER ON ETHNICITY AND RELIGION:

• Demonstrated that ethnic minority groups in the UK tend to be economically deprived and consequently socially disadvantaged.

• Some sects and denominations may be attractive as they provide an explanation and justification for misfortune and poverty.

• The existential security theory, a modern version of ‘theodicy of misfortune’, argues that there’s low demand for religion among members of ethnic minorities in the UK who feel economically or socially secure.

CRITICISMS OF WEBER:

• Believed that some religions, e.g Pentecostalism, were more suited to bringing about social or economic change, whilst others, like Eastern religions, were unlikely to support social change as they were more focused on spiritual fulfilment.

  • However, this view does'n’t explain why Hindus and Sikhs, whose religions focus on meditation, have been very economically successful in the UK.