The Year 10 Religious Studies group at the Meoncross School
The Meoncross entry notes that the percentage of Christians in the United Kingdom has declined over the last two decades and the percentage of those confessing no religion has increased. This is explained to be a result of technology providing increased access to evidence against Christianity.
It is concluded nonetheless that the United Kingdom is still a Christian country because King Charles III is head of the Church of England.
Our judges commented, ‘The visual design is clever and interesting’.
Eloise Thomas, Year 10, Cheltenham College
Eloise’s entry notes that secularization theory suggests that the influence of religion diminishes as societies modernize. Census data from Cheltenham appears to confirm this, with a sharp drop in Christians and a rise in those confessing no religion as social media has spread diverse perspectives.
However, the stability of religious adherence in Tower Hamlets with its large number of Muslims appears to question the secularization thesis. This could be due to religion functioning more communally for Muslims than it does for Christians.
However, citing Charles Taylor, Eloise argues that this does not necessarily disprove the secularization thesis because the secular and religion as a choice still constitute the wider context.
Our judges commented, ‘Really interesting argument made about reasons for secularisation’.