The political concerns of Evangelical Christians in the UK Greg Smith William Temple Foundation, and...

The political concerns of Evangelical Christians in

the UK Greg Smith

William Temple Foundation, and Evangelical Alliance Email g.smith@eauk.org

&Mathew Guest

University of Durhamm.j.guest@durham.ac.uk

Jimmy Carter President of USA 1976-19801976 the ‘year of the evangelicals’

Ronald ReaganPresident of the USA 1980-1988

Values of the New Christian Right expressed most forcibly in cultural and economic, rather than theological, terms...

Jerry Falwell has Ronald Reagan's ear during a campaign stop in October 1980.

Jim Walllis (1948-)Sojourners

Tony Campolo (1935-)‘Red Letter Christian’

Rob Bell (1970-)Mars Hill Bible Church, MINooma DVDsReclaiming social justice to

Christianity and critiquing claims of New Christian Right for confusing Gospel message with values of consumer capitalism.

The Evangelical ‘Left’?

British Evangelical campaign groups that affirm values commensurate with traditionally right-wing causes?

1. How far are evangelicals within the UK engaged with politics?

2. How does this play out in terms of party political support?

3. What are the political issues for evangelicals and how do these fit with the traditional political spectrum (left-right), or do they reflect a more complex set of identities?

3 Key Questions

Our Surveys

Baseline survey 17,000 respondents 12,500 of them defined themselves as

Evangelical Christians (only these cases analysed here)

Follow up panel surveys – 3 waves 1150 – 1219 respondents Opportunity sample so cannot say if it is

representative

Do Evangelicals Vote?

In panel survey Easter 2011 91% said they were voting in the Referendum

Q10 Do you consider yourself to be an evangelical Christian? by Q14 Did you vote in the 2010 General

Election?

0.00%10.00%20.00%30.00%40.00%50.00%60.00%70.00%80.00%90.00%

NotEvangelical

Unsure ifEvangelical

Evangelicals Totalrespondentsn= 16,184

UK electorate

In a study of data from the British Social Attitudes Survey, asking about the 2005 general election.

Siobhan McAndrew found those who were religious or “fuzzy faithful” were markedly more likely to vote than the unreligious.

That is, even partial engagement with religion, appears to be associated with a tendency to engage with the national political process,

although the same analysis suggests this may have more to do with religious upbringing than current levels of religious commitment

(McAndrew, 2010: 100-101).

Who do Evangelicals vote for General Election 2010?

UK ELECTORATE

% Votes by Party May 2010 UK General Election

Liberal Democrat 23%

Labour 29%

Conservative 36%

UKIP 3%

Evangelicals (GB only) expressing preference

29%

22% 40%

Conservative Liberal Democrats Labour UKIP

Independent/Other Scottish National Party Christian Party Green Party

Plaid Cymru Christian People's Alliance BNP

Comparison with ElectorateUK election

result

Evangelicals expressing preference

Difference from all electorate

Conservative 36.0% 39.3% 3.3%

Liberal Democrats 23.0% 29.1% 6.1%

Labour 29.0% 22.1% -6.9%

UKIP 3.1% 2.4% -0.7%

Independent/Other 2.3% 2.3%

Scottish National Party 1.7% 1.5% -0.2%

Christian Party 0.1% 1.2% 1.1%

Green Party 1.0% 1.0% 0.0%

Plaid Cymru 0.6% 0.5% -0.1%

Christian People's Alliance 0.0% 0.5% 0.5%

BNP 1.9% 0.0% -1.9%

96.4% 100.0%

NB total excludes NI parties and others

Evangelicals in Black Majority Churches n= 646

2%

2%

1%

0%

2%

18%

12%

61%

0%

0%

2%Conservative

Liberal Democrats

Labour

UKIP

Independent/Other

Scottish National Party

Christian Party

Green Party

Christian People's Alliance

Plaid Cymru

BNP

Northern Ireland Evangelicals n= 764

N.I. Electorate May

2010 General Election

25%

25%17%

6%

15%

4%

1%

7%Democratic UnionistParty

Sinn Fein

Social Democratic &Labour Party

Alliance Party

Ulster Conservativesand Unionists - NewForce

Traditional UnionistVoice

Green

Others

Evangelicals in N.I.

36%

1%

7%21%

25%

2%

1%

7%

NI Evangelicals v Electorate

Party % NI VotersEA Survey Difference

Democratic Unionist Party 25.0 37.2 12.2

Sinn Fein 25.5 0.5 -25.0

Social Democratic & Labour Party 16.5 6.8 -9.7

Alliance Party 6.3 20.8 14.5

Ulster Conservatives and Unionists - New Force 15.2 24.7 9.5

Traditional Unionist Voice 3.9 1.9 -2.0

Green 0.5 0.8 0.3

Others 7.1 7.1 0.0

Total 100.0 99.7

GB Evangelicals vote by Gender

Which party did you vote for

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

35.00%

Conse

rvat

ive

Liber

al Dem

ocra

ts

Labo

ur

Prefe

r not

to sa

y

Christ

ian P

arty

FemaleMaleTotal

By Age group

0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%

16 to 24

25 to 34

35 to 44

45 to 54

55 to 64

65 to 74

75plus

Voting by newspapers read

Newspaper Readership GB Evangelicals by 3 main parties

0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%50%

The Times Daily Mirror Daily Mail Daily Express The Sun The Guardian The Independent

ConservativeLiberal DemocratsLabour

Evangelical Issues

What panel survey members contacted politicians about

Attitudes on diversity % “agree a lot”

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

Christians should workcollaboratively with

people of other faithson community projects

the followers of allreligions should be free

to publicly practisetheir faith in theUK

the UK is a Christiancountry and this shouldbe reflected by its laws

women should beeligible for all roles

within the church in thesame way men are

Overall

Conservative voters

Lib Dem voters

Labour voters

As reported by BRIN on 18 February 2012, 56% of adults think that Britain is a Christian country and 61% that it should be,

Attitudes on society % “agree a lot”

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

it's becoming moredifficult for Christiansto speak freely about

what they believe

evangelism and socialaction are equallyimportant tasks

many churches andorganisations areplacing too much

emphasis on socialaction

human actions arecontributing to climate

change (greens =74.5%)

Overall

Conservative voters

Lib Dem voters

Labour voters

Attitudes - life issues and sex % “agree a lot”

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

assisted suicide isalways wrong

sexual intercourseoutside of marriage is

always wrong

homosexual actionsare always wrong

abortion can never bejustified

Overall

Conservative voters

Lib Dem voters

Labour voters

Attitudes – Theology by party% “agree a lot”

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

100.00%

Jesus is the only wayto God

evolution andChristianity are

incompatible: youcannot believe both

hell is a place wherethe condemned will

suffer eternalconscious pain

The Bible in its originalmanuscript, is without

error

Overall

Conservative voters

Lib Dem voters

Labour voters

Attitudes International (panel n= 1048)

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Unless we act to reduce global warming many ofthe poorest countries will suffer major disasters in

the next 100 years.

The UK government should speak out morestrongly on issues of human rights and religious

liberty in countries with oppressive regimes.

The international system of banking and trade isunfair and the poorest people in the world suffer

as a result.

The international arms trade is immoral andshould be stopped.

Strongly agree Agree Not sure Disagree Strongly disagree

References

Andersen, A., Tilley, J. and Heath, A.F. (2005), ‘Political Knowledge and Enlightened Preferences: Party Choice through the Electoral Cycle’, British Journal of Political Science, 35: 285–302.

Bruce, Steve (2007) Paisley: Religion and Politics in Northern Ireland, Oxford: OUP.

Kotler-Berkowitz, L.A. (2001), ‘Religion and Voting Behaviour in Great Britain: A

Reassessment’, British Journal of Political Science, 31(3): 523–555.

McAndrew, Siobhan (2010) “Religious Faith and Contemporary Attitudes”, in A. Park

et al (eds) British Social Attitudes: the 16th Report, London: Sage, pp. 87-113.

Mitchell, Claire (2006). Religion, Identity and Politics in Northern Ireland. Aldershot: Ashgate.

Putnam, Robert D. and David E. Parker (2010) American Grace: How Religion Divides

and Unites Us, New York: Simon and Schuster.