Most Britons believe that further distancing from the nation’s Christian roots will harm future generations, according to a new UK-wide Whitestone poll. Young adults are also more open to Christianity’s role in shaping society than many assume, with 18–24-year-olds surprisingly receptive to moral guidance from Christian values.
The February poll of 2000 adults, found that 52% of those questioned believe that continuing to move away from Britain’s Christian roots would be to the detriment of future generations, including nearly one in three people with no religious affiliation.
A clear majority (58%) say Christianity still has something positive to offer the way Britain is governed, morally and/or practically. Meanwhile, 65% say both shared moral obligations and individual rights are equally important for holding society together.
Whitestone says this shows that Christianity retains significant public legitimacy in debates about national renewal and social cohesion.
However, six in ten (60%) of those who took part in the survey believe that Britain has lost any meaningful shared sense of what is right and wrong, while only 11% think Britain currently has shared moral values and strong institutions.
The poll, which suggests the public wants Christianity to retain a central role in Britain’s future, was commissioned to coincide with an Oxford conference of Christian politicians, theologians and public intellectuals on Christian Revival.
The research found that when it comes to Christian identity, people are divided. It revealed 39% say Britain is still a Christian country, 50% say it no longer is and 13% believe it never was predominantly Christian.
The findings come amid a growing public debate about the role of Christianity in Britain’s future and reveal sharp divides by age, political affiliation, sexuality, and identity.
Studies such as the Bible Society’s Quiet Revival have found 18-24 year olds to be more open to Christianity’s role in shaping society than those in middle age, challenging common assumptions about generational decline.
However, the Whitestone poll found Reform UK voters are the most pessimistic about Britain’s moral and institutional condition, with 78% saying the country has lost a shared sense of right and wrong and 63% saying they no longer know what it means to be British.
Conservative voters show similarly strong concern about the loss of Christian roots, but greater scepticism about whether moral renewal is achievable.
Green Party voters stand out as the most secular and most resistant to religious influence in public life, with nearly three-quarters fearing that appeals to shared moral frameworks risk imposing values.
When asked about the idea of a new “social covenant” drawing on Britain’s Christian history, 41% of those questioned agree it is necessary to heal a divided society. However, 46% say it sounds appealing but unrealistic, and 53% worry it would risk imposing values.
Leading pollster, Andrew Hawkins, chief executive of Whitestone, said: “As the debate about Britain’s future intensifies, the poll points to a central challenge for politics, churches, and civic institutions alike: can moral renewal be rebuilt through shared responsibility and lived example — or will moral anxiety continue to be channelled into polarisation and identity politics?”
The ‘Christian Revival: Our Post-Liberal hope’ political conference takes place on 11-12th March and is hosted by Anglo-Catholic study centre Pusey House, Oxford, and conference partners, the Danube Institute of Budapest and the International Reagan-Thatcher Society.