Polling data by the Bible Society has revealed there’s little appetite among Britons for a multi-faith or secular Coronation.
Drawn from a survey completed after Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, data showed 31 per cent of Britons think royal events should be wholly Christian compared to 16 per cent who said ceremonies should be multi-faith and 15 per cent who said events should be wholly secular.
Forty-eight per cent of respondents said they didn't have a view on the matter.
Speaking to Premier, Rhiannon McAleer, Bible Society's head of research and impact, said there wasn’t a big generational difference in the results.
“In general, the trend followed throughout. Younger people were a bit more open to the idea of a secular or multi faith funeral.
“But what was really interesting was, even among people who say they don't have a religion, which is a growing proportion of our society, they weren't overtly more likely to want to secular future State Royal events, than the population in general, a little bit more likely, but not noticeably.”
The research found that many people have a favourable view of the Queen and support the monarchy. Notably, Christians of all ages tend to show more support for the monarchy compared to the general population.
But although data showed there is appetite for Christian symbolism in Royal events, the survey also reflected the decline in the number of Britons identifying as Christians.
McAleer continued: “Forty per cent of young people, those aged 18 to 24, heard parts of the Bible they've not heard before, as a result of watching the Queen's funeral and 25 per cent found the Bible difficult to understand, and they found it boring. That was far greater than older people who were far more familiar with the text that were presented.
“So there's definitely a call to action for people who are familiar with Christianity familiar with the Bible, to act as ambassadors really to help that cultural translation because we can't fall back on it anymore.”