The UK now has more atheists than people who believe in God, according to new research by Queen’s University Belfast.
It has published the interim results of a three-year global project looking at why atheism has grown.
Nearly 25,000 people from across the UK, United States, Brazil, China, Denmark and Japan were questioned for the survey which also collated results from the British Social Attitudes Survey and World Values Survey.
The findings challenge the stereotype that atheists lead lives devoid of meaning, morality or purpose. It also suggests parental upbringing is a major factor influencing a belief in God.
Chine McDonald, director of religious think tank Theos, told Premier the findings reflect 50 years of widespread non-religion in society.
She said: "What this collation of the data is showing, is the consequence of around 50 years of a pervasive non-religion in our society, in our media and our culture; this idea that actually to believe in God is a weird thing.
“But I am interested in what the future holds because I think we'll see some changes in that. Recent research has found that over 50 per cent of immigrants to the UK are Christian and less than 20 per cent are Muslim. That is a significant proportion of people coming to this country who do believe in God.”
McDonald said this is significant because - according to the university's study - the biggest predictor of both atheism and theism is parental upbringing and parental attitudes towards God and belief.
She further noted: "So it would follow then that if you've got a significant proportion of society in the future believing in God and bringing up their children in their faith, then it's going to be a significant number of people who will believe in God."
“Christianity has good things to offer," she continued. "But I think what this new research shows is there is a significant number of people who just don't know or who don't have any kind of strong feelings. There are lots of people who just aren't religious because they have never encountered religion in the household that they grew up in.”
Professor Jonathan Lanman from Queen’s University Belfast said: “Our large cross-cultural surveys reveal that while many factors may influence one’s beliefs in small ways, the key factor is the extent to which one is socialised to be a theist.
“Many other popular theories, such as intelligence, emotional stoicism, broken homes, and rebelliousness, do not stand up to empirical scrutiny.”
The project was funded by the John Templeton Foundation.