England

England has been a multicultural and multireligious country for more than two millennia. Throughout the centuries, new immigrants have arrived, bringing their own beliefs and practices. Battles, both political and bloody, have been fought on and beyond her land for religious supremacy. Laws have been passed, and continue to be passed, to control and protect those of opposing faiths. Today, England is host to literally hundreds of different religions. It is, however, still possible to say that it is a Christian country, although this may be more apparent at a cultural than at a practicing level, with only around 8% of the adult population attending a church service once a week. England dominates the United Kingdom, which also includes the countries Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Archaeological evidence suggests that pagan cults, most notably Druidry, existed in England from at least the fourth millennium BCE. In 55 BCE, the Romans introduced their particular brand of paganism, to be followed by gods from Egyptian and other pantheons. Christianity may have crept into parts of the country as early as the second century; the Celtic church certainly existed by the fourth century, but gradually it came under papal control. With the Norman Conquest in 1066, Roman canon law became increasingly powerful and corrupt. The ensuing irritation and frustration culminated in Henry VIII's breaking away from Rome over the issue of divorce from the first of his six wives and declaring himself head of the Church of England (C of E) in 1534. Henry's daughter, Mary Tudor, attempted to restore Catholicism, but after her death, her half sister, Elizabeth I, definitively secured a Protestant future for the country, and since 1559, the C of E has been “by law established.”

The political predominance of the C of E has not, however, meant that all other forms of religiosity were eradicated. Expelled from England in 1290, Jews were readmitted in 1656 and have been a small but significant presence in English society ever since. Catholics have maintained a presence, supplanted by migration, primarily from Ireland and, more recently, Poland. From the 16th century onward, Puritans and others Protestants joined the religious scene, with some (e.g., Quakers and Methodists) being indigenous and others (e.g., Baptists and Unitarians) being predominantly from continental Europe and, later, North America. In the 19th century, several new sects arrived—some homegrown (e.g., the Salvation Army) and others (e.g., Seventh-Day Adventism, the Church of Christ, Scientist, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) from the United States. Around the turn of the century, Eastern ideas started to be popularized among a small section of the English population by movements such as the Theosophical Society.

The 1950s saw an influx of West Indian immigrants, who, finding the White churches staid and unwelcoming, started their own Charismatic and Pentecostal churches. Students from Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa brought their churches (including the Church of the Lord [Aladura], Cherubim and Seraphim, and the Celestial Church of Christ), then their families, and by 2007, 44% of those attending church in inner London were Black.

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