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Introduction
Not every religion around the world shares a similar set of views, although, in some way, religion is readily available in our societies. Faith tends to shape the thinking of people, their social actions, and religious practices. This research project has four categories of participants that have been interviewed. Two of the participants consider themselves as Muslims and the other two are categorized as atheists. The study participants have been termed as participants succeeded by an alphabetical letter. The main objective of the study is to investigate why participants choose certain non-religion or the religion to follow and the motivation behind their choice.
Demographic Data
Muslim population rose in the UK becoming the second largest religion in the region. A research done by the UK, 2011 census indicates that the Muslim Population was at 4.4% of the total population. Emerson (2019) reports that the figure rose 3,372,966 in 2018, and the numbers keep growing. Majority of the Muslims in the UK are in England and that is 4.3% of the total population. NatCens British Social Attitudes 2018, indicates that 2M Christians from the church of England deviated and joined the Muslim society. (Shivers, L., 1949) explains that a large group of people remained non-religious, they believed in the non-existence of God; this accounted for half (49%) of all the people in Britain. Moreover, the numbers rose from 31% in 1983 to 43% ten years ago and in 1983, nearly 12.8M people confirmed that they were categorized as atheists, (Religious Affiliation and Political Attitudes 2010, 2019). Emberson (2019) further explained that Christian religion declined from 40% to 17% between the years 1983 and 2014. In my semi-structured interviews, the interview sections were divided into two: Atheists and the Muslims.
Interview Questions
Atheist
In my interviews, I began by interviewing the Atheists and when asked reasons for not believing in God, they responded as follows:
Participant A (Atheist): I was born in a Christian family but I fell out of the religion and became an atheist without a proper reason
Participant B (Atheist): The idea of believing in God or any other supernatural power bothers me so much, and it makes me have other thoughts that Im not devoted to my own beliefs as Id think of. This fact confuses and makes me frustrated with the feeling of something that I dont believe in it.
Analysing participant As responses denotes that he was a believer, but due to an avoidable circumstance he found himself a non-believer. Same for participant B, he believes that there is no God at all and the fact that people believe in Him frustrates him even more. According to Cognitive aspects of religious symbolism.
Moreover, the atheists were asked if their families are atheist and the responses were as follows;
Participant A (Atheist): Im personally an atheist though my family is religious. And Im sure if I happen to tell them that Im not religious theyll send me out of the house or even disown me.
Participant B (Atheist): Everyone in my family is religious, and my parents believe that everyone has freedom of religion. Thus, theyre very comfortable with me being an atheist.
Participant As family members are very religious and this is expected that every member of the family follows suit and that if anyone chooses their own religion then disciplinary action is taken against them. But with participant B, they have freedom of choice to either become religious or not.
In addition, they were also asked what they think of believers and they responded as:
Participant A (Atheist): Most believers in any religion are somehow deluded, yes. Anyway, I believe everyone should live and let live, therefore whichever is up to each one.
Participant B (Atheist): I think believers believe in nothing because there is no God .
Both participants suggest that there is no God.
Moreover, they were asked how they think the wider public views them and they responded as;
Participant A (Atheist): I think they probably view me as someone who doesnt know God at all .
Participant B(Atheist): The wider public believes that being an atheist is a non-believer. Believers dont discriminate me at all. We do most of the social activities together. Even at my workplace, Im treated equally. They believe that people will always have different convictions towards societal religion.
Participant A believes that the wider public think that being an atheist is subject to religious discriminations. That their views are never appreciated by the society. However, participant B is never discriminated by the public.
And when they were asked whether the society should make room for religion or not, they responded as follows:
Participant A (Atheist): Id rather say that our societies need to put into consideration what they deem as worth and real in putting their faith in. Since no one knows anything beyond them.
Participant B (Atheist): I believe the society requires faith. Though I wonder sometimes why most societies cant have faith in one another but instead they develop a deity vague against themselves.
Both participants appreciate the need to have faith, but it is not pegged on the kind of religion one has to be in. But faith comes naturally, attracting positive thoughts and doing what is right based on their convictions.
Islamic Religion
The representatives of Islamic religion were also interviewed and when asked how often they attend places of worship for prayers, they responded as follows;
Participant C (Muslim): I get to pray 5 times daily. And since Im close to my place of worship, I never miss midday prayers every Friday
Participant D (Muslim): I dont get to my worship place for prayers more often. My work requires to me to travel.
Both participants agree the need to attend to services at their places of worship but due to distance as well as job requirements participant D cannot make it to a place of worship.
And when they were asked to rate how strongly they believe in God/Higher power, they responded as follows:
Participant C (Muslim): I would say that Allah exists, and I have a lot of faith in Him. On a scale on of 1-5 where, Ill rate Him 5 to mean I strongly believe in Allah.
Participant D (Muslim): When my father died, I thought that was the end of everything. To an extent, Allah gave me strength through prayers Id give Allah 4.
Both participant C and D regard Allah to be more powerful, though participant D at some moment lost faith in Him, but he regards Him to more powerful.
When asked whether their friends and family members were religious, they responded as follows:
Participant C (Muslim): My family members are all Muslims, but most of my friends are Atheists
Participant D (Muslim): Im a Muslim but my family members and friends are all Christians, and they are comfortable with me. They claim that religion cant be a basis of discrimination. These responses denote that religion is essential in a society and shouldnt be used as a basis of discrimination.
In addition, they were asked how felt the wider views their religion, and they responded as:
Participant C (Muslim): Were viewed as a religion that produces a lot violence in the world.
Participant D (Muslim): The public views Islam as a decent, kind and honest religion
Participant C responds that the public views Islam as a religion that is so violent. That Islam is the cause of wars that is being experienced in some countries. But participant D responds that the public believes that Islam is one of the most honest, kind and law, abiding religion.
The participants were also asked about their own views concerning other religions and they responded as follows:
Participant C (Muslim): I view other religions as non-believers.
Participant D: I view other religions as equal, for instance Christians pray to God, whereas, we Muslims pray to Allah. We were all created.
Based on the responses from the interview, participant D believes that were one jointly created by a creator who is God-Allah. But participant C is a discriminator, he feels that all other religions are non-believers.
Moreover, when asked what they think concerning the society creating room for religion, they responded as follows:
Participant C (Muslim): Yes, the society needs religion, because religion formulates rules and guidelines upon which human beings conduct themselves
Participant D (Muslim): No, people can conduct themselves, make their owns rules without religion
Participant C believes that it is the work of religion to formulate rules on how people ought themselves in the society whereas Participant D believes that people can create their rules without necessarily having religion in the society
And lastly, when asked whether the state should have religion, they responded as follows:
Participant C (Atheist): No, because if religion and government are united, the end results will be corruption
Participant D (Atheist): Being religious is a matter of individual faith. And because of this, I think religion wont play a big role in shaping the society.
Conclusion
The study project samples the basic reasons as to why groups of people chose and believe in various religious and non-religious convictions. It has also demonstrated views different people have on various religions. Due to generational displacement, only elderly generations in the UK belong to strong religious groups. This might result into further research to be done on the growth of atheism as other religions are on the decline.
Questionnaire
Atheist
- Why dont you believe?
- Are your family atheists
- What do you think of believers?
- How do you think wider public views you?
- Do you think society should make room for religion?
- Should the state have a religion?
Islam
- How often do you attend place of worship?
- How often do you pray?
- On a scale how strongly do you believe in God/Higher Power?
- Are your friends and family religious?
- How do you feel wider public views your religion?
- How do you view other religions?
- Do you take holy texts to be literal or metaphorical?
- What do you get from going to your place of worship?
- Should the state have a religion?
Reference List
Religious Affiliation and Political Attitudes 2010 Web.
Emberson, I.A. (2019). Faith Survey | Christianity in the UK. Web.
Humanists UK. (2019). Religion and belief: some surveys and statistics. Web.
Shivers, L., (1949) Cultural sociology (A revision of An Introduction to Sociology). By John Lewis Gillin and John Philip Gillin,Social Forces, 28(1), pp.95-95.
Hellwig, M., (1984) Introduction to Christianity. By Mary Jo Weaver., Horizons, 11(2), pp.442-442.
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