Armed Forces: Christianity
(asked on 20th November 2017) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many armed service personnel in (1) the army, (2) the Royal Navy, (3) the Royal Marines, (4) the Royal Air Force, and (5) the reserves in each of those forces, are recorded as being members of (a) the Church of England, Anglican, or Episcopal churches, (b) the Roman Catholic Church, (c) the Presbyterian Church, (d) the Church of Scotland, (e) the Baptist Church, (f) the Salvation Army, (g) Free Churches, (h) the Methodist Church, (i) the United Reformed Church, (j) the Free Presbyterian Church, (k) the Greek Orthodox Church, and (l) other Christian churches.
The Ministry of Defence publishes Biannual Diversity Statistics, the latest of which provides information as at 1 April 2017 and can be found on the Government website at the following address: https://www.gov.uk/government/ statistics/uk-armed-forces-biannual-diversity-statistics-2017. These statistics include a breakdown, by Service, of the numbers of Armed Forces personnel by self-declared religion. Tables 4 and 17 provide a detailed breakdown for, respectively, UK Regulars and the Future Reserves 2020 population.
The requested information for the Royal Navy (RN) and Royal Marines (RM), the Army and the RAF, as at 1 April 2017, is provided below:
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| RN and RM | Army | RAF | Total |
Buddhist | 40 | 690 | 50 | 780 |
Christian | 22,320 | 62,820 | 23,630 | 108,770 |
Christian Tradition | 60 | 90 | 50 | 210 |
Hindu | 20 | 1,080 | 40 | 1,140 |
Judaism | 10 | 50 | 10 | 80 |
Muslim | 40 | 440 | 50 | 530 |
Sikh | 10 | 140 | 20 | 170 |
Other Religions | 190 | 500 | 170 | 870 |
No Religion | 9,820 | 17,740 | 8,980 | 36,530 |
Unknown | 20 | 10 | 260 | 290 |
Reserve Service Personnel by Religion | ||||
| RN and RM | Army | RAF | Total |
Buddhist | 10 | 80 | 10 | 90 |
Christian | 2,430 | 22,290 | 1,530 | 26,240 |
Christian Tradition | 10 | 60 | 10 | 80 |
Hindu | 10 | 170 | 10 | 180 |
Judaism | ~ | 30 | ~ | 40 |
Muslim | 10 | 160 | 10 | 170 |
Sikh | ~ | 50 | ~ | 60 |
Other Religions | 50 | 170 | 30 | 240 |
No Religion | 810 | 6,800 | 490 | 8,110 |
Unknown | 230 | 140 | 640 | 1,010 |
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| Regular Service Personnel of Christian and Christian Tradition faith split by denomination |
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| RN | RM | Army | RAF | Total |
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| Church of England Scottish Episcopal Church | 10,490 | 2,870 | 36,590 | 15,240 | 65,200 |
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| 10 | ~ | 30 | 10 | 50 |
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| Roman Catholic | 2,610 | 670 | 9,140 | 3,150 | 15,570 |
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| Presbyterian | 90 | 20 | 200 | 110 | 420 |
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| Church of Scotland | 930 | 160 | 3,370 | 1,290 | 5,760 |
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| Baptist | 80 | 20 | 360 | 150 | 600 |
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| Salvation Army | 10 | 10 | 60 | 20 | 90 |
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| Free Church of Scotland United Free Church of Scotland | 10 | ~ | 10 | 10 | 30 |
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| ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ | 10 |
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| Methodist | 420 | 70 | 1,760 | 620 | 2,870 |
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| United Reformed Church | 20 | ~ | 50 | 40 | 100 |
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| Free Presbyterian | 10 | 10 | 790 | 10 | 800 |
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| Greek Orthodox | ~ | ~ | 10 | ~ | 20 |
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| Other Christian churches | 2,750 | 1,120 | 10,550 | 3,040 | 17,460 |
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| Reserve Service Personnel of Christian and Christian Tradition faith split by denomination |
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| RN | RM | Army | RAF | Total |
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| Church of England | 1,100 | 270 | 12,130 | 990 | 14,490 |
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| Scottish Episcopal Church | ~ | ~ | 30 | ~ | 30 |
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| Roman Catholic | 260 | 100 | 3,500 | 190 | 4,050 |
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| Presbyterian | 20 | ~ | 120 | 10 | 150 |
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| Church of Scotland | 130 | 30 | 1,600 | 100 | 1,850 |
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| Baptist | 10 | ~ | 170 | 10 | 190 |
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| Salvation Army | ~ | ~ | 20 | ~ | 20 |
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| Free Church of Scotland | 10 | ~ | 10 | ~ | 20 |
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| United Free Church of Scotland | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
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| Methodist | 60 | 10 | 530 | 40 | 630 |
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| United Reformed Church | ~ | ~ | 20 | ~ | 30 |
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| Free Presbyterian | ~ | ~ | 510 | ~ | 510 |
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| Greek Orthodox | ~ | ~ | 10 | ~ | 10 |
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| Other Christian churches | 320 | 130 | 3,690 | 200 | 4,340 |
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Note: ‘Christian’ includes personnel declaring the following on Joint Personnel Administration (JPA): Christian Tradition, Christian Scientist, Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon), Jehovah's Witness, Unitarian and Other Christian Tradition. |
‘Other Religions’ includes personnel declaring the following on Joint Personnel Administration (JPA): Druid, Pagan, Rastafarian, Spiritualist, Zoroastrian (Parsee), Wicca, Baha'i and Other Religions. |
‘Unknown’ includes those with an unrecorded religion and those who choose not to declare. |
Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10, although numbers ending in a 5 have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent the systematic bias caused by always rounding numbers upwards. For example; a value of 25 would be rounded down to 20 and a value of 15 would be rounded up to 20.
Totals and sub-totals have been rounded separately and so may not equal the sums of their rounded parts.
Declaration of religion is not mandatory for Armed Forces personnel. These statistics only relate to personnel who have made a declaration. At 1 April 2017, the proportion of personnel who had made a declaration was 99.8 per cent of UK Regular Forces, and 97.2 per cent of Future Reserves 2020.