Religion has the meaning usually given to it and includes lack of religion, and Belief includes religious and philosophical beliefs (such as humanism) and includes lack of belief[1].
Generally, a belief should affect one’s life choices or the way that one lives for it to be included in the definition. The Equality Act also points out that a belief must also be worthy of respect in a democratic society and not affect other people’s fundamental rights.
Interesting facts about Religion and Belief in Fife
- Fife has seen a decrease in the proportion of people who said that they belonged to a Christian denomination in the last ten years, from 56% in 2001 to 45.3% in 2011.
- Fife who said that they had “No Religion” increased from 35.4% in 2001 to 46.3% in 2011.
- Those who stated that they had “No religion”, were most common for all age groups up to 50-54, with the highest concentrations in the 0-9 and 25-34 age groups.
- Religions in Fife include Christianity (Church of Scotland, Roman Catholic, other Christian), Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Baha’i and Judaism.
Demography
Religions in Scotland and Fife
The Census is the main source of information for detailed data on religion at national and local level. Fife shows a lower proportion than the national average of Roman Catholics, Muslims and Other religions, and a higher proportion with No Religion:
| Fife | Scotland | |
| All people | 365198 | 5295403 |
| % Church of Scotland | 31.4 | 32.4 |
| % Roman Catholic | 8.5 | 15.9 |
| % Other Christian | 5.4 | 5.5 |
| % Muslim | 0.7 | 1.4 |
| % Other religions | 0.8 | 1.1 |
| % No religion | 46.3 | 36.7 |
| % Not stated | 6.9 | 7.0 |
Source: Census 2011 Data Explorer
Age grouping show an increasing proportion of the population stating that they had No religion up to the age group of 50-54.
| All people | Church of Scotland | Roman Catholic | Other Christian | Buddhist | Hindu | Jewish | |
| Fife | 365198 | 114773 (31.43%) | 31092 (8.51%) | 19757
(5.41%) |
736 (0.20%) | 489 (0.13%) | 245 (0.07%) |
| Male | 176943 | 51918 (29.34%) | 14124 (7.98%) | 8506
(4.81%) |
353 (0.20%) | 268 (0.15%) | 108 (0.06%) |
| Female | 188255 | 62855 (33.39%) | 16968 (9.01%) | 11251
(5.98%) |
383 (0.20%) | 221 (0.12%) | 137 (0.07%) |
Source: Census 2011 Data Explorer
| Muslim | Sikh | Other religion | No religion | Religion not stated | |
| Fife | 2591 (0.71%) | 324 (0.09%) | 1190
(0.33%) |
168932
(46.26%) |
25069
(6.86%) |
| Male | 1396 (0.79%) | 184 (0.10%) | 466
(0.26%) |
86944 (49.14%) | 12676
(7.16%) |
| Female | 1195 (0.63%) | 140 (0.07%) | 724
(0.38%) |
81988
(43.55%) |
12393
(6.58%) |
Source: Census 2011 Data Explorer
| Age | All people | Church of Scotland | Roman Catholic | Other Christian | No religion | Religion not stated |
| 0 to 4 | 20775 | 2473 | 1273 | 603 | 14127 | 1933 |
| 5 to 9 | 19156 | 3404 | 1284 | 683 | 12271 | 1220 |
| 10 to 14 | 20186 | 4341 | 1493 | 717 | 12137 | 1226 |
| 15 | 4280 | 1003 | 317 | 146 | 2487 | 269 |
| 16 to 17 | 8852 | 2044 | 641 | 317 | 5190 | 536 |
| 18 to 19 | 9532 | 1763 | 795 | 556 | 5554 | 649 |
| 20 to 24 | 24141 | 3818 | 2114 | 1609 | 14338 | 1648 |
| 25 to 29 | 20802 | 3027 | 2099 | 926 | 13075 | 1108 |
| 30 to 34 | 20787 | 3434 | 2028 | 1052 | 12771 | 941 |
| 35 to 39 | 23035 | 4623 | 2063 | 1126 | 13579 | 1118 |
| 40 to 44 | 27445 | 7092 | 2518 | 1267 | 14546 | 1579 |
| 45 to 49 | 28007 | 9004 | 2745 | 1450 | 12615 | 1817 |
| 50 to 54 | 26152 | 9750 | 2532 | 1443 | 10247 | 1794 |
| 55 to 59 | 22981 | 9767 | 2066 | 1413 | 7757 | 1698 |
| 60 to 64 | 24996 | 12083 | 2118 | 1749 | 6898 | 1968 |
| 65 to 69 | 19529 | 10433 | 1628 | 1409 | 4379 | 1562 |
| 70 to 74 | 15652 | 8993 | 1318 | 1138 | 2861 | 1266 |
| 75 to 79 | 12425 | 7440 | 927 | 868 | 2076 | 1044 |
| 80 to 84 | 8730 | 5465 | 613 | 634 | 1197 | 790 |
| 85 and over | 7735 | 4816 | 520 | 651 | 827 | 903 |
| Total | 365198 | 114773 | 31092 | 19757 | 168932 | 25069 |
| Age | Buddhist | Hindu | Jewish | Muslim | Sikh | Other religion |
| 0 to 4 | 13 | 31 | 8 | 256 | 35 | 23 |
| 5 to 9 | 14 | 15 | 9 | 199 | 28 | 29 |
| 10 to 14 | 15 | 31 | 11 | 176 | 16 | 23 |
| 15 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 37 | 3 | 8 |
| 16 to 17 | 16 | 7 | 1 | 80 | 4 | 16 |
| 18 to 19 | 25 | 30 | 24 | 100 | 10 | 26 |
| 20 to 24 | 115 | 63 | 72 | 248 | 38 | 78 |
| 25 to 29 | 82 | 60 | 7 | 303 | 34 | 81 |
| 30 to 34 | 49 | 67 | 7 | 310 | 33 | 95 |
| 35 to 39 | 77 | 46 | 19 | 215 | 33 | 136 |
| 40 to 44 | 65 | 38 | 17 | 160 | 27 | 136 |
| 45 to 49 | 71 | 26 | 16 | 137 | 17 | 109 |
| 50 to 54 | 58 | 22 | 15 | 138 | 25 | 128 |
| 55 to 59 | 53 | 18 | 10 | 89 | 8 | 102 |
| 60 to 64 | 42 | 9 | 9 | 34 | 6 | 80 |
| 65 to 69 | 18 | 8 | 3 | 44 | 4 | 41 |
| 70 to 74 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 26 | 2 | 35 |
| 75 to 79 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 23 | 0 | 24 |
| 80 to 84 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 13 |
| 85 and over | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 7 |
| Total | 736 | 489 | 245 | 2591 | 324 | 1190 |
Source: Census 2011 Data Explorer
Education
Educational attainment of children and young people
Data on religion in the education sector focuses on the denomination of the school and not on the religion of pupils or teachers. In September 2016, 17.8% of pupils in publicly funded schools attended a Roman Catholic school[3]. There is no further data at local level.
Modern Apprenticeships (MA)
MA equality opportunity monitoring covers Disability, Gender and Ethnicity, there is no data collected on sexual orientation and religion of Modern Apprentices in Scotland.
Work
Employment
Similar to education, there is no dedicated local data on religion and employment conditions at local level at this time. At national level a change over the past year (2016) in employment rates +20.6% for Buddhist and of -19.3% for Hindu followers.
| Christian | Buddhist | Hindu | Muslim | |||||||
| Rate | Level | Rate | Level | Rate | Level | Rate | Level | |||
| 2004 | 72.8% | 1,915,300 | 58.6% | 4,900 | 64.7% | 4,000 | 50.6% | 17,900 | ||
| 2005 | 73.1% | 1,906,600 | 57.4% | 3,500 | 67.1% | 3,900 | 48.8% | 16,600 | ||
| 2006 | 73.8% | 1,904,700 | 60.5% | 4,800 | 83.4% | 4,900 | 51.7% | 22,600 | ||
| 2007 | 73.8% | 1,902,300 | 64.6% | 4,400 | 72.8% | 7,100 | 60.1% | 21,400 | ||
| 2008 | 73.7% | 1,857,900 | 56.8% | 5,100 | 58.2% | 6,600 | 51.8% | 16,400 | ||
| 2009 | 72.4% | 1,793,000 | 61.2% | 5,700 | 62.8% | 9,200 | 49.2% | 24,600 | ||
| 2010 | 71.7% | 1,753,300 | 71.5% | 7,800 | 73.5% | 9,800 | 46.1% | 21,300 | ||
| 2011 | 70.0% | 1,443,600 | 67.7% | 7,100 | 74.0% | 9,800 | 50.5% | 19,100 | ||
| 2012 | 70.1% | 1,396,900 | 60.7% | 6,400 | 64.8% | 10,000 | 52.8% | 23,700 | ||
| 2013 | 71.1% | 1,340,500 | 59.8% | 6,800 | 74.7% | 6,500 | 42.8% | 19,900 | ||
| 2014 | 72.5% | 1,283,700 | 62.0% | 7,500 | 81.9% | 13,000 | 53.8% | 28,900 | ||
| 2015 | 72.4% | 1,267,300 | 47.9% | 3,900 | 81.1% | 12,500 | 49.7% | 25,300 | ||
| 2016 | 72.8% | 1,205,600 | 68.5% | 3,700 | 61.9% | 9,700 | 50.5% | 33,800 | ||
| Change: | ||||||||||
| On year | 0.5 | -61,700 | 20.6 | -200 | -19.3 | -2,800 | 0.8 | 8,500 | ||
| Other | No religion | All | ||||||
| Rate | Level | Rate | Level | Rate | Level | |||
| 2004 | 68.2% | 20,800 | 73.5% | 465,900 | 72.6% | 2,430,000 | ||
| 2005 | 72.2% | 22,100 | 73.8% | 500,300 | 73.0% | 2,454,600 | ||
| 2006 | 72.7% | 22,300 | 74.8% | 538,900 | 73.7% | 2,500,200 | ||
| 2007 | 71.7% | 26,800 | 75.1% | 563,900 | 73.9% | 2,528,400 | ||
| 2008 | 72.1% | 25,900 | 74.4% | 621,300 | 73.6% | 2,534,600 | ||
| 2009 | 66.6% | 28,500 | 72.8% | 635,500 | 72.0% | 2,497,700 | ||
| 2010 | 66.0% | 31,800 | 70.6% | 653,300 | 71.0% | 2,479,700 | ||
| 2011 | 65.4% | 32,200 | 71.9% | 935,600 | 70.5% | 2,476,300 | ||
| 2012 | 67.5% | 36,700 | 72.0% | 1,003,100 | 70.5% | 2,481,500 | ||
| 2013 | 63.6% | 40,100 | 71.6% | 1,075,600 | 70.8% | 2,494,300 | ||
| 2014 | 67.0% | 51,900 | 73.5% | 1,170,600 | 72.6% | 2,557,700 | ||
| 2015 | 70.1% | 57,200 | 74.8% | 1,192,600 | 73.1% | 2,577,300 | ||
| 2016 | 69.2% | 51,700 | 74.2% | 1,265,200 | 72.9% | 2,579,700 | ||
| Change: | ||||||||
| On year | -0.9 | -5,600 | -0.6 | 72,600 | -0.1 | 2,400 | ||
Source: Regional Employment Patterns in Scotland Statistics from the Annual Population Survey 2016
Living Standards
Housing
As for education, there is no dedicated data on religion and housing conditions for the local level at this time. A very rough approximation may be possibly through ethnicity due to the strong correlation between race and religion.
Health
Health outcomes
The 2011 census does not directly report on the self-assessed health by religion, but some approximation may be had by the 2001 census. Muslim and Sikh women were more likely than women in other groups to report poor health, though the number of respondents in older age groups was small and the figures in these groups should be interpreted cautiously. Muslim, Roman Catholic and Sikh men were more likely than men from the general population to report poor health.
| Age group (years) | ||||||||
| Religion | Gender | 0 – 15 | 16 – 29 | 30 – 49 | 50 – Pensionable age | Pensionable age – 74 | 75+ | All people |
| Church of Scotland | Male | 98.7 | 97.1 | 92.7 | 83.5 | 82.0 | 75.8 | 89.6 |
| Female | 98.9 | 96.6 | 91.7 | 85.6 | 83.5 | 72.5 | 88.2 | |
| Roman Catholic | Male | 98.4 | 95.9 | 89.7 | 74.4 | 72.4 | 67.0 | 87.8 |
| Female | 98.7 | 95.5 | 88.4 | 76.9 | 73.6 | 64.0 | 86.2 | |
| Other Christian | Male | 98.7 | 94.4 | 86.9 | 82.3 | 76.0 | 78.3 | 90.9 |
| Female | 98.8 | 95.1 | 89.2 | 82.5 | 82.9 | 70.0 | 88.3 | |
| Buddhist | Male | 99.2 | 94.4 | 86.9 | 82.3 | 76.0 | 78.3 | 88.7 |
| Female | 98.0 | 95.1 | 89.2 | 82.5 | 82.9 | 70.0 | 89.7 | |
| Hindu | Male | 99.1 | 98.2 | 96.7 | 86.6 | 81.3 | 56.7 | 95.0 |
| Female | 98.5 | 98.2 | 93.5 | 85.3 | 67.2 | 47.1 | 93.1 | |
| Jewish | Male | 98.4 | 98.2 | 92.4 | 86.4 | 84.0 | 71.0 | 89.3 |
| Female | 98.7 | 94.8 | 92.0 | 86.0 | 84.1 | 68.4 | 86.5 | |
| Muslim | Male | 98.5 | 96.5 | 90.9 | 71.2 | 68.2 | 63.8 | 92.5 |
| Female | 98.2 | 95.9 | 86.2 | 63.9 | 52.9 | 56.2 | 90.2 | |
| Sikh | Male | 98.8 | 97.8 | 89.7 | 75.7 | 72.1 | 54.8 | 91.6 |
| Female | 98.8 | 97.2 | 87.0 | 66.5 | 61.2 | 66.3 | 88.7 | |
| Another Religion | Male | 98.3 | 94.8 | 89.9 | 81.8 | 76.1 | 70.3 | 92.0 |
| Female | 98.2 | 93.0 | 86.1 | 77.5 | 77.7 | 71.0 | 88.4 | |
| No Religion | Male | 98.4 | 96.6 | 93.0 | 84.3 | 79.9 | 72.7 | 92.9 |
| Female | 98.7 | 95.8 | 91.5 | 84.4 | 80.5 | 69.5 | 92.6 | |
| Not Answered | Male | 99.3 | 95.7 | 90.7 | 80.9 | 76.0 | 78.0 | 91.8 |
| Female | 99.4 | 95.5 | 90.5 | 81.4 | 77.3 | 78.8 | 90.8 | |
| All Religion Groups | Male | 98.6 | 96.6 | 92.2 | 82.3 | 80.1 | 74.3 | 90.6 |
| Female | 98.9 | 96.0 | 90.9 | 83.7 | 81.2 | 71.5 | 89.2 | |
Justice and Personal Security
Conditions of detention
As at 30 June 2013 just over 4,600 prisoners (58% of the prison population) in Scotland indicated that they held religious beliefs. Of these, 93% were Christian (of various denominations), 4.4% were Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, Jewish, Hindu and other religions accounted for 2.7% of the religious prison population. 3,270 prisoners (42% of the prison population) held no religious beliefs.
As Muslims accounted for around 1.2% of the Scottish population aged 15 and over, prison the proportion was over twice that at 2.5%.Prisoners indicating “other religion” also had a higher proportion of representation in prisons than among the general population:
Source: UK Prison Population Statistics
Parliament UK Number SN/SG/04334, 20 April 2017
Hate crime
There were 673 charges with a religious aggravation reported in 2016-17, 14% more than in 2015-16. This is the highest number of charges reported over the last four years, but is 2% lower than the number (689) reported in 2012-13.
In 2016-17, court proceedings were commenced in respect of 84% of charges with a religious aggravation. In total, 93% of charges reported in 2016-17 led to court proceedings. No action was taken in respect of 2% of charges.
| Year | 10-11 | 11-12 | 12-13 | 13-14 | 14-15 | 15-16 | 16-17 | ||
| Total number of charges of an offence aggravated by religious prejudice | 694 | 896 | 689 | 591 | 567 | 592 | 673 | ||
| Decision on how charge will proceed | |||||||||
| Court proceedings | 86% | 87% | 82% | 89% | 86% | 91% | 84% | ||
| Not separately prosecuted | 9% | 7% | 11% | 6% | 6% | 5% | 8% | ||
| Direct measures | 2% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 4% | ||
| Referred to Children’s Reporter | 0% | 1% | 2% | 0% | 1% | 1% | 0% | ||
| No action | 3% | 4% | 3% | 4% | 6% | 2% | 2% | ||
| Awaiting decision | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 1% | ||
Source: COPFS (2017) Hate Crime in Scotland 2016-2017 p9
The number of religiously aggravated charges reported, at 673[4], is 14% higher than in 2015-16 and at the highest level since 2012-13.
Source: COPFS (2017) Hate Crime in Scotland 2016-2017
Comparing across the categories of hate crime, in 2015-2016, 245 people were convicted with Religious aggravations across Scotland, a change of +2%, which compares to +70% in disability and +-13% in Transgender aggravations. There is no further local breakdown at this time:
| 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | % change 2014-15 to 2015-16 | |
| All aggravators | 10,040 | 10,481 | 12,294 | 13,751 | 13,823 | 1% |
| Domestic | 8,877 | 9,292 | 11,077 | 12,440 | 12,374 | -1% |
| Racial | 626 | 696 | 699 | 702 | 761 | 8% |
| Religious | 370 | 272 | 256 | 241 | 245 | 2% |
| Sexual orientation | 155 | 194 | 227 | 320 | 368 | 15% |
| Disability | 9 | 21 | 30 | 40 | 68 | 70% |
| Transgender | 3 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 7 | -13% |
Source: Criminal Proceedings in Scotland 2015-16
Table 12: People convicted with an aggravator recorded against the main charge
Participation
Political and civic participation and representation
Across Scotland, the level of applicants who declared a non-Christian religion or belief is low. The 2016 figure (4.7%) was slightly higher than in the preceding four years, where the level ranged from 2.6% (in 2013) to 4.2% (in 2012). Of those appointed, the proportion belonging to this group was between 3% and 4% from 2012 to 2015, but fell to 2.0% in 2016, there is no further local breakdown available at this time[5].
Social and community cohesion
There is not enough data to determine strength of feeling of belonging to community by each religion group in Fife at this time (SHS 2016) but national figures are available for ethnicity. 21% people from minority ethnic groups rate ‘Very Strongly’ the strength of belonging community, compared to 35% overall. With 43% of this group rating belonging as ‘Fairly Strongly’, this is consistent with the overall population profile, however 25% of minority ethnic groups rate this as ‘Not Very Strongly’, which is significantly higher than the national average of 16%.
| Very strongly | Fairly strongly | Not very strongly | Not all strongly | Don’t know | ||
| Fife 2016 | ||||||
| Gender | ||||||
| Male | 38 | 37 | 19 | 5 | 0 | |
| Female | 30 | 43 | 18 | 7 | 1 | |
| Ethnicity | ||||||
| White | 35 | 40 | 18 | 6 | 1 | |
| Minority ethnic groups | – | * | * | – | – | |
| All | 34 | 40 | 18 | 6 | 1 | |
| Scotland 2016 | ||||||
| Gender | ||||||
| Male | 33 | 43 | 18 | 6 | 1 | |
| Female | 37 | 42 | 15 | 5 | 1 | |
| Ethnicity | ||||||
| White | 35 | 42 | 16 | 5 | 1 | |
| Minority ethnic groups | 21 | 43 | 25 | 7 | 4 | |
| All | 35 | 42 | 16 | 5 | 1 | |
Source: Scottish Household Survey (2016) LA Tables
Table 4.17: Strength of feeling of belonging to community
[1] EHRC (March 2017) Equality Act 2010 – Handbook for Advisors [Scotland] p8
[2] To access original data, visit Census 2011 Data Explorer, select Topic: Ethnicity, Identity, Language and Religion, select table: DC2107SC Religion by sex by age, then select Fife area
[3] Pupil Census Supplementary Data, Table 1.15
[4] COPFS (2017) Hate Crime in Scotland 2016-2017 Table 2a
[5] Public Appointments in Scotland 2016 Diversity Analysis Report – March 2017