More UK People Believe in Ghosts and Aliens than Believe in God

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A recent poll conducted by Ripley’s Believe It Or Not in London has revealed that more UK people believe in ghosts and aliens than in God.

OnePoll collaborated with Ripley’s Believe It or Not! to carry out an online survey. They made an interesting discovery that more adults believe there are aliens than in God’s existence. While many probably looked at the survey as nonsense, it does raise a few questions about religion’s relationship with people.

OnePoll Survey Results

The survey consisted of 1,500 adults and 500 children. Each were asked about what they believed in. The results were fascinating. It turns out that over half the adults that participated believed in aliens while only a quarter had faith in God. According to the poll, 1 in 5 adults claimed to have experience with the supernatural side of life. 1 in 10 believed they lived or currently live in a haunted house.

A survey done 5 years ago had similar results.

The children presented their own beliefs: aliens disguised as humans (26%). Roughly 1 out of 20 children believed they knew a disguised alien, and some even suggested their own mothers were the aliens. Almost two-third of the children felt ghosts existed, and half were confident in UFO’s.

How Does this Compare to the Population?

According to the 2011 census, Christianity is currently the largest religion, represented by 59.3% of the population. 14.1 million people reported that they had no religious affiliation. The same survey question arose on the 2001 census, at which time those who identified as Christian was 71.7%, and those with no religious affiliation sat around 14.8%. The rise of non-religious and fall of Christianity’s population is clear between those years.

There are many factors that drive these kind of changes in religious affiliation, such as migration, changes in willingness to report, awareness of the question and natural growth. While in 2011, 59.3% identified themselves as Christian, a YouGov poll found that 1 in 50 priests don’t really believe in God, with 16% unclear on their thoughts of God.

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What could this mean for the future?

Religion affiliation fluctuates just like any other aspect of human life. Depending on what is going on in a person’s life at the moment, they may be completely faithful or they may be questioning things. That’s a completely natural phenomenon. Other factors can make things different for the survey results as well, both the Ripley’s and the Census. For instance, people may answer a Census dishonestly if they think others will choose a specific answer. However, many online surveys are done anonymously, giving the participant a feeling of ease in being honest.

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