Less Christian, more secular and more religiously plural: 21st century census data as contextual challenge and opportunity for Christian presence and witness in England

The results of the 2021 Census confirm what have become clear statistical trends over three Censuses (2001, 2011 and 2021) of a religion and belief landscape which, in England and Wales, has become clearly less Christian, more secular and more religiously plural. That this is so when compared even with the late twentieth century when Callum Brown was already writing about "the death of Christian Britain” only underlines the urgency of the need for new thinking and approaches to many otherwise inherited presumptions and practices. Although such data both can and should be subject to critical review - not least it is always shaped by respondents’ understanding of the words in which the questions were asked – this chapter argues that there remains much in this data and in the overall post-colonial context and dynamics around it that underlines the need for new theological, ecclesiological and missiological perspectives on Christian witness.