Dr Nick Spencer and Dr Yinxuan Huang unpack our polling on Christianity and Britishness. 11/10/2026
“Christian nationalism” is apparently growing in the UK but, although much used, the phrase is often vague and can be unhelpful. We commissioned and analysed research into the perceived (and desired) relationship between Christianity and Britishness among 1,765 UK adults.
8% of UK adults strongly agree that you need to be Christian to be truly British, and 9% slightly agree. Only 1% thinks that being Christian is the most important factor for being truly British.
Beneath these headline figures, UK public opinion shows a more complex understanding of the perceived and desired relationship between Christianity and Britishness, in which different kinds of nationalism and different approaches to Christianity inform opinion.
Our analysis revealed five distinct groups or positions, split between (what we have termed):
Committed Separatists don’t want Christianity to be part of Britishness but don’t have a particularly strong sense of British national identity anyway.
Cultural Separatists don’t want Christianity to be part of Britishness but are hostile to the idea that any other cultural or religious identity – most obviously Islam or immigrant identities – should occupy that space.
Values Integrationists do not think you need to be Christian to be British, but they do see Christianity as an important element of British values and want to see that recognised and protected.
Identity Integrationists see Christianity as fundamental to Britishness and want to defend the nation’s Christian heritage from what they see as invasive and threatening influences.
Belief Integrationists want to see Christianity integrated with Britishness but, for the most part, because they want to promote the Christian faith rather than preserve Christian values.
You can download the report here.
About the Theos/RED C data
Data integrity is critical to our research. If you’re interested in this, you can find our Methodology, Panel Integrity and Data Quality Explainer here.
Download the data tables here.
About the project
This report is part of a wider research project exploring the rise of Christian nationalism in UK and Europe. It is led by Nick Spencer and undertaken by Yinxuan Huang, George Lapshynov, Hannah Rich, Nathan Mladin, and Coco Huggins. It is funded by The Ideas Workshop which is part of Open Society Foundations.
You can find out more about the project here.
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