Leaving Religion in United Kingdom

The UK is a strange country to leave a religion in, because the wider culture is already mostly post-religious and the cost of being publicly non-believing is low compared to almost anywhere else. The active deconstructions in the UK are concentrated in specific communities rather than the country as a whole. Ex-evangelicals from the conservative end of the Anglican Church or from the charismatic and Pentecostal new churches. Ex-Catholics from Irish and Italian and Polish backgrounds in the cities. Ex-Hasidim and ex-Yeshivish OTDers from the Stamford Hill community in north London and from Manchester. Ex-Muslims from the Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and East African communities, who often face significant family and community costs and sometimes physical risk.

There is also a substantial Jehovah’s Witness exit happening across the country and a long tail of less-discussed exits from groups like the Exclusive Brethren, the Plymouth Brethren, and various closed evangelical fellowships, where shunning is severe and the wider culture’s indifference is no help to people losing their entire community in one move.

The advantage of deconstructing in the UK is that secular friend groups, secular professional networks, and a secular humanist culture are easy to find. The disadvantage is that the broader population often does not understand what specific high-control religious exits actually cost. A friend at work who has never been religious cannot really get why the family event back home is wrecking you. The community of other ex-members — especially ex-members of your specific tradition — is the thing to find.