3.2.2 - Migration, diversity and religious pluralism
Migration has made British Christianity part of a visibly multifaith society in which law protects belief and non-belief alike. Religious diversity, Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and pluralism within a secular state form the setting for changes in Christian mission, identity and attitudes to other faiths. The underlying question is how Christianity responds to this context without surrendering its truth claims.
Migration and a shared religious context
This lesson is about a context that reshapes Christian thought. It is not mainly a lesson on one doctrine. AQA wants students to understand the social and legal setting in which Christians now think about other faiths, religious freedom, mission, identity and public life.
Four terms need separating from the start:
| Term | AO1 meaning in this lesson | Common confusion to avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Migration | The movement and settlement of people across national borders, creating communities with different histories, cultures, languages and religions. | Do not reduce migration to non-Christian migration. Many migrants are Christian, and migration can diversify Christianity itself. |
| Multicultural society | A society in which multiple cultural and religious communities live alongside and interact with one another. | Do not treat multicultural as automatically harmonious. It names a social reality, not a guaranteed outcome. |
| Diversity of faiths | The empirical fact that Britain includes Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Jews, Buddhists, other religious groups and people of no religion. | Do not make Christianity disappear from the picture. Christianity remains part of the diversity. |
| Religious pluralism | In this context, a social and political arrangement in which multiple religions are publicly present and protected. | Do not confuse this with John Hick's theological pluralism, which is a later lesson. |
The first AO1 move is therefore contextual: migration changes the religious landscape; the changed landscape creates legal, social and theological questions; Christian thought develops in response to those questions.
The first AO2 move is a judgement about significance. A strong answer will not just say "Britain is diverse"; it will explain why diversity matters for Christian self-understanding, public rights and relations with people of other faiths.
Britain As A Diverse Religious Setting
Recent census-based figures make the specification wording concrete. A 2026 House of Commons Library summary of the latest census data for Great Britain reports that about 46% identified as Christian, 38% as having no religion, 6% as Muslim and 2% as Hindu, with around 2% identifying as Buddhist, Sikh, Jewish or another religion. The same source notes that religion is self-defined in the census, so a person may identify with a religion without regular practice.
England and Wales show the change especially clearly. In Census 2021, fewer than half of people described themselves as Christian for the first time in that census series: 46.2%, down from 59.3% in 2011. "No religion" rose to 37.2%, while Muslim and Hindu identification also increased. Scotland's census pattern differs, but it also shows a society in which Christian identity, other faith identities and no-religion identity coexist.
The point for AQA is not to memorise every number. The point is that Britain today cannot be accurately described as a single, culturally uniform Christian society. It is a society where Christianity remains the largest census identity in Great Britain, but it exists alongside substantial non-religious identification and visible minority faith communities.
This creates an AO2 tension:
| AO1 content | AO2 significance |
|---|---|
| Christianity remains publicly and historically important in Britain. | Christian thought cannot be understood as if Christianity has no social influence. |
| Christian census identity has declined and other identities are publicly visible. | Christian thought also cannot assume that Christian belief is the unquestioned public default. |
| Census religion is self-defined, not a measure of worship attendance or commitment. | Evidence about "Christian Britain" must be used carefully, because identity, belief and practice are not the same thing. |
Migration And British Christianity
Migration helps explain why Britain is multicultural, but it does not explain everything about religious change. In England and Wales in 2021, one in six usual residents was born outside the UK, up from 13.4% in 2011 to 16.8%. London was especially shaped by migration, with more than 40% of usual residents born outside the UK. UK-wide census-based estimates for 2021/22 put the foreign-born population at about 10.7 million, or 16% of the population.
Migration affects religion in two directions.
First, migration brings and sustains non-Christian communities. Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jewish and other communities are not abstract "belief systems" in this topic; they are neighbours, colleagues, schools, families, public institutions and local places of worship. This makes interfaith contact a normal feature of many British communities.
Second, migration diversifies Christianity itself. Migrant Christians may bring Catholic, Orthodox, Pentecostal, evangelical, Anglican or independent church traditions from Africa, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Asia and elsewhere. That means Christianity is not merely the old majority tradition responding to newcomers. It is also one of the traditions reshaped by migration.
This matters because a weak answer might say, "Migration brought other religions to a Christian country." A stronger answer says, "Migration has made Britain more religiously diverse and has also changed British Christianity from within." That second sentence is more useful because it explains why Christian thought about mission, identity and dialogue becomes more complex.
Migration creates religious diversity around Christianity and diversity inside British Christianity.
Freedom Of Religion In European Law
The key legal anchor is Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. It protects freedom of thought, conscience and religion. It includes the freedom to change religion or belief and to manifest religion or belief, alone or with others, in public or private, through worship, teaching, practice and observance.
In this topic, "European law" refers to the human-rights framework of the European Convention on Human Rights, not simply to European Union law.
This right has two layers:
| Layer | Meaning | Why it matters for this lesson |
|---|---|---|
| Inner freedom | A person cannot be forced by the state to hold, abandon or change a religion or serious belief. | Christianity becomes one protected option among others, not a belief the state can impose. |
| Manifestation | A person may express religion through worship, clothing, teaching, practice and observance. | Public religion is not automatically excluded from a modern state. |
| Lawful limits | Manifestation may be limited where restrictions are lawful, necessary and proportionate, for example to protect public safety, order, health, morals or the rights of others. | Religious freedom is not a blank cheque to override everyone else's rights. |
Continue this lesson.
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