03 Section B Option 3, Key question 3 - Ethnicity, migration and religion (part 2)

Ethnicity and religious identification

Ethnicity, nationality, migration history and religion describe different aspects of a person's life, even when they overlap.

Ethnicity concerns identification with a group through perceived shared heritage, culture, ancestry or historical experience. It is socially constructed: people and institutions give these features meanings and boundaries. It is not a biological instruction that determines someone's beliefs. Nationality usually refers to legal membership of a state, such as citizenship; national identity concerns how someone feels they belong to a nation. Neither is a reliable substitute for ethnicity. Migration history concerns movement between countries, including where someone was born and their age at arrival, rather than their ethnic identification.

Consider this original example: someone born in Leeds could hold British citizenship, identify their ethnicity as Indian and their religion as Sikh. They have not personally migrated. Another British person of Indian ethnicity could be Christian, Hindu, Muslim or have no religion. Religious and ethnic identities can also be closely interwoven: a person might understand being Jewish or Sikh in cultural and ancestral as well as religious terms. Distinguishing dimensions does not mean denying their connections.

Keep three questions separate: which religion does someone identify with; what do they believe; and what do they do? A person might identify as Christian through family heritage but rarely attend a church. Another might pray privately without attending an institution. A comparison of affiliation cannot answer a question about frequency of prayer.

The Office for National Statistics deliberately collects ethnic group, national identity and religion separately. Its census religion measure concerns affiliation. These choices make connections visible without treating the categories as interchangeable. ONS question development

Reading ethnic group patterns

Evidence shows substantial differences in religious affiliation between ethnic groups, alongside important diversity within them.

The table gives selected responses from Census 2021 for usual residents of England and Wales on 21 March 2021. Each percentage uses all residents in that row's ethnic group, including people who did not answer the voluntary religion question. Only three religion responses are displayed, so rows do not total 100%. The ethnic labels reproduce the categories in the source.

Source: ONS, RM031: Ethnic group by religion, released 28 March 2023; national counts accessed through Nomis and percentages calculated to one decimal place. These are 2021 estimates, not a survey of current 2026 practice. ONS dataset, Nomis national table

The Black category has a larger Christian proportion than the White British category, while the White Irish proportion is larger still. Mixed-group residents and White British residents have very similar proportions reporting no religion. A single contrast between “White people” and “ethnic minorities” would conceal these differences. Nor does “Asian” mean “Muslim”: fewer than half of residents in that broad category selected Muslim. Broad categories also conceal differences between, for example, Indian, Chinese, Pakistani and Bangladeshi identifications.

Worked interpretation. Compare Christian affiliation among White Irish and White British residents. Subtracting 49.0 from 71.6 gives a 22.6 percentage-point difference. This is a comparison of the shares identifying as Christian. It does not establish a 22.6-point difference in weekly attendance, explain why the groups differ, or describe every individual in either group. Calling the difference “22.6% more” would also confuse a percentage-point gap with a relative percentage change.

The census provides extensive population coverage, useful for comparing groups that smaller surveys might represent poorly. Yet standard categories compress varied identities, and non-response cannot be counted as “no religion”. Because age, birthplace and social circumstances also differ between groups, this table alone cannot isolate an effect of ethnicity. To investigate mechanisms, we need evidence about people's histories and experiences as well as their category choices.

Migration and cultural transition

Religious organisations can help people adjust to migration by combining spiritual life with familiar relationships and practical support.

Migration may disrupt friendship networks, routines and recognised social standing. A religious congregation can offer a setting where familiar rituals and languages continue, newcomers receive recognition, and contacts provide advice. Social capital means resources accessible through social relationships: knowing a person who can explain a school application or recommend a trustworthy employer can make a practical difference. These connections may make continued participation valuable alongside religious conviction.

Cultural transition describes religion's role in easing adjustment during major social change, including migration. In Steve Bruce's secularisation account, cultural transition and cultural defence help explain why religion can remain significant under particular conditions even while wider society becomes less religious. This is an explanation of social circumstances, rather than a claim that an ethnic group possesses a permanently religious character. Bruce, Explaining Secularization (2011)

Here is an original illustrative scenario. A newly arrived parent attends a gurdwara, a Sikh place of worship. There they meet someone who explains local school admissions and introduces them to other parents. Worship brings people together; repeated meetings create trusted contacts; those contacts make settling easier. The mechanism is more precise than saying “religion gives support”. It also explains why a person could value attendance for both religious and social reasons. It does not imply that every gurdwara provides the same services or that migrants only attend to obtain help.