[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="If you're not religious, say so in the 2011 UK census!"]
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The British Humanist Association has been campaigning for UK citizens to accurately respond to the census question on religion.
Why should I answer the question at all? Well, this is a personal thing and I wouldn't pressurise people into any specific answer or none. But census data get used for all sorts of policy decisions, among them the role of religion in our everyday lives. What tends to happen is that people confuse the cultural heritage with religious beliefs they do not hold to.
Why does it matter? The BHA has prepared a
concise summary of how the 2001 census data on religious belief were used (or misused may be closer to reality. We should not be logging ourselves as Jedi Knights as some kind or prank. We should not say we are christian if we not longer practice the faith. We should be upfront and truthful about our religious faith.