Monday, March 02, 2009

East Anglia - unexpectedly progressive

You wont hear me say that very often. For the first two years the tag line to this blog was "They created a desert and called it East Anglia", which was, well, a little controversial in some circles. My discontent is an ongoing project I'm still developing. However, I noticed something in the news today which really surprised me.

It seems that of all the English regions 61% of us East Anglians find evolution to be the best explanation of how human beings came about. 44% of us think that evolution "removes the need for God" - which is the highest proportion in the country (according to the Guardian anyways).

Now, I'm not wild about the categories on offer (evolution removes the need for God, or is part of God's plan) I certainly would not fall neatly into either category as God doesn't come into it for me but as general statements it's clear what they describe - and here in the East we have the highest level of dirty Godlessness, at least by this measure.

Well done to the tractor drivers!

Another surprise is that London has the highest number of anti-evolutionists in England at 32% of people believing in some sort of intelligent design / creationism. That certainly turns on its head the myth that urban dwellers are more progressive than the rural bumpkins. I can't think of a single, significant reason for this - a puzzle.

Update: Cath Elliott has written about this at CiF.

7 comments:

weggis said...

Well, if Londoners believe in "intelligent design" it certainly has nothing to do with TfL.

Jim Jepps said...

Boom, boom!

You're on form today weggis!

Strategist said...

They created a dessert and called it East Anglia? Now that is controversial!

I didn't get where I am today by misspelling desserts!

- C.J., Managing Director, Sunshine Deserts.

ps "Another surprise is that London has the highest number of anti-evolutionists in England at 32% of people believing in some sort of intelligent design / creationism.... I can't think of a single, significant reason for this - a puzzle."

My guess is that would be the immigrant & ethnic minority British population, which on average tends to be more religious than the "White British" population.

Jim Jepps said...

Oh I forgot to check! My spelling is terrible and I knew I might have got that wrong... bugger.

I agree re london although it doesn't explain why East Anglia does the best though.

Reuben said...

boo and hiss

ModernityBlog said...

clearly, East Anglia is the secret home of modernity (the idea, not me) and secularism :)

John A said...

London - plenty of Pentacostalists and Christian fundamentalists who are fairly hardcore, but also strong Catholic and Muslim communities of various sorts with more traditional views.