AIBU to ask whether you own a Bible?

[BeanQuisine]

Just idle curiosity, really.

We often hear right-wingers insisting "This is a Christian country", whether we're in UK, Oz or the US etc.

So I'm wondering how many of us actually own Bibles, and whether we ever read them. I did read assorted bits of it in my youth, but don't currently own a Bible.

YABU: Whether Mumsnetters own Bibles or not is none of your business.

YANBU: It's a vaguely interesting question.

I haven't read Dominion. It sounds interesting. I can imagine a version of that thesis which says something like "Christianity needed to happen to pave the way for the secularised liberal values of the Enlightenment", is it something like that?

No. Think I got given one as a kid leaving school or something, no idea what happened to it but I didn't want it. Parents had an inherited family bible, think that was got rid of when downsizing as no one actively wanted it. Although I was bought up an atheist I do agree this is a Christian country- its baked into our culture and history. That doesn't mean we shouldn't appreciate and support all faiths.

The UK isn't a Christian country.

Fewer than 50% of Brits are Christian. I've never even seen a Bible, except in horror films.

Thank God.

Yes several and many books about Christianity

yes it is, it’s institutions, laws art and culture are very much Christian - therefore it is a Christian country.,how you’ve not seen a bible I’ll never know.

Yes I'm a practicing Catholic. I have a few bibles. I mainly read my missal or online when I want to look something up. I've listened to the bible in a year podcast a couple of times so I've "read" the whole thing. I also like the bible project and I liked lectio divina (praying on biblical readings) through am online lectio365 app.

Yes several.
Yes I read it daily
I have several which belonged to family members who are no longer with us.
I have three which have always been mine, one from childhood, one thats falling apart as I used it so much and a newer which isnt but is well read.

Slight derailment here but I have a creepy coincidence bible story.
As a child in the late 70’s I demanded my parents take to me Sunday School because my friend over the road went and she told me they played on these big ride on toys and got biscuits. My parents as confirmed atheists were horrified but gave in and took me.
I was presented with a bible at the door that had my name on it on a white sticker on the front. Anyway Sunday School turned out to all be about God and Jesus and the biscuits were sub quality so I never went again and left the bible there.

Fast forward maybe 40 years and I attended an old school friends wedding at the church the Sunday school was attached to. Bear in mind I hadn’t actually ever been into this church as the Sunday school was in the next door church hall and I now lived 10,000 miles away. I sat in a pew and while waiting for the ceremony to start I picked up the bible in front of me….. and on the front, dirty, slightly ripped and tatty… was my name on a white sticker. 😱DH said it was a sign to repent from my dastardly atheistic ways.

There's probably one on the bookshelf. I also have a children's bible stories from when I was a kid (more on my level lol) and I won't be getting rid of it for sentimental reasons despite being an atheist now.

Sooner or later you people are going to have to accept that the UK has long been a post-Christian society, with little more than a few ceremonial relics of the faith in dated government traditions, and loads of empty and crumbling old churches.

Listening to you, it's like hearing those Catholics who wag their fingers and say "Once a Catholic, always a Catholic!" to people whose families abandoned Catholicism generations ago.

Ha, that is a bit spooky. Would make a good short film.

What you will find though is that in really bad times religion sees an upswing- this happened after both world wars and all religions are going towards the fundamental phase currently- so the fat lady hasn't sung on your post Christian theory yet.

I can only assume you've never been in a bookshop, never been to a stately home or a Cathedral as a visitor, and never visited anyone's house without checking they don't have a Bible lurking on a bookshelf to taunt your eyes. And clearly you've never risked staying in a holiday cottage or hotel - just in case...
The almost superstitious fear of the Bible from some posters here is utterly irrational. And most importantly anyone without knowledge of the Bible won't understand Monty Python's Life of Brian at all.
OR - you could be being sarcastic, in which case well played 😄

My favourite verse from the Bible.

For God so loved the World, that He gave His only Son, saying that whoever believes in Him shall not die but have eternal life.

You’ll find this verse in John chapter 3 verse 16.

Says it all.

Yes it's almost like the Whamaggedon game where the aim is to make it from December 1st through December 24th without hearing 'Last Christmas' by Wham! "Oooh look I went my WHOLE LIFE and never saw a Bible once!"

Several. And I’m an atheist.
DH and I were both gifted one at school. They were in storage when we got married, but we needed one to choose a reading so bought another one (married in church for reasons that are too long to go into here). DC has been given a kids’ bible by a relative.
They are quite useful reference books, as much of European culture & literature has roots in Christianity.

As I said-I find wilful ignorance deeply tedious. And the idea of people raising their children in a state of wilful ignorance deeply depressing. I want my children to be informed about EVERYTHING! Even if only to help them win pub quizzes. Incidentally, my atheist dd from an atheist family has a first from Edinburgh. In theology.

Two things can be true at once:

That our culture in the UK and Europe has been massively shaped by Christianity, and that this affects us all, even as the proportion of the population who are practising Christians declines.

That there is a political movement in which the slogan “this is a Christian country” is used not to promote Christian values but to promote fear and hostility towards Muslims in our communities, and that this is generally closely aligned with hostility towards immigrants in general and racism. For example Ethiopian Christian or Syrian Christian refugees would hardly receive a warm welcome as fellow Christians from Tommy Robinson et al.

I will accept it when it’s true. I’m not a practicing Christian, but people have to accept that Christianity has shaped almost ever facet of this country, until all our laws, culture and institutions and even our language changes that won’t be happening, however much you wish it was true

That is epic and totally spooky! 😁

I suspect the OP is trying to garner evidence of Christian lethargy in order to aid their planning application to build a mosque next door to St. Paul's Cathedral.

Less than 6% of people in the uk participate in any form of active worship. Nobody would deny that Christianity is the backbone of much of how we ended up where we are, but modern uk society is very firmly secular.

So did the Romans, and they're a long-gone relic of the past. Christianity is heading the same way going by how steeply numbers have fallen off a cliff over the past while.

Britain is certainly post-Roman, and I think it's entirely reasonable to describe 2026 Britain as post-Christian.

Can you give a source for that percentage?

I've just checked and the figure is more like 20% for specifically Christian activity and taking into account all religions in the UK, more like 40+ %. And you'd need to define 'active worship' more precisely.

The figure is much higher for those engaged in private prayer or worship too.

I'm an atheist - I have no skin in the game - but 6% is way off! All the churches around me are packed, for a start and every other family seems to be involved with the church. I'm sure other religions have loads of active worshippers too.

In the US and I own a Bible.