ABSTRACT
The well-recognised gap between the number of people who claim Anglican identity and the number of people who attend church on a normal Sunday defines a classic problem of interest both to social scientists and to Anglican theologians. Precisely how this problem is formulated varies according to the different ways in which language is used. Working as a sociologist of religion, Grace Davie’s (1994) classic formulation spoke of believing without belonging to characterise the religion of the British, while Francis and Robbins (2004) preferred to speak in terms of belonging without believing; Day (2013) spoke in terms of believing in belonging, and Voas and Crockett (2005) spoke in terms of neither believing nor belonging. Working as an Anglican theologian, Walker (2006; 2009) spoke of the variety of ways in which Anglicans may conceive belonging in terms of: belonging with activities, including Sunday services, home fellowships and Parochial Church Council meetings; belonging with people, including recognising and feeling a part of others who are identified with the church; belonging with events, including major festivals and occasional offices; and belonging with place, including attachment not only to the church building, but to the churchyard and locality. Consequently, any attempt to speak seriously about this classic problem must begin by defining the way in which language is being employed. In the present study a clear distinction is made between three dimensions of religion: self-assigned affiliation, practice (in the form of worship attendance) and belief.
