Children Now More Likely to be Muslim than Christian in Some British Cities

There are now more Muslim children than Christian children growing up several British towns and cities. Figures from the 2011 census show that in places such as Birmingham, Bradford and Leicester, a child is more likely to be raised in Islam than Christianity as Britain’s demographics radically change.

The census shows, for example that of 278,623 young people in Britain’s second largest city, Birmingham, 97,099 registered as Muslim compared to 93,828 as Christian.

Meanwhile in Bradford 52,135 youngsters, forming 45 percent of the total, are Muslim, compared to 47,144 Christians. Leicester has 22,693 young Muslims compared to 18,190 Christian children.

The London borough of Tower Hamlets, has the biggest difference, with 62 percent of children being raised Muslim. Christians in the borough are vastly outnumbered by 34,597 to just 8,995.

However, despite the change among young people, the overall figures show that Christianity is still the most popular faith in every part of England and Wales, even in towns and cities seen as highly culturally diverse.

A total of 27.9 million people described themselves as Christian, compared to 1.8 million Muslims, who make up the second-largest faith.

Overall, there are also far more Christian than Muslim youngsters.

However, analysts are now beginning to warn that the growing number people following non-traditional faiths could lead to segregated and divided communities.

Professor Ted Cantle of the IcoCo Foundation, which aims to promote social cohesion, told the Daily Mail: “What we are seeing are several trends running together. There is a long-term decline in support for the established religions, notably Christianity; continuing immigration from the Asian sub-continent; and higher fertility among the Muslim population, which has a considerably lower age profile.

“There is also deepening segregation exacerbated by the loss of white population from cities and more intensive concentration of black and minority ethnic groups as a result of replacement. This is the real problem, as residential segregation is generally compounded by school and social segregation.

“Nothing surprises me about the pace of demographic change. What does surprise me is that the Government has no policy to combat segregation because it inevitably reduces understanding and tolerance on both sides of the divide.”