Kate Forbes’ announcement earlier this week that she will not be seeking re-election at the 2026 Holyrood elections was greeted by reactions ranging from champagne popping to regretful hagiographies for her career and handwringing about the direction of the SNP. Among it all, her faith played a significant role for both her detractors and her supporters.

The arguments about Ms Forbes’ faith and its relation to her politics have become tired, and I won’t rehash them here. They occluded a more productive discussion about how we, as an increasingly secular nation with a history of (often violent) sectarianism, handle faith in public life. But as data appear to show that religious belief and church attendance may be increasing again, that conversation is one we might be forced to have sooner rather than later.

Research by The Bible Society has found that church attendance (defined as attending church at least once a month, excluding weddings, baptisms, christenings, and funerals) has grown from 8% to 12% in England and Wales since 2018. Among 18-24-year-olds, church attendance has grown from 4% to 16%, and among 25-34-year-olds it has grown from 4% to 13%. Eighteen to 34-year-olds are now more likely to attend church than any age group except those over 65, upending what was a clear relationship between age and church attendance in 2018.

Read More:

Added to that, a YouGov poll conducted at the start of the year found that, for the first time since they began asking this question in 2019, the share of Britons that believe in a god or........

© Herald Scotland