The History of Christian of Beliefs in the UK

The religious make up of the United Kingdom is diverse and complex with approximately 42 million residents citing Christianity as their religion. They are not alone, Christianity is the world’s largest religion with over 2 billion believers worldwide and the roots of Christianity run deep through history and have impacted some of the most important historical events.

In the 1st century AD Britain had their own religious icons of pagan gods of the earth and Roman gods of the sky along with superstitions. Then came something new; Christianity. Word of this religion based on belief in Jesus Christ, the holy Son of God, began to spread throughout the UK by traders arriving in Britain.

Christianity was different from other religions by the fact its teachings firmly adhere to the fact that there is but one God which rattled the Roman authorities and led to persecution of Christians. But their foundational beliefs appealed to the Roman Emperor Constantine who felt Christianity could be the uniting factor to his empire. From 313 AD Christianity was tolerated within the empire.

However, during the 4th century Christianity had not yet convinced all of the Britain and pagan beliefs still abounded. Christianity was still a minority of religions and struggled to hold on through the Dark Ages and the Viking invasion in 871 AD. It was during this invasion that great change began to come for the religion through Alfred, King of Wessex.

After the King’s defeat over the Vikings at the Battle of Eddington, it was the hope of the Christian King that Christianity could be shared and taught to all of the ordinary people and he created a system of Christian learning that spread through the land. In the 10th century lords all over the Kingdom were building small chapels on their land for local people. This was the beginning of the parish system that is still used throughout the United Kingdom today.