YouGov has acknowledged that research suggesting a rise in church attendance among young people in parts of the United Kingdom, which the Bible Society referred to as a “quiet revival,” has been found unreliable.

YouGov, which carried out the research in 2024 for the Bible Society, announced on Thursday that it had re-analyzed its data collection. The research group found that the data sample for “The Quiet Revival” report contained “a number of respondents who we can now identify as fraudulent.”

“YouGov takes full responsibility for the outputs of the original 2024 research, and we apologise for what has happened,” YouGov CEO Stephan Shakespeare said in a Thursday statement. “We would like to stress that Bible Society has at all times accurately and responsibly reported the data we supplied to them. We are running the survey again with Bible Society to get robust data on this topic.”

Drawing on two YouGov surveys, “The Quiet Revival” report indicated that the proportion of adults in England and Wales who both identify as Christian and attend church at least once a month had risen from 8% in 2018 to 12% in 2024.

Among 18 to 24-year-olds, the figure reportedly increased from 4% to 16%, with more than a fifth of young men in that age bracket reported to be attending monthly — a particularly sharp rise. Women of the same age group were also reported to have increased attendance, from 4% to 12%.

The study received considerable attention from several media outlets and members of the public who were excited about the reported rise in church attendance. Several sociologists and polling experts, however, argued that the findings conflicted with long-term data, prompting YouGov to re-analyze the research.

Bible Society CEO Paul Williams said the news is “discouraging” in a Thursday statement released on Bible Society’s website. Williams said the Bible Society had received assurances from YouGov that over a 15-month period regarding “the robustness of the methodology and the reliability of the report’s conclusions.”

“We are therefore deeply disappointed that YouGov not only made an error but also that it only discovered this so recently,” Williams stated. “We are grateful that YouGov’s Chief Executive Officer Stephan Shakespeare has personally [apologized].”

Bible Society commissioned YouGov to understand “what is truly happening on the ground.” While he acknowledged YouGov’s error, Williams asserted that the research group’s mistake does not mean that all other findings are wrong. 

“This wider picture is also supported by a number of other surveys, based on probability sampling, which point to an increased engagement in faith among young adults compared to older generations,” the Christian CEO said. 

Williams pointed to research such as the Ipsos MORI 2023 Global Religion Survey, which found that, on average across 26 countries, 40% say they believe in God as described in holy scriptures. Twenty percent said they believe in a higher power.

“While religious identity overall is shifting from ‘Christian’ to ‘no religion,’ Christianity in Britain appears to be moving from a declining nominal faith to a committed and active one, as cultural shifts — especially among younger people — encourage a more proactive search for identity, meaning and purpose,” Williams said, directing people to Bible Society’s new report, “The Quiet Revival one year on: what's the story?”

The faith leader said the organization plans to continue trying to understand the “changing landscape” through research focused on attitudes toward faith and the Bible. Williams also revealed that the Bible Society will commission another YouGov survey now that “the appropriate safeguards are in place to ensure reliable results.”

“We don’t know what the findings from this body of research will reveal, but we remain committed to rigorously reporting the state of spirituality in England and Wales today,” he said.

News Source : https://www.christianpost.com/news/yougov-retracts-bible-societys-quiet-revival-study.html