A survey indicating a significant rise in church attendance across parts of the UK has been withdrawn after fraudulent respondents were discovered.
The poll was central to the Bible Society's 'Quiet Revival' report in 2025.
That report prompted news stories about a supposed resurgence in Christianity, particularly among young people.
YouGov, which carried out the research in 2024, said on Thursday that the data sample was flawed, with “a number of respondents who we can now identify as fraudulent”.
The pollster’s chief executive Stephan Shakespeare said: “YouGov takes full responsibility for the outputs of the original 2024 research, and we apologise for what has happened.
“We would like to stress that Bible Society have 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.”
The now-discredited report had claimed 12 per cent of adults in England and Wales were attending church once a month or more in 2024 – a figure YouGov had previously described as “a significant increase from 8 per cent in a previous 2018 study”.
It also suggested a rise in young people’s attendance, from 4 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds attending monthly in 2018 to 16 per cent in 2024.
The Bible Society said it had “repeatedly sought and received assurances from YouGov, regarding both the robustness of the methodology and the reliability of the report’s conclusions” and was “deeply disappointed that YouGov not only made an error but also that it only discovered this so recently”.
The organisation said it was only at the beginning of this month that YouGov “confirmed that it failed to activate key quality control technologies that protect the sample from a wide range of errors and this undermines the reliability of the results”.
The Bible Society insisted there remains “a very positive story to tell”, saying that in the past year “we have seen an unprecedented public conversation about Christianity, with countless stories of a spiritual awakening among Gen Z”.
But Humanists UK chief executive Andrew Copson said that the withdrawal of the data was “both validation and vindication”.
He added: “We need to be absolutely clear: there is no revival of Christianity in Britain.
“For almost a year, Humanists UK has taken a rational, evidence-based approach, repeatedly and rigorously explaining why the Bible Society’s claims do not stand up.”
David Voas, emeritus professor of social science at UCL (University College London), said experts had previously warned of probable flaws with the figures, citing “bogus respondents, repeat respondents, people overseas interested in the rewards, and other problems that infect opt-in online polls”.
The Bible Society report had referenced various denominations within Christianity, including Anglicans, Roman Catholics and Pentecostals.
Separately, Archbishop of Canterbury Dame Sarah Mullally, in her first presidential address to the Church of England’s Synod – or parliament – in February, referred to “a visible sign of hope in the anecdotal and statistical evidence that, over the last four years, people have been returning to church” and “early indications of a rise in attendance and participation having continued over last year”.
A snapshot of the Church of England’s latest annual Statistics for Mission report, showing attendances for 2025, is due to be published in the coming weeks.
The most recent report, published in 2025, showed congregations had grown slightly in recent years, though numbers were still below pre-pandemic levels.
There were an estimated 1.02 million regular worshippers across the Church in 2024, up from 1.01 million in 2023.
The figure was 1.11 million in 2019 and 1.14 million in 2014.
Vatican urged to follow Church of England’s example on ordaining women
Sarah Mullally celebrated as the Church of England's first female leader, in photos
William and Kate attend enthronement of first female Archbishop of Canterbury
Findlay to ‘throw the kitchen sink’ at stopping SNP majority
Cost of Trump’s war: How Middle East conflict is hitting Britons
Fears hundreds more inmates exposed to cancer-causing gas in UK prisons
