The English cathedrals offer an experience of God for those who do not believe, according to a report.

Growing numbers of people who do not subscribe to any religion are seeking out cathedrals as places where they can encounter a sense of the spiritual.

A survey of peoples views of six cathedrals, Canterbury, Durham, Lichfield, Leicester, Manchester and Wells, found that the vast majority (95%) feel that their cathedral provides a space where people can get in touch with the spiritual and the sacred.Nearly three-quarters of non-religious people (72%) feel that this is true, the poll of 1,933 adults showed.

In spite of falls in church attendance, there is no decline in spiritual interest, Theos think tank and The Grubb Institute, a research foundation, say in the report Spiritual Capital, the present and future of English cathedrals.

People do go to a cathedral with the expectation that it will speak to, inform and inspire their sense of the spiritual, the report said.

They know that cathedrals are ancient places of prayer and worship and are looking for more than just empty, anonymous space.

A separate national survey of 1,700 adults commissioned for the report found that 27% of the resident adult population of England visited a Church of England cathedral at least once in the past year.

Almost a sixth of people (15%) who never attend a religious service as a worshipper visited a cathedral in the last 12 months, as did the same proportion of confirmed atheists and a quarter of people who once believed in God but no longer do so.

Staff | The Northern Echo