While it might be one of the first gatherings of its kind, Sunday Assembly is not alone in its embracing of togetherness but relinquishment of religion. It’s a societal movement. The last census found that the number of people in Britain who say they have no religion has almost doubled in the last 10 years (from 14.3% to 25.1%).

Since then a YouGov survey has found that of the non–believers 36% are women compared to 43% of men. And within Christianity itself, the UK’s largest religion, women were found to be more religious than men – 59% of women compared to 51% of men. Yet the abandonment of organised religion is a growing trend – just over half of 18–34 year olds considered themselves to be non–religious, compared to 41% in the 35–54 bracket.

Yet despite such damning figures for organised religion, the census also found that well over half of us still believe there’s some greater universal power governing us all. Whether that’s driven by hope, fear or simply the fact that it’s nice to feel that it doesn’t all end when we die can be debated, but the result is a society searching for spirituality, though not necessarily traditional faiths. It’s something theologians are calling ‘post–religious Britain’ – the need to have a spiritual life without a god figure.

“It takes a lot of hubris to think that you are the highest authority governing your own life. Most of us need some form of connection to a higher power so we don’t feel like we’re the sole authority for our own situation,” says Elizabeth Oldfield, director of religion and society think tank Theos

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