Responding to the census question on religion

If they are not really religious — don't attend a place of worship except for funerals and weddings and never really think much about God — tick the ‘No religion’ box.

If they are not religious in the sense of being a regular church-goer but do feel that there is a God, perhaps even one a bit like the Christian God, tick ‘Other – please specify’ and write in ‘Theism’. A theist is a person who believes that God pretty much created everything and maintains an interest in what we all do with what he created, but who doesn't accept original sin, salvation, miracles, the resurrection, heaven and hell and all that.

If they are not religious in the sense of being a regular church attender but have a suspicion that that there must have been a God to get everything started, tick, ‘Other – please specify’ and write in ‘Deism’. A deist is a person who believes there was a God that created everything but that has no interest in us or what we did with it.

If you accept all essential Christian beliefs and you attend a church regularly to worship your God, that church is your religion, so tick its box. To do anything else would be inaccurate.

If you are not able to accept all the essential Christian beliefs, and you are not a Muslim or a Buddhist, but you still have strong religious feelings, tick ‘Other – please specify’ and write in what you believe in.

Don't try to be a smarty pants by writing in a nonsense religion. That will still get you counted as religious and mark you as dumb. If you are not really a religious person, tick the ‘No religion’ box. To do anything else would be dishonest.