WELSH RELIGIOUS STATISTICS.
[To THI EDITOR OF TER " $PROTATOR."]
Srn,—Bridgend is a typical Welsh country town, nearly mid- way between Cardiff and Swansea, in South Glamorganshire. Recently the Bridgend Chronicle has published a census of the attendances at the various places of worship. A representa- tive of the paper, after due public notice, paid a visit, giving a Sunday to each place. No exception has been taken to his figures. The following are the results :—Established Church, 991; Congregational, 625; Baptist, 593; Calvinistic Methodist, 408; Wesleyan, 294; Roman Catholic, 144;
IIn-
sectarian Church, 38. Sunday-school:—Nonconformist, 863;
Established Church, 489; Roman Catholic, 54.
The following note by the compiler is significant :—" In round numbers it will be seen from the table given below that the number attending places of worship in Bridgend does not reach the low total of 1,800, and the population is estimated as being close upon 5,000." The morning and evening attendances were taken. I have added them together, and also the two Established Churches, and the English and Welsh branches of the same denomination. The inferences to be gained from this return are these :—(1.) A religious census of attendances only, such as Mr. Gee's, is no guide whatever to the religious opinions of the bulk of the people, *--the people who have votes, and to whom has been given the right to decide at the ballot-box whether religious estab- lishments shall exist or no. These censuses are only in- teresting as showing what per-tentage of the population attend places of worship. (2.) The Established Church numerically is far larger than any other denomination taken singly. (3.) The whole body of Nonconformists, taken col- lectively, only shows a proportion of very little more than two to one. The Sunday-school attendance shows that the actual difference is less than two to one. (4.) This census was taken in a Welsh town situated in a Parliamentary division represented by an advanced Liberal and Liberationist Member of Parliament, who is a Vice-President of the Liberation Society. (5.) Nothing short of a Parliamentary, official, and impartial census can satisfactorily settle the proportion of Nonconformists to churchmen in Wales.—I am, Sir, &c., OGMORIAN.
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