An interesting article covering the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense data on religion revealed some interesting statistics about faith groups and their military [emphasis added]:

Among the 99% of UK regulars who declared their faith, over 69% are of Christian denomination…

Around 28% reported having no religion, a figure that has seen a sharp increase in recent years…

Whilst 69% of the Army, Navy and RAF regulars are Christian, the faith accounts for just over half of the general public (50.7%).

The gap was even greater between the Future Reserves 2020 – a programme to strengthen the role of the reserves – and the general population, with more than 73% of reservists subscribed to Christianity…

(There’s just something about the word “whilst.”)

Granted, these numbers reflect only those who describe themselves as Christian, something that may or may not have meaning in modern society (particularly in Europe).

As has been noted before, those who ascribe to the tenets of Christianity are also likely to be sacrificial, servant-oriented, and value something greater than themselves — all qualities which may draw Christians to military service in great numbers.

It’s somewhat ironic, then, that activists often try to have their governments make military service less appealing to Christians by advocating hostility toward the Christian faith.

The demographic “recruiting pool” is often cited in the US as a reason to open military service to people with varying medical or mental conditions that may have been prohibited in the past — even if those numbers are exceedingly small. Yet when steps are taken that would negatively impact that large recruiting demographic, no one seems to mind.

Might give you an idea of where people prioritize religious liberty and other “liberties” — and how little “recruiting” actually has to do with it.

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