Beliefs, Attitudes and Values

Religion was the centre of everything during this period. Everyone in the country was Catholic and regularly attended church. People believed that God was responsible for everything that happened, whether good or bad. Anything bad that happened was thought of as a punishment and good things were rewards for living according to Catholic teachings.

New ideas and beliefs were spreading thanks to the printing press which allowed people to print and distribute pamphlets about their beliefs. Old-fashioned ideas, like witches, were still around despite people trying to persuade them that they weren't true. IT was a common belief that supernatural forces were responsible for epidemics, bad harvest and accidents.

Charles Darwin's 'Theory of Evolution' caused some people to start to doubt Christianity and the Bible. This meant that some people were beginning to turn to science to explain things.

1900: 55% of children went to Sunday School, although some started to believe that God exists because of World War 1 and scientific developments.

2000: The UN published the Declaration of Human Rights so people now had the right to expect action from the government. Over 70% of people in the UK describe themselves as Christian but only 10% attend church.