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You'd think belief in god is a key principle of the faith - but many people in Britain who identify as Protestants have doubts about His existence.

A study of 9,000 British people in their forties, published by the UCL Institute of Education, showed that though many more people identified as having a Christian background, people from Muslim backgrounds were more likely to believe in God.

% who had no doubts about existence of God

Most of those left in the study after the atheists and agnostics were taken out had a Christian faith, with a small number identifying as Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim or Sikh.

Muslims, however, had a very high level of belief in both God and life after death: 88% of the Muslims in the survey had no doubts about God existing.

This compares to the 33% of Roman Catholics who have no doubts and 'mainline' Christians - Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterian and United Reformed Church Christians were even less sure, at 16% who had no doubts.

Evangelical Christians are the most faithful out of all Christians; 71% of them had no doubts at all about the existence of God. The study interviewed a relatively small number of British Muslims - only 84 were in the study.

Religion is complex in Britain

There were many different degrees of religious feeling and belief in Britain, with many combinations of belief and religion. Non-believers made up the biggest category 28% of Brits. Next were people who believed in some kind of god or afterlife but didn't subscribe to a religion 21%. Only 14% described themselves as actively religious.

How Brits defined their faith (%)

Women are more likely to believe in god

Only a third of women are atheists or agnostic. The study showed that women are way less likely to be atheists or agnostic than men.

Over half of men have stopped believin'; (53%) compared to 34% of women. This is striking because almost half of those surveyed did not identify with any religion, so women are bucking the trend.

Male atheists are also far more likely than female atheists to say that there is definitely no life after death—63% versus 36%.

poll loading What do you believe in? 0+ VOTES SO FAR God & life after death God but not life after death Life after death but not god Neither of those The only thing I know that exists is me because I am a Cartesian Sceptic

[Source: Centre for Longitudinal Studies]