In December 1963 The Observer reported on a survey of students in Oxford and Manchester carried out for a book by Ferdynand Zweig. Just over 100 students were interviewed in each university. Extraordinarily all 102 at Oxford said they came from a religious family background, but their own religious belief had fallen away: 49% were atheist or agnostic. At Manchester, only 21% described themselves that way. How far the activities of the OUHG were responsible is a matter for speculation but it is notable that at Oxford many described their philosophy of life as humanist and the term Humanism was much used even by non-humanists, whereas at Manchester it was much less used.
|
Oxford |
Manchester |
|
| Atheist |
14 |
5 |
| Agnostic |
36 |
17 |
| “Groping” |
19 |
13 |
| Believing |
33 |
68 |
| TOTAL |
102 |
103 |
The press report was as follows:
The next term OUHG made good use of the report in refuting a claim from the pulpit that Oxford was a Christian university (Oxford Mail 5 February 1964):
[Michaelmas 1963] [The abortion report] [Press – other] [Greetings cards]