Editing London Borough of Tower Hamlets (section)

==Religion and religious sites==
[[File:Religious makeup of Tower Hamlets by single year age groups in 2021.svg|thumb|Religious makeup of Tower Hamlets by single year age groups in 2021]]
[[File:Christ Church exterior, Spitalfields, London, UK - Diliff.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Christ Church, Spitalfields|Christ Church of Spitalfields]]]]
[[File:East London Mosque - panoramio.jpg|thumb|[[East London Mosque]], Whitechapel]]
[[File:LondonBuddhistCentre.jpg|thumb|[[London Buddhist Centre]], Bethnal Green]]

Tower Hamlets is a religious diverse borough with various [[place of worship|places of worship]]. 
According to the 2021 census, 39.9% of the population was [[Islam|Muslim]], 22.3% [[Christianity|Christian]], 2.0% [[Hinduism|Hindu]], 1.0% [[Buddhism|Buddhist]], 0.4% [[Judaism|Jewish]], 0.3% [[Sikhism|Sikh]], 0.5% followed some other religion, 26.6% were not affiliated to a religion and 6.9% did not state their religious views.<ref name=" Home - Office for National Statistics ">{{cite web | title=Religion - Census Maps, ONS | website= Home - Office for National Statistics | url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/maps/choropleth/identity/religion/religion-tb/no-religion | ref={{sfnref | Home - Office for National Statistics }} | access-date=2022-12-11}}</ref>

The following table shows the religious identity of residents residing in Tower Hamlets according to the 2001, 2011 and the 2021 censuses.

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible"
! rowspan="2" |Religion
! colspan="2" |1995 estimates<ref>{{Cite web |title=A PROFILE OF BRITISH JEWRY - 1995 |url=https://www.bjpa.org/content/upload/bjpa/a_pr/A%20PROFILE%20OF%20BRITISH%20JEWRY.pdf |page=12}}</ref>
! colspan="2" |2001 census<ref>{{Cite web |title=KS007 - Religion - Nomis - 2001 |url=https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/datasets/ks007 |access-date=2022-10-18 |website=www.nomisweb.co.uk}}</ref>
! colspan="2" |2011 census<ref>{{Cite web |title=KS209EW (Religion) - Nomis - 2011 |url=https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks209ew |access-date=2022-10-18 |website=www.nomisweb.co.uk}}</ref>
! colspan="2" | 2021 census<ref>{{cite web |date=29 Nov 2022 |title=Religion - 2021 census |url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/datasets/TS030/editions/2021/versions/1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129115419/https://www.ons.gov.uk/datasets/TS030/editions/2021/versions/1 |archive-date=29 Nov 2022 |access-date=16 Dec 2022 |publisher=Office of National Statistics}}</ref>
|-
!Number
!%
!Number
!%
!Number
!%
!Number
!%
|-
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
!Holds religious beliefs
!–
!–
!153,692
!78.4
!166,359
!65.5
!206,347
!66.5
|-
|[[Muslim]]
|–
|–
| align="right" |71,389
| align="right" |36.4
| align="right" |87,696
| align="right" |34.5
| align="right" |123,912
| align="right" |39.9
|-
|[[Christians|Christian]]
|–
|–
| align="right" |75,783
| align="right" |38.6
| align="right" |68,808
| align="right" |27.1
| align="right" |69,223
| align="right" |22.3
|-
|[[Hinduism|Hindu]]
|–
|–
| align="right" |1,544
| align="right" |0.8
| align="right" |4,200
| align="right" |1.7
| align="right" |6,298
| align="right" |2.0
|-
|[[Buddhism|Buddhist]]
|–
|–
| align="right" |1,938
| align="right" |1.0
| align="right" |2,726
| align="right" |1.1
| align="right" |2,961
| align="right" |1.0
|-
|[[Jews|Jewish]]
|6,000
|3.7%
| align="right" |1,831
| align="right" |0.9
| align="right" |1,283
| align="right" |0.5
| align="right" |1,341
| align="right" |0.4
|-
|[[Sikhism|Sikh]]
|–
|–
| align="right" |682
| align="right" |0.3
| align="right" |821
| align="right" |0.3
| align="right" |966
| align="right" |0.3
|-
|Other religion
|–
|–
| align="right" |525
| align="right" |0.3
| align="right" |825
| align="right" |0.3
| align="right" |1,652
| align="right" |0.5
|-
!No religion
!–
!–
! align="right" |27,823
! align="right" |14.2
! align="right" |48,648
! align="right" |19.1
! align="right" |82,635
! align="right" |26.6
|-
!Religion not stated
!–
!–
! align="right" |14,591
! align="right" |7.4
! align="right" |39,089
! align="right" |15.4
! align="right" |21,318
! align="right" |6.9
|-
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
!Total population
!–
!100%
! align="right" |196,106
! align="right" |100.0
! align="right" |254,096
! align="right" |100.0
! align="right" |310,300
! align="right" |100.0
|}

===Places of worship===

There are 21 active churches, affiliated with the [[Church of England]], which include [[Christ Church, Spitalfields|Christ Church of Spitalfields]], [[St Paul's Church, Shadwell|St Paul's Church of Shadwell]] and [[St Dunstan's, Stepney|St Dunstan's of Stepney]];<ref>[http://www.london.anglican.org/ChurchList_07 Church List: Tower Hamlets] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090419145551/http://www.london.anglican.org/ChurchList_07 |date=19 April 2009 }} The Diocese of London. Retrieved on 27 March 2009.</ref> and there are also churches of many other Christian denominations.

There are more than 40 mosques and Islamic centres in Tower Hamlets.<ref name="auto"/> The most famous is the [[East London Mosque]], one of the first mosques in Britain allowed to broadcast the [[adhan]],<ref name="auto1"/><ref>{{cite book|last1=Eade|first1=John|editor1-last=Metcalf|editor1-first=Barbara Daly|title=Making Muslim Space in North America and Europe|date=1996|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|location=Berkeley|isbn=0520204042|url=https://archive.org/details/makingmuslimspac0000unse|access-date=19 April 2015|chapter=Nationalism, Community, and the Islamization of Space in London|quote=The mosque committee was determined from the outset, moreover, to remind local people of the building's religious function as loudly as possible. As one of the few mosques in Europe permitted to broadcast calls to prayer (azan), the mosque soon found itself at the center of a public debate about "noise pollution" when local non-Muslim residents began to protest.|url-access=registration}}</ref> and one of the biggest Islamic centres in [[Europe]]. The Maryam Centre, a part of the mosque, is the biggest Islamic centre for women in Europe. Opened in 2013, it features a main prayer hall, ameliorated funeral services, education facilities, a fitness centre and support services.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mcrlive.net/about.php |title=mcrlive.net about |access-date=15 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090826162049/http://www.mcrlive.net/about.php |archive-date=26 August 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.islamicforumeurope.com/live/ife.php|title=Islamic Forum of Europe|work=islamicforumeurope.com|access-date=15 August 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080815211600/http://www.islamicforumeurope.com/live/ife.php|archive-date=15 August 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mcrlive.net/images/prog2lrg.jpg |title=mcrlive.net images |access-date=15 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327120938/http://www.mcrlive.net/images/prog2lrg.jpg |archive-date=27 March 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
The East London Mosque has been visited by several notable people, including [[Prince Charles]], [[Boris Johnson]], many foreign government officials and world-renowned imams and Muslim scholars.<ref name="charles">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1671797.stm Prince joins Ramadan ceremony] BBC website</ref> Other notable mosques are [[Brick Lane Mosque]], Darul Ummah Masjid, Esha Atul Islam Mosque, Markazi Masjid, Stepney Shahjalal Mosque and Poplar Central Mosque.<ref>
[http://mosques.muslimsinbritain.org/show-browse.php?borough=Tower+Hamlets Mosques in Tower Hamlets], Muslimsinbritain.org. Retrieved 27 June 2011.</ref>

Other notable religious buildings include the [[Fieldgate Street Great Synagogue]], the Congregation of Jacob Synagogue, the [[London Buddhist Centre]], the Hindu Pragati Sangha Temple, and the Gurdwara Sikh Sangat. The [[Great Synagogue of London]], which was destroyed during the Second World War, is located just outside the borough's boundaries, in the [[City of London|City]].