Mourning in Manchester: Religious and Secular Traditions

Many of the people who do not have a formal religion do have belief in God, in souls going to heaven, and in angels. They like pilgrimages and candles, said Linda Woodhead, professor of the sociology of religion. This is very different to the Protestant tradition in England. It is like a de-Reformation, she said, referring to how Catholic practice and ritual was disapproved of after the English Reformation and Puritan era.