One country, two religions and three very telling pictures: The empty pews at churches just yards from an overcrowded mosque

Pay no attention to the 2011 Census that told us 33.2?million people in England and Wales describe themselves as Christians. For if you want a more telling insight into religion in the United Kingdom today, just look at these photographs.

The story they tell is more revealing than any survey. What they show are three acts of worship performed in the East End of London within a few hundred yards of each other at the end of last month. Two of the photos show Sunday morning services in the churches of St George-in-the-East on Cannon Street Road (bottom left), and St Mary’s on Cable Street (top left). The third (right) shows worshippers gathered for Friday midday prayers outside the nearby mosque on the Brune Street Estate in Spitalfields.