A number of political commentators in the nineteenth century ptedicted the complete secularization of Btitain. It is paradoxical that the very institutional decline of traditional Christianity created new quests for religious significance out side the established frameworks of belief, symbol and practice. In particular, popular religion (including hippies, commune and youth movements) attempted to close the gap between the objective social structure and the subjective need for meaning. Two dominant features of popular religion are first ly the diversity and complexity of its sources and themes ; secondly, its main cultural carrier as drawn from the unem ployed, middle class youth. These two aspects of popular religion are illustrated by an examination of two contemporary British communes.