A quarter of people who describe themselves as Christians in Great Britain do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus, a survey commissioned by the BBC suggests. However, almost one in 10 people of no religion say they do believe the Easter story, but it has "some content that should not be taken literally". A fifth of non-religious people believe in life after death, the poll suggests.
ComRes surveyed 2,010 British adults by telephone, between 2 and 12 February 2017. The research was commissioned by BBC local radio for Palm Sunday. The survey suggested:
17% of all people believe the Bible version word-for-word
31% of Christians believe word-for-word the Bible version, rising to 57% among "active" Christians (those who go to a religious service at least once a month)
Exactly half of all people surveyed did not believe in the resurrection at all
46% of people say they believe in some form of life after death and 46% do not
20% of non-religious people say they believe in some form of life after death
9% of non-religious people believe in the Resurrection, 1% of whom say they believe it literally
Reverend Dr Lorraine Cavenagh is the acting general secretary for Modern Church, which promotes liberal Christian theology. She said:
"I think [people answering the survey] are being asked to believe in the way they might have been asked to believe when they were at Sunday school. You're talking about adults here. And an adult faith requires that it be constantly questioned, constantly re-interpreted, which incidentally is very much what modern church is actually about. Science, but also intellectual and philosophical thought has progressed. It has a trickle-down effect on just about everybody's lives. So to ask an adult to believe in the resurrection the way they did when they were at Sunday school simply won't do and that's true of much of the key elements of the Christian faith."
And it's not a small minority either, whatever the militant atheists might say.
Also : http://www.anglicansamizdat.net/wordpress/uncategorized/how-to-choose-the-next-archbishop-of-canterbury/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-39153121
Religion, the original fake news.
ReplyDeleteThat there are non-religious people who believe in the resurrection I find the most interesting. If you really believe the guy came back from the dead, wouldn't you conclude he was for real?
ReplyDeleteMike Aben - I suppose you could believe that Jesus was in some non-specific sense divine (as in super-natural), without having to believe the surrounding christian theology? It's a bit of a convoluted series of intellectual hoop-jumping but then religious faith is nothing if not that.
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother proclaimed herself a Christian but didn't believe in an afterlife, so I'm not too surprised that the opposite views exist. People say that you can't pick and choose; well, perhaps you shouldn't, but you most certainly can.
ReplyDeleteRhys Taylor That part of it didn't surprise me. Virtually everyone picks and chooses. One, because the Bible is not internally consistent, and two, large swaths of it would land you in jail or a psychiatric institution.
ReplyDeleteMike Aben evident by the fact we have ISIS following their 'perfect book' to the letter.
ReplyDeletePeople believe anything. I did a survey on Saturday, my wife claimed no one believes women are better drivers (it's been in the news couple of times, they are, less accidents compared to the relevant number of drivers). She was of course right, eleven out of twelve people believe men are better drivers. Some of them were even aware of the published investigation, and believed the opposite nevertheless.
ReplyDeleteI'm more concerned that 17% of all people believe it word for word..
ReplyDeleteStephen Phillips Except it's very likely 90% of them have never read it.
ReplyDeleteOliver Hamilton You should give our book a good read.
ReplyDeleteHosea 1:2 "The Lord said to Hosea"Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her""
ReplyDeletePsalm 14:1 "There is no God"
Romans 14:2 "The weak person eats only vegetables."
I have read the bible... and I love to use it out of context.
ReplyDeleteI presume "it" in this context meant "the Resurrection" and not the entire Bible.... taking that bit literally isn't nearly as worrying as taking the bit about "your breasts are like gazelles" literally...
ReplyDeleteRhys Taylor Yes, I think I read it incorrectly the first pass through... though it is a badly written BBC article. Of which I have noticed more and more of late.
ReplyDeleteRhys Taylor Yes, I slipped into "it" referring to the whole Bible too.
ReplyDelete