(This is the poll mentioned in the preceding post–KSH).
When asked why they think of themselves as Christian, the research found that fewer than three in ten (28%) say one of the reasons is that they believe in the teachings of Christianity. People are much more likely to consider themselves to be Christian because they were christened or baptised into the religion (72%) or because their parents were members of the religion (38%) than because of personal belief.
The research sought to measure a number of Christian practices, including regular reading of the Bible and prayer outside church services, to see how prevalent these were amongst respondents self-identifying as Christian. Among the results, we find that:
The majority (60%) have not read any part of the Bible, independently and from choice, for at least a year….
I knew things were bad in the UK, but not that bad. How very sad.
MORI are respected pollsters and a sample of 2200 is a substantial one. However, notice who the poll is commissioned by: Richard Dawkins. If we read that large numbers of Americans supported unrestricted abortion and then we read that the poll was commissioned by Planned Parenthood, we would naturally smell a rat. Any pollster will tell you that the results can be skewed by the way that questions are phrased, so we would want to examine the questions carefully before swallowing the overall figures. However, much of it does chime with my everyday experience. The bulk of the British population would now seem to be post-Christian. Most never set foot in church from one year to the next. It is hard for us to accept that, but it is reality. We are mission territory, and it is interesting that many of the growing churches are those who assume this is the case and set out to convert. With regard to Evan’s post above, if my memory bank is correct, there was a similar poll in the US about a year ago in which most people who self-identified as Christians could not name all four gospels.
What has led to this state of affairs? The multi-cultural agenda that controlled a lot of education and the media obviously has undermined faith in any creed as being objectively true, plus the relentless pillorying of Christianity. The struggles in the state church and the scandals in the Catholic Church have not helped. Aggressive Islam has further undermined religion in general. But at the end of the day most people have not experienced a relationship with Christ and the freedom, challenge and responsibility that it brings.
Terry, what’s basically happened over the last three hundred years is that the Church has lost its political power, and so can’t enforce its beliefs as it used to do. Heresy (including atheism) used to be a capital offence. As recently as 1880, an elected MP was disallowed from taking his place in Parliament because of his atheism.
And please remember, when you complain about “[i]the relentless pillorying of Christianity”[/i], that when Christians were influential the pillories were real, not metaphorical.