Alarming new from the U.K.

Half Britain believes in Resurrection
By Jonathan Petre
THE TELEGRAPH

Nearly half of the population believes that Christ rose from the dead,
according to a survey.

The findings challenge the widespread view that an increasingly secular
society sees Easter as little more than an opportunity to indulge a
taste for chocolate - even though relatively few will go to church.
More surprisingly, the figures suggest that belief in the Resurrection
may actually be increasing.

A poll in 2001, by the Fortean Times newspaper, found that a third of
people agreed with the Biblical account of the event, and a European
Values study in 1990 put the figure at 32 per cent.

But almost half the respondents in the new survey, 47 per cent, said
that they believed that Christ rose from the dead. More than a third,
36 per cent, said they did not, and 15 per cent said that they did not
know.

The survey found that women are more devout than men, with 49 per cent
agreeing that Christ rose from the dead compared with 43 per cent of
men.

Peter Brierley, the director of Christian Research, said that the
figures would cheer Church leaders, especially the Archbishop of
Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, who has orthodox views on the
Resurrection.

"They add strength to the feeling that Britain is still a Christian
country, as evidenced by the 72 per cent who said they were Christian
in the 2001 census earlier this year," said Dr Brierley, a former
Government statistician.

"The actual percentage is higher than in some recent polls, but the
proportion who hold the not unconnected belief in life after death has
also been increasing over the past few years."

Canon Tom Wright, a theologian and the next Bishop of Durham, who has
written a book on the Resurrection, welcomed the figures, but added
that he would like to know how people understood the belief.

"Some people confuse the Resurrection with life after death, but they
are not the same thing," he said. "It would be interesting to know why
many of these people will not attend a church over Easter."

The survey, carried out last week among a representative sample of
1,003 people by Nunwood Consulting, a market research company, also
found that the vast majority correctly identified the religious
significance of Easter.

More than two thirds, 70 per cent, said that Easter was inspired by
Christ's death and Resurrection. Ten per cent said they thought Easter
marked the ascension of Christ into Heaven, four per cent thought that
it marked the Last Supper and three per cent Jesus's birth. The best
informed group was aged between 45 and 54.

There is a widening gap between people's beliefs in the central tenets
of Christianity and their churchgoing habits. There were just 1.13
million Easter Sunday communicants in Church of England parishes in
2001, less than two per cent of the population.