I love polls (but then
regular readers knew that) – especially ones that expose our post-Christendom
times. Take this one conducted on behalf of Christian think tank Theos on
British attitudes towards Christmas. A number of statements were offered as an
explanation about the purpose of Christmas - e.g. it’s about ‘spending time
with family and friends’, or ‘challenging political oppression around the world’,
or it has ‘no real meaning for today’. Something for everyone, then.
God's love celebrated
And then among them there
was this simple statement: ‘Christmas is about celebrating that God loves
humanity’. Of the 2,032 British people asked, 41% went for this choice. Which I
find heartening in some ways but it’s nowhere near the 70% figure that is so often
used to say how many Brits are Christian.
Drill down a little deeper
into the figures (as they say on Dragon’s Den) and you’ll find this little gem (from an allbeit smaller sample):
of those respondents who self-identified as Christians only 24% ‘agreed
strongly’ about the ‘celebrating God’s love’ option. And among the Muslims? It
was actually 35%.
Halal turkey anybody?
