As usual you Britons are ahead of us. From the BBC:
The majority of Britons do not believe the Biblical story of the birth of Jesus, a survey has suggested.
Of 1,000 people questioned, 70% doubted the account, according to the British Market Research Bureau.
Almost a quarter of people who described themselves as Christians shared their scepticism.
St Helen’s Church in Bishopsgate, London, which commissioned the survey, has produced a film of “sound evidence” supporting the Bible’s account.
More than a fifth of Christians who answered said they did not believe Jesus was both God and Man — another central tenet of Christianity.
Young people were particularly sceptical.
I bet it’s the opposite in America — 70% of us probably believe that story.
We have work to do, friends.
The increasing skepticism of the young is an auspicious sign.
Allow me to raise a toast to a rational, post-mythological future.
Wormwood: I’ll drink to that! Cheers!
I’d say even 30% believers sounds way too high. But yeah, Americans are dumbed down to an almost insane level. No offense though, many of you are great ;)
No offence taken. My fellow countrymen are a seriously weird lot. Aliens. God(s). Bermuda Triangle. It is truly astonishing the things Americans believe.
I concur with forkboy; no offense is taken. My Americans companions can be a strange lot, indeed.
I was flipping through the channels last night, and I ended up watching the History Channel. They have a show on about the books excluded from the Christian Bible, and half the commercials are for a new show about UFOs and UFO belief…and I was thinking — maybe someone will see this juxtaposition and ask one’s self, is there any more evidence for one than the other?
@forkboy
Well us Brits may be an unreligious lot but when it comes to separation of state and religion we have a lot to learn from other countries including America. Just two quick examples – the House of Lords (our second parliamentary house) has a quota of unelected religious leaders, among others, who sit in it and can reject law passed by the elected House of Commons. Faith schools – we have around 7,000 of them (25% of all schools) which are funded by the government and are legally allowed to select pupils based on the religion of the parents. Yep that’s right the British government actually endorses and pays for religious discrimination in schools.
As Jabster says the UK is still a country with a heavy pro-religion slant. Evolution is poorly taught in many schools, there is no separation of church and state, and there has been mentioning of allowing some Sharia-laws to be implemented for muslims in the country. How any civilized western nation can contemplate implementing such barbaric, medieval way of thinking is truly beyond me.
I actually think that Britain having a state religion is one of the things that’s driven religion to be less important to the population than it is in America. Yes, we have the fundamentalist sects like the United Church of the Kingdom of God, or the Vardey Foundation, but most churchgoers, and even a fair proportion of vicars (British for “pastor”) are openly agnostic. Church has gone from being a matter of eternal salvation to being somewhere to hang out on a Sunday (or more likely, at Easter and Christmas). I’d like to see Britain become an even more secular nation, but we’re solidly on the path, state endorsement or not.