Mind the gap (between 6% and 48%)

Here's my article for April:

Much has been said about the 2021 Census, particularly the self-identification or otherwise of people as Christian. The headline was “Christianity now a minority religion in England and Wales”, though the figures actually showed that “Christian” remained the most common response (46.2% or 27.5 million people), followed by “No religion” at 37.2%; Muslim: 6.5%; Hindu: 1.7% ; and Jewish: 0.5%. So, to be more accurate, the headline was that for the first time since records began, fewer than half the population of England and Wales identified as Christian. However, either way, it was hardly an earth-shattering finding – or was it?

One of the problems with the census question was that it was about identity rather than practice, so although 46.2% of people identify as Christian that doesn't mean that they all attend church on Sunday. (Though more people still attend church than attend football matches in the top four tiers [around 956,000 compared to 700,000].) Another survey in 2022, the Talking Jesus Report (talkingjesus.org), looked into what people in the UK think of Jesus and compared it with the research they did in 2015. Much the same as the 2021 Census, it found that 48% of the population choose to describe themselves as Christians - down from 58% in 2015. But it also asked how many of that 48% were practicing Christians (defined as those who attend church monthly and pray and read the Bible weekly) and the figure was 6%, more-or-less the same as the 7% in 2015. So although self-identification had dropped, actual attendance hadn't.

Given that only 6% of the population are practicing Christians, two other statistics stand out from the Talking Jesus Report. Firstly, 20% of people believe that Jesus is “God in human form who lived among people in the 1st Century” (21% in 2015). Secondly, 16% of the population believe in the resurrection of Jesus, word for word, as it is described in the Bible and a further 29% say they also believe in the resurrection, but that some content of the biblical account should not be taken literally. The Report says “That is extraordinary, in an age where faith was supposed to be dying, and where science could have disproved such things as resurrection, still 45% of the population believe Jesus rose from the dead” (p10).

This is good news for Easter! 45% of people believe in what the apostle Paul calls “of first importance” without which the Christian faith is futile (1 Corinthians 15). Though as we can see in the figures, believing something is true does not always affect the way you live your life. But this might also explain why the two most commonly asked questions, according to the report, were “Will everything be ok?” and “What happens when you die?” Peter, who witnessed the crucified and resurrected Jesus, wrote this “In [God's] great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade” (1 Peter 1:3-4). If you, however hesitantly, believe in the resurrection (and even if you don't) why not put it to the test? Come along to church, read the Bible, pray and see if you, like Peter, will find the answers to those questions.