Poll: 1 in 8 Britons Know Christmas Story in Depth

Christian Post ^ | 12-08-07 | Maria Mackay

[squireofgothos]

Commenting on the results of the survey, Theos Director Paul Woolley said: "These findings provide us with a good snapshot of our national relationship with Christianity. They show that the Christmas story, in its classic formulation is still very much in our cultural blood stream, as indeed is the Christian story as a whole.

"However, when you probe in any depth, you discover that our knowledge and understanding is rather more shaky.”

The poll also found that knowledge of the Christmas story varied with age. The youngest people questioned (aged 18-24) knew the least about the story of the birth of Jesus, with only 7 percent knowing the correct answers to all the questions asked. Middle aged people (aged 55-64) were found to know the most, with 18 percent answering all questions correctly.

"The fact that younger people are the least knowledgeable about the Christmas story may reflect a decline in the telling of Bible stories in schools and the popularity of Nativity plays,” said Woolley.

Biblical literacy also varied from region to region, with those living in the Midlands emerging as the

[squireofgothos]

I wonder how many of them know in detail the night flight of Muhammad on the winged horse Buraq? I would suspect more than 1 in 8.

[Yaelle]

[VOA]

bump for publicity

[isrul]

Christianity is finished in Briton. Actually, Briton is finished.

[jimbo123]

[VOA]

Thanks for posting a still from my favorite Christmas
Special.

OK, “It’s A Wonderful Life” probably does tie for the #1
“Christmas Favorite” with me.

[Riodacat]

"While 48 percent of those polled were able to identify John the Baptist as Jesus’ cousin, only 22 percent knew that Jesus, Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt to escape Herod’s massacre of the innocents.

Wanna guess the percentage in this country who'd pass this test???

[TLI]

And it is not just a "happy-happy" story either...

[VOA]

Christianity is finished in Briton. Actually, Briton is finished.

The people in the UK "of good will" do need to ask themselves
if the phrase "Britannia Rules The Wave" won't simply be referring
to The New Barbary Pirates in a generation or so.

But given our IMPORTATION of Muslims in the USA...we need to
ask ourselves similar questions.

Especially when we're importing Muslims into places even like
Emporia KS, St. Louis MO, as well as Lewiston, ME and the Twin Cities.

I swear it's a plan by Democrats (and Republicans like Grover Norquist)
to DESTROY Flyover Country and Small-town America.

[VOA]

And it is not just a "happy-happy" story either...

Thanks.
As long as a substantial part of the USA watches either
"It's A Wonderful Life" or (yes, I admit it sounds silly)
"Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" and GETS the underlying messages
about moral struggle and "doing the right thing" in a Judeo-Christian sense...
we'll be OK.

Just IMHO (and a fallible opinion it is!)

[billbears]

Next time I go to England, I'm going to have to get out of London. Because I've looked. And I'm just not seeing all these Muslim influences that some seem to go on incessantly about. I know there's a street a few blocks off Kensington Gardens that seemed predominantly Arabic but I'm just not seeing them. Not even in the Methodist headquarters just nearby Westminster Abbey. And the COE states on their site they've seen a 17% increase since 2000.

Hmmmmm, maybe all these Muslims are in Wales. Yeah, that's it, they're all in Cardiff!! After all the Cardiff Rift runs right through there....

I wonder how many of them know in detail the night flight of Muhammad on the winged horse Buraq?

Not as many as are indifferent to religion in general I'd think.

[squireofgothos]

"Wanna guess the percentage in this country who'd pass this test??? "
I bet we could get really good scores if the questioners focused on Tlaloc trivia

[squireofgothos]

"I swear it's a plan by Democrats (and Republicans like Grover Norquist) to DESTROY Flyover Country and Small-town America"
Oh certainly. Just because the immigrants from mexico aren't wearing uniforms doesn't mean they aren't an army either.

[VOA]

About the only positive I see is that that INVADING Army from Mexico
and points south...
They aren’t Wahhabists.

YET!

[nwrep]

Because I've looked. And I'm just not seeing all these Muslim influences that some seem to go on incessantly about.

Have you hung out at Heathrow? It is like going to Karachi or Islamabad.

[proxy_user]

Maybe the Muslim immigrants can’t afford to pay one and half million pounds for a house?

[Hot Tabasco]

1 in 8 Britons Know Christmas Story in Depth

And I wonder how many of them actually put an eye out with a B-B gun?

[luckystarmom]

My daughters do not like the stories like Rudolph, etc. They do love the Nativity Story that was made last year.

Their favorite Christmas activity is going to a church that has built a small replica of the town of Bethlehem. There Roman guards all over the place. There are people dressed in period clothes hosting booths with activities relating to the period (games, brick building, metal work, etc). Then every half hours, actors walk through the town portraying the Christmas story. Mary is on a real donkey. The shepherds are watching real sheep. The 3 wisemen come in riding on camels.

At the end, everyone ends up at a manger. It is just a great event (and it’s actually in California). I love it more than any other Christmas activity that we do. It really makes the Christmas story come alive.

I’m glad my kids are growing up knowing the real meaning of Christmas.

[UKTory]

“only 22 percent knew that Jesus, Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt to escape Herod’s massacre of the innocents”

Hmm, that one’s a bit ambiguous though. I mean ‘such an event never happened, but was included by Matthew as part of his narrative linking Jesus with Moses’ is also a correct answer :)

[naturalized]

According to whom? Why not throw the rest of it out?