I really didn’t intend being unusually churlish on Easter Sunday, but when I received an email from Theos claiming that over half the people in Great Britain believe that Jesus rose from the dead, I just couldn’t let the supposed facts stand without at least questioning their apparent solidity.
Theos describes itself as a public theology think tank (you don’t often encounter too many of those, thank goodness). It claims to undertake research and provide commentary on social and political arrangements, and aims to change the climate of opinion about the role of faith and belief in society. During February of this year they asked over 1000 people about their beliefs. You can see the ComRes results in full here.
The publication of the research coincides with the launch of The Passion, the major new drama for Easter on BBC 1 which began last Sunday. The series - which unusually deals in detail with Jesus’ resurrection - will inevitably raise questions as to whether he really did rise from the dead. According to Theos, the survey suggests that, “for the majority of the population, this question has already been answered.”
Clearly the faith of the people at Theos is stronger than their mathematical ability or their ability to interpret data.
Problem One: The Figures
According to the Theos figures 57% of people questioned in the ComRes poll said they believe that Jesus was executed by crucifixion, buried and rose from the dead, but only 30% of the total sample accepting the traditional Christian belief in the bodily resurrection of Christ. The remaining 27% believe that Jesus rose in spirit form, and 43% believing that he didn’t rise. Unless I am missing something obvious here the claim that “over half of the people in the UK believe that Jesus rose from the dead” ought to be more accurately described as “under one third actually do.”
Liberal theologians have for years been trying to reconcile their own doubts about the physicality of the claimed resurrection of Christ and their own faith, and have talked about Jesus being resurrected in the hearts of his disciples. But however quaint that interpretation may be, it is far from what the New Testament teaches. For Paul, there is no Christianity without a resurrection. “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain and your faith also is vain.” It just won’t do for Theos to count the 27% of people who believe that Jesus rose in spirit form as part of their “I believe in the resurrection” claims. Lots of people, unable to face existential reality, long for life after death, and I strongly suspect that at least part of the 27% of spirit resurrection people would fall into that category.
Problem Two: Belief
What does ‘believe that Jesus rose from the dead’ mean? For an evangelical, ‘belief’ means more than an intellectual assent. It means accepting something as true, and then changing your life as a result. For others, ‘belief’ simply means intellectual assent. Even the devil believes in god, and if the christian story is true, the devil also believes in the resurrection of Jesus. Judged against the criteria of intellectual assent, the fact less than a third of the UK population believes in the resurrection of Jesus, isn’t necessarily good news. In fact, it could be argued that the opposite is the case. Given the historical religious heritage, the control that the church has had on learning (up until comparatively recently), and the continued presence of the church in State life, it could be argued that the fact that less than a third of the people believe in one of the central tenets of the faith is a sign of the massive retreat of faith in the country.
Problem Three: The ‘So What?’ Factor
Anybody who has ever been engaged in any form of empirical research will recognise the danger of proving the obvious and the temptation to make more of your results than they actually merit. Just supposing we took these figures and gave them a kind interpretation. Suppose about one third of the UK actually believed in the physical resurrection of Jesus in a significant way. So what? The fact that a large number of people believe something doesn’t make it true. I suspect there are a growing number of Muslims in the UK who don’t believe in the resurrection of Jesus. Weight of numbers doesn’t prove anything.
If Theos is arguing that faith is about sticking to things that are unlikely to have happened, then perhaps their survey shows that there is still some faith in one of the central tenets of Christianity in approximately one third of the UK population.
So What?
I was reading this morning an essay from the New Internationalist magazine” The triumph of Triviality” by John F Schumaker. His latest book is advertised,” In search of happiness:understanding a dangered species of mind.”
A deeply powerful and thought provoking piece of writing, brilliantly written, illustrating an aspect of existential needs and living.
My own thoughts reading this, from having read the earlier article, is that perhaps people are searching for a higher spiritual self-awareness; perhaps expressed by their beliefs in the divine death and ressurection our Lord Jesus Christ.
Whether they actually, really believe it may be questioned but the hope that there may be more out there than the trivia and mediocrity of their lives and the hope that this isn’t really it.
I may be barking up the wrong tree but all I am saying is that perhaps the figures represent a need in people to search for a spiritual self that in everyday life they lack.
What is life all about and when does it stop?
Well, I am a lapsed mathematician so I have no faith in statistics.
But all this reminds me of things my children say to me at the dinner table. The “but everyone else says, thinks, does . . . so it must be right/true” usually in relation to going to bed really late being good for you. I am always arguing that just because the vast majority do or believe something it does not make it right or true.
Onethoughtfulwoman
Thanks for your comment.
You may be right and the figures may represent a quest for something more. However, if you are right, and if the figures do represent this, that doesn’t prove either way that the something more exists, or that people are being sensible in longing for it.
I would also question:
1) the implied assumption that life is trivial and mediocre without faith in an afterlife;
2) the implied assumption that aspects of faith are not trivial and mediocre in themselves;
3) the implied assumption that faith is the only way of rising above anything that is trivial and mediocre about life (art, creativity, beauty, music, philosphy, relationships are other traditional routes that people have taken).
Reluctant Blogger
n relation to going to bed really late being good for you
What a wonderful parallel! I shall use it next time I need to counter the ‘numbers must be right argument’. Thanks.
Thanks for the answer.
Yes, I can see what you are saying and agree with it.
I am not saying that life without faith is trivial and mediocre. And Yes, people can use other avenues, such as you have stated, to find meaning and purpose.
All I am saying is that for some, perhaps one answer to the figures is that people do need to seek a more spiritual dimension to their lives. They think what is ths all about?
Of the materalism in the world- which was the main thrust of the essay’s discussion , can not begin to satisfy the many layers that make up our psyche and being.
People are searching for something in todays modern world, where just doing and having does not bring satisfaction alone.
People largely fear death and what was my life all about if I am just going to end up as dust?
A believe in some kind of after life ,with the powerful message that Easter gives us, is rather appealing even if it is a non-reality. We all “kinder hope” it may be true.
I can understand why this email irked you. I get tired of reading summaries that interpret survey results without providing a complete list of the survey questions, in the sequence that they were asked and the definitions of key terms. I also get tired of headlines that trumpet the answer to one question, taken completely out of its context, as if that one fact is the most meaningful finding of the entire survey.
For example, we often read such things as “60% of people believe in God.”
Okay. What definition of God was used? Were they asked yes-no questions, or multiple choice questions or fill-in-the-blank questions? All of this information, and more, is what I require to evaluate for myself whether the survey was properly constructed and administered, and whether the interpretations offered in a particular summary are warranted.
Don’t waste my time with headlines, summaries and de-contextualized interpretations. Give me the data, describe the methodology, etc. If you can demonstrate to me that your survey says what you say it says, then I may listen to you.
the chaplain
If theologians are going to start using statistics, perhaps training in research methods should be part of the compulsory training for all clergy. It might be more relevant than some of the things they have to study!
This kind of survey strikes me as a group of people being very defensive about the decline of their belief system. The fact that they feel the need to try to talk up their religion with dodgy statistics is very telling.
I just heard the Archbishop of York quoting the 57% figure in a BBC radio interview as ‘evidence’ that over half the people in the UK believe in the resurrection.
The stats are about right, I think. They seem to show that that about 1 in 4 people in Britain have no religious belief (either he was crucified and died, or the bible’s a load of hokum). That fits with other surveys. One in ten who call themselves christian have no meaningful appreciation of christian teaching.
But the elephant in the room is this: 50% of the survey panel are either atheist (~25%) or doubters (~25%)! Bet they didn’t mention that in the press release!
Putting together those who believe in either a physical or a spiritual life after death, it comes to only 53% of the population.
Fantastic article! Perfect timing really. My other half is a barber and regularly cuts the hair of the local Priest. My partner is always interested in conversation regarding faith and religion (he is agnostic whereas I would class myself as an atheist). He mentioned to this particular Priest that I was an atheist to which the Priest replied “I doubt very much that she is a full-blown atheist as 80% of the population are Christian and I have never met a true atheist.” When my partner mentioned this to me I very nearly choked on my marmite on toast and got quite ’stroppy’ as it were. I would never be able to meet this particular Priest so I would very much like to print off this particular article for my partner to take to work with him (if that’s ok with yourself).
It is an unfortunate fact that very few people really understand statistics. I include in that the people who use statistics to state (or bend) facts and those who read the account. Most people rely on the commentary and skip over the numbers.
“Faith” (meaning unreasoning belief in something ridiculous, e.g. Christianity) is at a difficult stage in its career. Believers are beginning to feel ever more embarrassed at admitting they believe the nonsense they claim to believe. That is why groups like Theos are tempted to use the “everyone believes it” strategy: after all, if everyone believes it then, whether it is truth or nonsense, there is a sort of dignity in numbers. Or so they think.
I don’t know why people get so steamed up about these things. So Theos is lying with statistics, either through stupidity or deceit. What does it matter? Their claims make no difference to what people actually believe and properly conducted surveys have already made short work of that. Theos are just making fools of themselves and that, surely, is all to the good.
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