Poll suggests weak link between faith and practice

New research suggests that most people in Britain who describe themselves as Christians have only low levels of commitment when it comes to practising the faith.

An Ipsos Mori poll for the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science found that only one in 10 Christians seeks moral guidance from religion.

The poll was carried out in the week after the 2011 Census and focused on the beliefs, attitudes and practices of people in Britain who recorded themselves as Christians.

When asked why they think of themselves as Christian, fewer than three in 10 (28%) cited a personal belief in the teachings of Christianity.

According to the research, people were more likely to consider themselves a Christian because they were christened or baptised into the religion (72%) or because their parents were members of the religion (38%).

When asked why they had been recorded as Christian in the 2011 Census, only three in ten (31%) said it was because they genuinely try to follow the Christian religion, with four in ten (41%) saying it was because they try to be a good person and associate that with Christianity.

When asked where they seek most guidance in questions of right and wrong, only one in 10 said it was from religious teachings or beliefs, with over half (54%) preferring to draw on their own inner moral sense.

Half those polled did not think of themselves as religious and less than a third (30%) claimed to have strong religious beliefs.

When it comes to the core of the Christian faith - the resurrection of Jesus - just a third (32%) said they believed Jesus was physically resurrected. One in five (18%) admitted they did not believe in the resurrection even in a spiritual sense, while half (49%) said they did not think of Jesus as the Son of God, with one in twenty-five (4%) doubting he existed at all.

When asked what being a Christian meant to them personally, 40% chose ‘I try to be a good person’ and around a quarter (26%) chose ‘It’s how I was brought up’. Around one in six (16%) selected the statement ‘I have accepted Jesus as my Lord and Saviour’ and less than one in ten (7%) chose ‘I believe in the teachings of Jesus’.

Commitment to Christian practices such as prayer and Bible reading was also patchy among the respondents.

Sixty per cent said they had not read any part of the Bible independently for at least a year, while 37% said they had never or almost never prayed outside a church service.

Almost two-thirds (64%) could not identify Matthew from a choice of four as the first book of the New Testament.

The research also pointed to a lack of faith in the merit of prayer, with only a quarter (26%) saying they completely believed in the power of prayer. One in five (21%) said they either do not really believe in it or do not believe in it at all.

There was evidence of an openness to non-Christian beliefs, with 27% saying they believed in astrology and reincarnation.

The poll also looked at church attendance and found that apart from special occasions like weddings, baptisms and funerals, half (49%) had not attended a church in the last 12 months.

Professor Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, said the findings were a sign that Christianity was "largely irrelevant, even to those who still label themselves Christian".