Nearly 40% of UK millennials can’t identify baby in Bethlehem Christmas story

[redleghunter]

Nearly 40% of UK millennials can’t identify baby in Bethlehem Christmas story

December 21, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A few years back, before we were married, my wife worked in the catering business. As the Advent season began, one of her colleagues asked her a question that floored her: “What is Christmas all about?” As it turned out, her colleague had never heard the Christmas story before. She’d never heard the story of the Lord Jesus in the manger, the Saviour born in Bethlehem, the shepherds, the angels—nothing. She had grown up in a once-Christian country without ever hearing one of the foundational stories of Christianity.

The upcoming generations of the West are not only growing up in a post-Christian culture. They are growing up in nations where their families are often several generations removed from any semblance of Christian belief—and increasingly, any semblance of Christian knowledge. It is not only that they do not know anything about Christianity, but it is also that they do not know what they do not know.

For example, the Christian Post recently reported that a survey carried out by the research firm OnePoll discovered that 38% of Britons between the ages of 21 and 28 (about 2 out of 5) did not know the identity of the baby in Christmas Nativity scenes. Around 37% could identify neither Joseph nor Mary. Fewer than 10% could name the gifts given to the Lord Jesus by the three wise men (gold, frankincense, and myrrh), and some even believed that Santa Claus was somehow linked to the Christmas story.

This should not come as a complete surprise due to the fact that a minuscule 6% of Britons can be classified as practicing Christians, and with the exception of a small remnant, Christianity is nearly dead in England. One of the greatest Christian empires in the history of the world is now populated by men and women who do not even know that the Christmas story is about the birth of Jesus, or that His parents were Mary and Joseph. This amnesia is simply staggering to consider.

Remainder of the article here:

Nearly 40% of UK millennials can’t identify baby in Bethlehem Christmas story

 

[musicalpilgrim]

I never cease to be amazed at day schools not teaching traditional carols.

I pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our land, a revival...Lord save our nation

 

[Not David]

Missing old times when Europe was Christian.

 

[Ada Lovelace]

I believe Jesus would be far more concerned about the percentage of people - of all ages - who cannot identify his precept, cannot understand his purpose or teachings, because it has not been sufficiently exhibited by his followers.

 

[Kenny'sID]

As it turned out, her colleague had never heard the Christmas story before. She’d never heard the story of the Lord Jesus in the manger, the Saviour born in Bethlehem, the shepherds, the angels—nothing. She had grown up in a once-Christian country without ever hearing one of the foundational stories of Christianity.

That's surprising, and a very bad sigh in general.

It's only going to get worse.

 

[Kenny'sID]

I believe Jesus would be far more concerned about the percentage of people - of all ages - who cannot identify his precept, cannot understand his purpose or teachings, because it has not been sufficiently exhibited by his followers.

What teaching do you feel has not been sufficiently exhibited, and how/why?

I'm guessing you can get an example from something that goes on at CF that displeases you. Can you give us details?

 

[Hazelelponi]

This should not come as a complete surprise due to the fact that a minuscule 6% of Britons can be classified as practicing Christians,

I looked up this quote because wile I knew Christianity was in decline in western nations, I'd not heard/realized that it was this bad so i looked it up..

And sure enough, while some might put that number a tiny bit higher (not much though) because church attendance is tied to that number, it's far far far lower than I imagined, even being terribly gracious.

It's shocking.

I went through the original survey and found what I thought I'd find, many people will call themselves Christian who are simply born into "Christian" families and have nothing to do with Christianity the faith.

I wonder what would happen in a poll like this, with these types of questions in the U.S., how Christian would this nation be? I bet it's far less Christian here too..

But yes seeing that poll it's little wonder no one knows the. Christmas story. This is so sad. We need missionaries in our western nations.

 

[Brightmoon]

Wow !

I’m around a lot of atheists and the ones I asked rejected religion due to sexism or misogyny, pseudoscience masquerading as faith or some type of abuse that was worsened by their former beliefs ( usually domestic violence, over control, or child abuse)

 

[(° ͡ ͜ ͡ʖ ͡ °) (ᵔᴥᵔʋ)]

What teaching do you feel has not been sufficiently exhibited, and how/why?

I'm guessing you can get an example from something that goes on at CF that displeases you. Can you give us details?

I believe Stanfordella was making a general statement regarding "Carnal Christians". I agree that there are plenty of them.

 

[mark kennedy]

Nearly 40% of UK millennials can’t identify baby in Bethlehem Christmas story

December 21, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A few years back, before we were married, my wife worked in the catering business. As the Advent season began, one of her colleagues asked her a question that floored her: “What is Christmas all about?” As it turned out, her colleague had never heard the Christmas story before. She’d never heard the story of the Lord Jesus in the manger, the Saviour born in Bethlehem, the shepherds, the angels—nothing. She had grown up in a once-Christian country without ever hearing one of the foundational stories of Christianity.

The upcoming generations of the West are not only growing up in a post-Christian culture. They are growing up in nations where their families are often several generations removed from any semblance of Christian belief—and increasingly, any semblance of Christian knowledge. It is not only that they do not know anything about Christianity, but it is also that they do not know what they do not know.

For example, the Christian Post recently reported that a survey carried out by the research firm OnePoll discovered that 38% of Britons between the ages of 21 and 28 (about 2 out of 5) did not know the identity of the baby in Christmas Nativity scenes. Around 37% could identify neither Joseph nor Mary. Fewer than 10% could name the gifts given to the Lord Jesus by the three wise men (gold, frankincense, and myrrh), and some even believed that Santa Claus was somehow linked to the Christmas story.

This should not come as a complete surprise due to the fact that a minuscule 6% of Britons can be classified as practicing Christians, and with the exception of a small remnant, Christianity is nearly dead in England. One of the greatest Christian empires in the history of the world is now populated by men and women who do not even know that the Christmas story is about the birth of Jesus, or that His parents were Mary and Joseph. This amnesia is simply staggering to consider.

Remainder of the article here:

Nearly 40% of UK millennials can’t identify baby in Bethlehem Christmas story

Francis Shaffer predicted back in the 80s that we in the US inevitably would follow the trends of our European mother countries, because we always do. Bible illiteracy is at epidemic levels and so, I suppose I not only am not surprised but expect it to continue this downward trend. Not that I'm pessimistic, on the contrary, when Jerusalem and the world was in the darkness of white washed religion and in the grip of Roman tyranny a child of promise was born. Elijah at the dawn of the prophetic age thought he was alone, God assured him that he had people left that would not bow the knee to Baal. Before entering the promised land the people were in rebellion, only four, Joshua, Caleb, Rahab from Jericho and Moses were the only ones who believed God would do what was promised. Jesus looks at his followers at the feeding of the 5,000 tells them you must believe in me, most of them turned away and would follow him no more.

When Christ was born the Gentile Magi worshiped him, and the king of the Jews wanted him dead. That's how it works, broad is the road to destruction. But in the midst of darkness, amazing things can emerge. When the churches stop watering down the gospel with liberal theology and emotionalism the possibility of revival can emerge, perhaps even at our darkest point.

Of course they have forgotten, there is no one left to remind them. Perhaps we have lost our ability to tell the story, not all of us have forgotten it. Over the centuries Europe was soaked in the gospel and many a willing and skillful minister emerged in the political chaos what was Medieval Europe, our beloved Reformation emerged in such a time. The message was not just forgotten, but filtered through a priesthood that cared more for allegiance to a Pope then faith in the gospel. I am continually amazed at the availability of resources in our times, and deeply disappointed with the churches inability to teach even basic things. I don't suppose we should be surprised, light a candle and the darkness will disperse. We must reclaim the primacy of the gospel or this just gets worse.

Grace and peace,
Mark

 

[DZoolander]

Gotta admit that I question the legitimacy of that poll...lol

I don't know ANYONE who doesn't know the Christmas story, even among the atheists/etc that I know. Nativity scenes, references to Christ/the manger, etc...are just so prevalent that you would have to be deliberately trying not to learn anything to be unaware of it by that age.

And when I say 0 people - I mean it. I would be sincerely shocked if anyone I know would not know who the baby in the manger is.

Maybe those people on that Island that kill people that show up on their shores...but anyone in the Western World...nah.

Reeks of conservative click bait to me.

 

[FireDragon76]

Wow !

I’m around a lot of atheists and the ones I asked rejected religion due to sexism or misogyny, pseudoscience masquerading as faith or some type of abuse that was worsened by their former beliefs ( usually domestic violence, over control, or child abuse)

That's why I think this is a new thing among young people, and not typical for the unchurched. But I think its been a trend in Europe for some time.

BTW, I used to live in the UK and British have their share of "shockingly ignorant" folks, too, just like the US. You get similar numbers of people in Britain that don't know the sun doesn't revolve around the earth, for instance. So, it may have less to do with religion specifically, and more to do with the fact that in the UK, just like the US, there is a sizable percentage of highly ignorant people.

 

[mark kennedy]

Gotta admit that I question the legitimacy of that poll...lol

I don't know ANYONE who doesn't know the Christmas story, even among the atheists/etc that I know. Nativity scenes, references to Christ/the manger, etc...are just so prevalent that you would have to be deliberately trying not to learn anything to be unaware of it by that age.

And when I say 0 people - I mean it. I would be sincerely shocked if anyone I know would not know who the baby in the manger is.

Maybe those people on that Island that kill people that show up on their shores...but anyone in the Western World...nah.

Reeks of conservative click bait to me.

I would like to know how the question was asked come to think of it.

 

[archer75]

I would like to know how the question was asked come to think of it.

Ditto.

I don't doubt that there is widespread ignorance of what seem to me "basic" stories of Christianity in the UK or US or elsewhere, but this also seems easily overplayed...

 

[archer75]

The article linked to within the linked article tells us that "The survey, carried out by research company OnePoll on behalf of Hotels.com, found that 39 percent of 2,000 Britons..."

What form did this survey take? How was the question put? Is OnePoll a reliable polling company? Why on earth did hotels.com want this?

 

[Kenny'sID]

I believe Stanfordella was making a general statement regarding "Carnal Christians". I agree that there are plenty of them.

Now that you've set the stage, maybe she'll go that route. See, that's the thing about answering for someone else, I may never know now, but we'll see.

 

[DZoolander]

Yeah, I mean I could see that maybe people who weren't Christian wouldn't know things like "What gifts did the wise men bring?" - etc.. That's somewhat extraneous information.

But not to have a basic awareness of the nativity scene and who's in it? lol

 

[ItIsFinished!]

This is quite sad , but yet expected.

 

[paul1149]

38% of Britons between the ages of 21 and 28 (about 2 out of 5) did not know the identity of the baby in Christmas Nativity scenes. Around 37% could identify neither Joseph nor Mary.

I also wonder about this particular poll. It's hard to believe that fewer people can recognize Jesus than can recognize Joseph and Mary.

I don't doubt the dismal trend of declining Christian knowledge, though. The church has been marginalized by aggressively secular public schools and mass culture. One hour a week in church cannot match hours in front of the TV. A short sit-down dinner with the family - when that even might happen nowadays - cannot match 7 hours in school five days a week. If we don't present a compelling message to the kids, we will die a death of mediocrity. Judgment begins in the house of God, and the time for repentance is here.

 

[redleghunter]

Missing old times when Europe was Christian.

There’s always Hope with a Savior and Lord as we have David.