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Only one in eight know the Christmas story well

A survey by theology think thank Theos has found that only 12 per cent of adults in Britain have a detailed knowledge of the Christmas story.

The ComRes poll asked 1000 adults questions about the Christmas story as narrated in the Christian Bible.

It found that the vast majority – 73 per cent - were still familiar enough with the ‘classic elements’ of the Christmas story that they knew of the appearance of an angel to Mary or were able to say that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

Substantial gaps in knowledge of the Bible story appeared, however, when the questions probed more deeply. While 48 per cent of those polled were able to identify John the Baptist as Jesus’ cousin, only 22 per cent knew that Jesus, Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt to escape Herod’s massacre of the innocents.

Biblical literacy also varied from region to region, with those living in the Midlands emerging as the most knowledgeable in the Bible, followed by Wales and the South West, the South East and Northern England respectively. Scotland knew the least about the Christmas story with the lowest average number of correct answers given.

Full story at Christian Today.