Calum Miller has a depressing analysis of a recent Ipos poll, over at Apologetics UK.

Excerpt:

What is the greatest threat to Christianity in the UK? Secularism? Growing atheism? Loss of Christian tradition? Less people identifying as Christians?

For me, it is none of these. To the contrary, I think the greatest threat to Christianity in the UK is the presence of a ‘Christian’ tradition. Let me explain what I mean.

Ipsos MORI have just released survey results, taken from those who say they were recorded as Christian in the 2011 census, or who would have put themselves down as Christian.

To begin with, there are a few problems with the study: the obvious one is that this is not actually a survey of people who identify as Christians. Rather, it is a survey of people who were recorded as Christian – a lot of the respondents said they would not have filled in “Christian” if they filled it in themselves. So the results are probably not as bad as they come across. But nevertheless, I think there is serious cause for concern here.

Calum links to the full survey results, and then lists some of the answers that concerned him. I put the right answer in BOLD.

Here’s one:

Q19. Which of the following statements best describes YOUR personal view of God?

I believe in God and I believe that Christianity is just one way of knowing him 37%
I believe in God and I believe that Christianity is the only true way of knowing him 17%
I think of God as being the laws of nature and everything in the universe 13%
I don’t believe in God but think there may be some kind of supernatural intelligence out there 10%
I think of God as being whatever caused the universe 9%
I don’t believe in God 6%
None of these 1%
Don’t know 4%
Prefer not to say 2%

And here’s another:

Q49. When it comes to right and wrong, which of the following, if any, do you MOST look to for guidance?

My own inner moral sense 54%
Parents, family or friends 25%
Religious teachings and beliefs 10%
Philosophy and reason 7%
None of the above 2%
Don’t know 1%
Prefer not to say 1%

And one more:

Q51. Which is the ONE statement that BEST describes what being a Christian means to you personally?

I try to be a good person 40%
It’s how I was brought up 24%
I have accepted Jesus as my Lord and Saviour 15%
I believe in the teachings of Jesus 7%
It’s a British tradition 4%
It gives me hope in an afterlife 3%
Something else 0%
Don’t know 2%
Prefer not to say 4%

I do think it is important for us, in the church, to connect Christianity as much as possible with the real world. We need to make sure that people in the pews understand that what is backing up all of these assertions about God and Jesus and the Bible is the real world, including history. We aren’t just defining our dogma and setting it up against their dogma. We have to communicate to people that what we believe is objectively true, and knowable, and that it can be tested logically and evidentially, at least in some areas where testing is possible. If pastors don’t connect the words they speak and the words they read from the Bible with the real world out there, then people will just get the impression that Christianity is just a cultural thing.