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| Anglican clergy Source: News |
Yes, we are a Christian country despite claims to the contrary following a poll by The Times which suggested that "three quarters of Church of England priests say Britain can no longer be described as a Christian country".
The story had wide coverage from Daily mail to The Christian Post among many others. The latest article comes from News which claims to provide 'information and analysis on the life of the Church'.
Their analysis gives rise to the false claim that "The clergy of the Communion of Anglican Churches in England are overwhelmingly supportive of the idea of completely ignoring biblical teaching on sexual morality. This is what emerges from a large-scale poll carried out by the London newspaper The Times, the results of which were published on August 29, 2023.
"The last similar poll was in 2014. The current poll shows a significant shift in opinion among English clergy regarding sexual morality over the past 10 years. The Bishop of Leeds, Nick Baines, told The Times the survey showed pastors faced the same problems as society as a whole."
But hang on a minute. The Times sent their questionnaire to 5,000 Church of England clergy of whom only 1,200 responded.
The responders then became the sample giving rise to the misleading claims which have been appearing in the media as fact.
The Rev Dr Ian Paul gives a detailed account of the 'survey' in his blog Psephizo while psephologist the Rev Peter Ould says "Anecdotally I've heard lots of clergy who refused to do the survey because they weren't sure whether results would be used against them personally, or they thought questions were biased." A sad reflection on the state of the Church of England today,
Meanwhile Jacob Rees-Mogg blasts a ‘defeatist’ Church of England amid 'Christianity failures'.
