I just read this interesting article that came out yesterday on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) news website. The ABC is a government-funded public corporation: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/pro ... ns/6367512
What does Easter mean to modern Christians?
Christians are more polarised than they have ever been, according to a recent representative poll commissioned by the Centre for Public Christianity (CPX).
While the survey found strong evidence of ‘enduring Christian belief’ such that 23 per cent believed the Bible to be the word of God, it also found that 35 per cent found the Bible to be nothing more than myths.
While 52 per cent of Australians believe in the classical creator God, 48 per cent have never believed in such a god. The central Easter event of Jesus’ resurrection garnered 21 per cent of believers, while 13 per cent said he never lived at all.
McCrindle research surveyed more than 1,000 people from across Australia on behalf of the Centre for Public Christianity and found that while 52% of Aussies believe in the “classical creator God”, 48% have either never believed in this God, or no longer do.
The same cannot be said for belief in Jesus. According to the poll, only 21% of those surveyed are confident the resurrection happened, and 13% don’t think Jesus even lived. And a significant 60% believe the Bible is a book of myths.
Director of the Centre for Public Christianity (CPX), Simon Smart says the findings indicate that Australians are moving away from conventional spiritual beliefs.
“When we first started CPX eight years ago now, we had this sense that on the horizon you could sense a looming collapse of widespread Christian belief and this sort of survey is indicative of that collapse coming in a more dramatically rapid fashion than even we had imagined.”
Interesting times!
It is really important, in life, to concentrate our minds on our enthusiasms, not on our dislikes. -- Roger Pearse
"Director of the Centre for Public Christianity (CPX), Simon Smart says the findings indicate that Australians are moving away from conventional spiritual beliefs". Moving away from conventional spiritual beliefs? or coming to grips with reality? Dead men don't rise from graves. As an Australian, I'm embarrassed that 21% of my fellow countrymen actually believe Jesus rose from the dead.
My study list: https://www.facebook.com/notes/scott-bignell/judeo-christian-origins-bibliography/851830651507208
A Good Friday article on mythicism in the Daily Mail.
'Jesus is a MYTH': Christ stories appeared decades after his 'death' - and he was probably many people rather than just one, atheist writer claims
...Atheist writer David Fitzgerald claims there is no evidence Jesus existed
...Historical researcher Michael Paulkovich has claimed that Jesus of Nazareth did not exist after being unable to find any verifiable mention of Christ in historical texts by 126 writers during the ‘time of Jesus’ from the first to third centuries.
...Rather than being born in a stable to a carpenter father, Jesus was actually the son of a successful, middle-class and highly intellectual architect.
...This claim comes from biblical scholar Dr Adam Bradford,
GakuseiDon wrote:I just read this interesting article that came out yesterday on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) news website. The ABC is a government-funded public corporation: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/pro ... ns/6367512
What does Easter mean to modern Christians?
Christians are more polarised than they have ever been, according to a recent representative poll commissioned by the Centre for Public Christianity (CPX).
While the survey found strong evidence of ‘enduring Christian belief’ such that 23 per cent believed the Bible to be the word of God, it also found that 35 per cent found the Bible to be nothing more than myths.
While 52 per cent of Australians believe in the classical creator God, 48 per cent have never believed in such a god. The central Easter event of Jesus’ resurrection garnered 21 per cent of believers, while 13 per cent said he never lived at all.
McCrindle research surveyed more than 1,000 people from across Australia on behalf of the Centre for Public Christianity and found that while 52% of Aussies believe in the “classical creator God”, 48% have either never believed in this God, or no longer do.
The same cannot be said for belief in Jesus. According to the poll, only 21% of those surveyed are confident the resurrection happened, and 13% don’t think Jesus even lived. And a significant 60% believe the Bible is a book of myths.
Director of the Centre for Public Christianity (CPX), Simon Smart says the findings indicate that Australians are moving away from conventional spiritual beliefs.
“When we first started CPX eight years ago now, we had this sense that on the horizon you could sense a looming collapse of widespread Christian belief and this sort of survey is indicative of that collapse coming in a more dramatically rapid fashion than even we had imagined.”
Interesting times!
Good news. Sounds like Australia's turned the page.
“The only sensible response to fragmented, slowly but randomly accruing evidence is radical open-mindedness. A single, simple explanation for a historical event is generally a failure of imagination, not a triumph of induction.” William H.C. Propp
There's 23,100,000 people in Australia according to the Internet.
Extrapolating the poll to the general population, 13% would be over 2,300,000 people who are "Christ mythicists."
This, once again, demonstrates that American Bible scholars are among the most insulated, misinformed, and out-of-it people on the planet, almost as if they were monks in some remote monastery. Ehrman was shocked to meet mythicists in Sweden. Anthony LeDonne called Carrier "one of the few people in the world who believes Jesus never existed."
“The only sensible response to fragmented, slowly but randomly accruing evidence is radical open-mindedness. A single, simple explanation for a historical event is generally a failure of imagination, not a triumph of induction.” William H.C. Propp
Blood wrote:There's 23,100,000 people in Australia according to the Internet.
Extrapolating the poll to the general population, 13% would be over 2,300,000 people who are "Christ mythicists."
I'd be interested in knowing which Christ myth the majority of them thinks applies. My guess is it is more like something that is in the Zeitgeist movie, than the celestial Jesus version.
It is really important, in life, to concentrate our minds on our enthusiasms, not on our dislikes. -- Roger Pearse
