UK 'lacking nativity knowledge'

Ed: Something to bear in mind at the carol service. Most people won't know who "Royal David" was, much less which was his town, and why it mattered that Jesus was born there. But then it reminds me of the time a speaker said in a talk to us clergy back in the 1980s, "Now to understand the next bit of my talk, you have to understand how the Old Testament holds together. You do understand that, don't you?" We didn't, but he took five minutes to explain it to us.

More than a quarter of adults in Britain do not know where Jesus was born, a survey has suggested.

The poll found that 27% of people were unable to identify Bethlehem as his birthplace, rising to 36% of people aged between 18 and 24.

The poll, for public theology think tank Theos, also found 27% did not know who told Mary she would have a son.

Last week a Sunday Telegraph survey suggested only one in five schools is planning a traditional nativity play.

The majority of the 1,015 adults questioned, 52%, could not name John the Baptist as Jesus's cousin.

When asked where Joseph, Mary and Jesus went to escape from King Herod - which was Egypt - more than three quarters of people, 78%, gave the wrong answer.

The majority, 52%, thought they escaped to Nazareth.

Only 12% of adults could answer all four questions about the Christmas story correctly.

Theos said the findings showed the Christmas story was still "very much" in the "cultural bloodstream" of the nation. Read more
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