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Survey finds many Church of England clergy doubt Resurrection and Virgin Birth
2002-190-4
8/9/2002
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[Episcopal News Service]
A new survey reveals that a third of clergy in the Church of England express doubts about the Resurrection and only about half believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus. The poll of 2,000 of the church's 10,000 clergy also found that about half believe that faith in Christ is the only route to salvation.
The survey, conducted by Christian Research, did reveal more orthodox beliefs on some of the other core doctrines of the church. More than 75 percent, for example, accept the doctrine of the Trinity and a similar percentage believe that Christ died to take away the sins of the world. More than 80 percent subscribed to the belief that God the Father created the world.
Cost of Conscience, the conservative organization that commissioned the survey, was quick to interpret the results. 'There are clearly two churches operating in the Church of England--the believing church and the disbelieving church, and that is a scandal,' said the Rev. Robbie Low. 'Increasingly, positions of authority are being placed in the hands of people who believe less and less. It is an intolerable situation where the faithful are increasingly being led by the unfaithful.'
In other findings, the survey showed that a quarter of the clergy still described themselves as 'implacably opposed' to women bishops.
The Rev. Nicholas Henderson, general secretary of the liberal Modern Churchpeople's Union, said that he was not surprised by the results. He said that clergy, faced with intelligent and educated congregations, increasingly had to think 'very carefully' about how to present complex doctrine in a credible way.
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