Birth, rebirth, resurrection

I think the idea might have  been to come up with a story that would somehow connect the supermarket chain Somerfield in the public mind with buying chocolate eggs while celebrating the sacramental mystery of Easter. But it all went a little bit wrong. The Church of England is predicting the best attendances since the millennium this Easter. Sales of chocolate are also soaring. But I fear it might have been a mistake to try to connect the two.

The first press release sent out by Brando PR reported the discovery that 26 per cent of young adults did not know what Easter was about. It celebrates the “birth” of Jesus, stated Somerfield.

They quickly corrected the error.

More than a quarter of British people do not know why handing out Easter eggs symbolises the “rebirth” of Christ, stated the second version.

The release's author Hayley Booth, 30, who is privately educated, added an explanatory note to the second version: “Please find below the amended story revealing Britons’ mounting ignorance regarding Easter. Note the references to rebirth (not birth) as previously stated. Apologies for any confusion.”

A journalist queried the new version. After hurried consultations with the Church of England, Brando PR tried again. “Please find below the amended story revealing Britons’ mounting ignorance regarding Easter. Note the amended references to resurrection (not rebirth) as previously stated.”

I did wonder whether this was a spectacularly cunning PR stunt. But Pete Williams, head of press and PR at Somerfield headquarters in Bristol, said the mistake was nothing more than a “typo”. He added: “We actually spoke to the Church of England press office who suggested we use the word resurrection, in keeping with the Church’s teaching. We were happy to do that.” And Ben Wilson, in the Church of England press office, said: “We don’t wish to pour scorn on them. It was a genuine mistake, if a rather unfortunate one given the theme of their press release. I clarified with them that it would probably be best to refer to Easter as a celebration of Christ’s resurrection rather than his birth. Happy Christmas, Ruth.”

This story rather illustrates the truth of the Tearfund research that came out at about the same time. Two-thirds of people living in the UK have no connection with church or with worship in any other religion, according to the poll of 7,000 adults.But nearly three million people say they would attend church if they were given the “right invitation”, according to the survey.

Of the 32.2 million people with no religious connection, half had never been in their lives and half had been in the past but had left. The report says: “This secular majority presents a major challenge to churches. Most of them - 29.3 million - are unreceptive and closed to attending church. Churchgoing is simply not on their agenda.” The “devoted core” of churchgoers were most likely to be women, from the A and B social groups, to be aged over 55 or to be of black ethnic origin. The highest churchgoing rate of 45 per cent was in Northern Ireland and second highest in London at 22 per cent.

Matthew Frost, chief executive of Tearfund, said: “What is clear from this survey is that the UK is holding firmly to the Christian faith.” Writing in a foreword to the report, the Dr Steven Croft, leader of the Fresh Expressions initiative, an Anglican and Methodist project to encourage new forms of attracting people to church, said: “A very substantial part of the population in the UK still attends church regularly or occasionally during the year. Christians are not, as yet, the tiny minority that some would suggest. This statistic alone has major implications not only for the churches but for public debate and public policy.”

The Rev Lynda Barley, head of research and statistics for the Archbishops’ Council, said: “Britain at the beginning of the twenty-first century is a nation seeking identity. “At first glance the past has been left behind to wholeheartedly embrace individual choice and secular consumerism prominently among its modern day gods. But research is beginning to show that there is more, far more, going on out of apparent sight in everyday life in Britain today.”

But the National Secular Society said: “They are deluded. There has been a decline in church attendance for 60 years. The age of attenders is getting older. The idea that all that needs to be done is to ask people to come back to church is laughable.”

Laughable? Eggstraordinary I'd say.

Comments

[Very Rude]

Basil, Atheism and multiculturalism are not related at all. As an atheist I get fed up of all the snivelling religious do-gooders who insist that opening our borders to all and sundry is the "Christian" thing to do.

Bob and David are correct. The Christians artfully subverted pagan beliefs, places and festivals to spread their own myths. The Venerable Bede stated this openly. Hence the abbeys built at pagan holy sites like Glastonbury and the takeover of festivals such as Easter.

[Ian]

In case readers are interested - the photo at the top of the article is of the giant Easter egg (Pysanka) in Vegreville, Alberta (Canada)

http://www.bigthings.ca/alberta/vegreville.html

[Martin]

""Then look at Easter. What means the term Easter itself? It is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, as pronounced by the people Nineveh, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country. That name, as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar.""

Utter, utter rubbish. The English word "Easter" comes from the name of the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre, who just happened to be celebrated at about the same time as the paschal feast. Every other language uses some variant of the Latin-derived "paschal". The idea that the word Easter has any Chaldaean origin is entirely fallacious: but then so is most of the ridiculous protestant nonsense spouted by the ridiculous David Smith.

[David Smith]

Peter Richardson:
'It is often said that Christianity adopted paganism, but I think it was more the other way.'

You are right. Paganism put on the 'clothes' of Christianity, and has successfully sold itself as being true Christianity. Thus millions have been denied the real thing or been put off it by a counterfeit that evidently does not make men any more holy or Godly than those of no, or other, faith.

[Basil]

Militant Islam is resurgent in Europe and the UK. Atheism (and multiculturalism its natural partner) is not able to deal with it effectively. We are giving up ground to the militants as a result. If we went back to being Christians then we would have the intellectual and spiritual tools to fight Islamism back and beat it!!

[Peter Richardson]

Interesting comment by David Smith about Astarte,or Ishtar as she was also known. It is often said that Christianity adopted paganism, but I think it was more the other way. Even the days of the week and the months are named after pagan gods. Interesting too is that God kicked the Hebrews out of the promised land because they went after "foreign gods" and broke their covenant, or contract, notably the Ten Commandments repeatedly. Their choice and they became a curse to His name,rather than a blessing. Christendom does not appear to have done much better, and God is nothing like Santa Claus.

[pete best]

Why would you want to be constrained by a God when you can have it all now on earth if you work hard at the alter of capatalism. Now is real and death is the end, or so people now believe.

[Bob Green]

Surely it is high time that Christians realised that the rest of society is able to see that the festivals , beliefs and traditions which we have always been taught to be Christian do in fact derive from other much more ancient sources.

The often conflicting selected texts Christians rely on are often of uncertain provenance and were written decades or centuries after supposed events took place.

A free society makes such information available and allows it to be the subject of debate and criticism , a process not favourable to authoritarian religious leaders or their followers.

Unless Christians are able to face up to and engage is such free open debate without resorting to the unfair protections afforded to religions , their credibility will further diminish and the drift away from their particular brand of superstition will rapidly increase.

Now to get back to the Earth Mother festival of Easter.....

[Andrew May]

It is a pity that the article ends on such a facetious note. In fact, there is nothing strange or extraordinary about the idea that people should be asked to come to church. At the core of Christianity is the idea of believers going out into the community and inviting people into the family of Christ's Church.

[David Smith]

Bloggers may be interested to know that the term 'easter', like the idea of eggs, is not Christian, but rather pagan. This festival has been introduced into the Christian calendar by the Roman Catholic Church, spiritual succesor to Babylon.

As Hislop, writing about the pagan origins of Easter in 'The Two Babylons' (full text available at www.biblebelievers.com), says: "Then look at Easter. What means the term Easter itself? It is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, as pronounced by the people Nineveh, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country. That name, as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar."

Queen of Heaven is one of Mary's (unbiblical) titles. So the Babylonian goddess is now worshipped in the Roman Catholic under the name of Mary. It is likely that this unbiblical Mary will become the figure around which the one-world religion that will compliment a one-world government, prophesied in Revelation and bringing together all the world's major religions, will be built.

[Malcolm McLean]

Few trends last for ever. Christianity is back in the news again, ironically, because of militant Islam. People like to feel that they are part of the times.

[Jonathan Castro]

Great will be the day when the church is no more!

[Robert Gallagher]

In Canada, we are really becoming a secular society. For example, there is a very strong trend to either have no funeral at all or just to have a secular gathering. Of course, there is still a vibrant Christian church here, but I am talking about the majority of people. It is really sad that children in Canada are growing up without a knowledge of Jesus Christ

[Martin]

"The National Secularist society have got a cheek"

They do seem to get quoted an awful lot in the media though, don't they? We should react against this distortion by dismissing them as irrelevant whenever they are mentioned. They are given an importance in the media which they do not merit.

[Margaret]

Jonathan, I am sure you feel happier with the antichurch society. It sounds a much more positive place to be.

[Martin]

"However I was never "saved"."

Given that I presume you are still alive, I don't know how you can yet know that!

[John Page]

The National Secularist society have got a cheek. They only have three thousand paid up members. When they reach the three million turning up to church, then they can start preaching to others.

[Recusant]

Jonathan, you and Fidel: are you related?

As to the solipsistic nature of your post, I am sure you are now out of your 'teens - try to act like it and give us an argument not just based on your anecdotal feelings and how they must, of course, apply universally.

[Jonathan]

You know, it's interesting comparing those sorts of statistics to the situation over here in the US.

I don't know the specific percentages here, but I'd hazard a guess that they're far far higher - and what's interesting, especially as a Brit living over here, is the way in which religion is viewed completely differently throughout society. It's not odd to be open about telling people you go to church or that you are a Christian - in fact, it's pretty much the opposite of the UK, where to some it would seem like a profanity to openly broadcast their faith.

This may all seem rather obvious, but it doesn't really hit home until you've actually spent some time out here...

[Jonathan Castro]

I have attended well over 100 churches in the past 30 years, and spent the same amount of time in prayer and Bible reading. However I was never "saved". Churchgoing is futile.

Jonathan Castro
www.antichurch.org.uk