London - Church of England officials hurried to reassure the world's 70 million Anglicans that their leader really believed in Christ's resurrection, dismissing as "mischievous" a Sunday newspaper report that he doubted it. A church spokesman said the Mail on Sunday had taken out of context statements by Dr George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The newspaper said Dr Carey raised doubts about the central tenet of Christian belief by writing: "While we can be absolutely sure that Jesus lived and that he was certainly crucified on the cross, we cannot with the same certainty say that we know he was raised by God from the dead." In the same pamphlet, Dr Carey said he believed in Christ's resurrection, but the paper omitted that, the church spokesman said.