Poor grasp of Christianity in North, survey reveals

A survey of people's religious knowledge in the North throws "serious doubt on the claim that we are a Christian country", one of the three sponsors of the survey has claimed.

It follows a similar survey in the Republic last April, the findings of which were similar.

Stephen Cave of the (Protestant) Evangelical Alliance Northern Ireland, one of three groups that sponsored the survey, said its results "throw serious doubt on the claim that we are a Christian country".

David Quinn of the (Catholic) Iona Institute said the latest survey showed "that knowledge of Christianity, both North and South, is disappearing from general knowledge".

Seán Mullan of (Protestant) Evangelical Alliance Ireland said "the notion that Christianity can be transmitted through the culture from one generation to the next is clearly no longer valid".

The survey found that fewer than a third of people in Northern Ireland could recall the first commandment or name Martin Luther as the first Protestant reformer.

Just one in eight could name the changing of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ at Mass as "transubstantiation".

Generally, the survey found that levels of religious knowledge were lower in the North than in the Republic. It was lowest among the young, which was also the case in the Republic.

Involving 1,018 face-to-face interviews, the survey was conducted by Millward Brown Ulster. It found that 42 per cent in the North knew there were four gospels (52 per cent Catholic/36 per cent of Protestant), compared to 55 per cent in the Republic.

Among 16-24-year-olds just 21 per cent knew this.

Only 54 per cent (65 per cent Catholic/45 per cent Protestant) named the persons of the Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) in the North compared to 64 per cent in the Republic.

However, Northern Protestants scored highest when it came to naming the first book of the Bible (Genesis). On that question 60 per cent got it right in the North (68 per cent Protestant/54 per cent Catholic), compared to 52 per cent in the Republic.

Northerners also had a better knowledge of the first commandment - 31 per cent knew it, compared to 25 per cent in the South.