The majority of people in Britain do not believe the Biblical story of the birth of Jesus, a new survey has revealed. The survey, in which 43 per cent of respondents called themselves Christian, clearly showed that two thirds or 70 per cent of people were sceptical of the baby's birth in a manger to virgin mother Mary. In fact, according to the poll, young people were particularly doubtful about the nativity, with 78 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds saying that they were not convinced of its historical reliability, the British media reported. The survey, commissioned by the St Helen's Church in London, was based on a poll of around 1,000 people carried out by the British Marketing Research Bureau. According to Rev Charlie Skrine, Curate of the church, the survey showed that "most of the United Kingdom believes that the accounts of Jesus's birth aren't good history". "Combined with a general lack of understanding about the real meaning of Christmas, this leaves people without the hope that Jesus offers. This year we wanted to raise awareness about the true meaning of Christmas - that God became a human being to make himself known to us and eventually to die on a cross to bring forgiveness of our sins," he said. According to Simon Gathercole, a new testament scholar at Cambridge University, people were sceptical as they're not aware that the origins of Christianity were actually anchored in real history. "Jesus was born while Augustus was emperor of Rome just before Herod died. We're talking about events that are anchored in real history not in ancient Greek myths," he said.
