A third of UK adult Christians say they have “never prayed for a miracle”, according to a new survey.
The ComRes poll, commissioned by BBC Local Radio, found that 37 per cent of people who identified as Christians said they had never prayed for a miracle while 59 per cent said they had. Of those who had prayed, 30 per cent said they didn’t see anything change as a result but a similar proportion – 29 per cent – said their prayer had been answered in the way they had hoped.
The survey also found that while 21 per cent of Christians believed that miracles like those performed by Jesus can and do still happen today, 17 per cent said they believed miraculous things happen without any rational explanation but that miracles like the ones Jesus performed are no longer available to people today and 40 per cent of those who identified as Christians said they believed miraculous things can happen but that they are not necessarily related to God. Nineteen per cent of those who said they were Christians said they did not believe in miracles in any form.
Just 19 per cent of those who identified as Christians said they believed the miracles of Jesus happened “word for word” as described in the Bible while 54 per cent said they believed Jesus “made miraculous things happen” but that the stories in the Bible contain “some content which should not be taken literally” and 22 per cent said they did not believe Jesus performed miracles in any form.
Interestingly, the greatest proportion of those who identified as Christian – 42 per cent – said they never attended religious services (excluding special circumstances) while 28 per cent said they attended once or twice a year. Twenty-five per cent said they attended services monthly and just 18 per cent said they attended services weekly.
The survey, which conducted in August, involved 2002 British adults who were interviewed over the telephone.
