Most Americans believe in Christmas story

[TerryOfromCA]

O Holy Night! Most Americans believe in Christmas story
Catholic News Agency: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/o-holy-night-most-americans-believe-in-christmas-story-68564/

Washington D.C., Dec 16, 2014 / 04:01 pm (CNA).- Christmas carols echo reality for most Americans, who believe in the historical accuracy of several Gospel descriptions of the birth of Jesus Christ.

The Pew Research Center’s survey, published Dec. 15, found “widespread belief in the Biblical Christmas story.”

About 73 percent of all respondents said they believe Jesus Christ was born to a virgin, while 74 percent believe an angel announced Jesus’ birth to shepherds, 75 percent believe in the visit of the wise men, and 81 percent believe the infant Jesus was laid in a manger.

About 86 percent of the survey’s Catholic respondents said they believe in the Virgin Birth, compared with 91 percent of Protestants. About 90 percent of Catholics said they believe angels announced Jesus Christ’s birth to shepherds. Ninety-two percent of Catholic respondents said Jesus was laid in a manger, while 84 percent believe that wise men, guided by a star, brought gifts to Jesus.

Women and older respondents were somewhat more likely to profess their belief in the Virgin Birth, as were frequent church attendees and those who had a high school education or less.

Even among those with no religious affiliation, about 30 percent believe in the Virgin Birth.

The survey of 1,507 U.S. adults was conducted Dec. 3-7. It claims a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points for the entire sample

[SVPete]

I find those stats somewhat surprising (FWIW, I'm an Evangelical Christian). I wonder if the ~1500 sample size yields a more coarse resolution than the stated +/-2.9% margin of error. "Protestant" encompasses a very wide range of theological perspectives: Unitarians and United Church of Christ people might be more likely to believe in UFOs than in a God who is a person distinct from the universe; at the other end of the spectrum are people whose faithfulness of belief in what the Bible teaches is pretty much only limited by their personal knowledge and human understanding.

While the Catholic Church is one organization, it also has a lot of variation from parish to parish (some are very New-Agey, some quite orthodox), and of course there are "Cafeteria Catholics" and Christmas-and-Easter Catholics (I'm not being critical, just pointing out reality I've "observed" second-hand).

Going back to Protestants, even sampling Protestants by Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Episcopalian, Lutheran, etc. can be misleading. Among Baptists, the American Baptist Church is liberal theologically, while the Southern Baptists are theologically conservative. Among Lutherans, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is quite liberal (Abortionist George Tiller was an active member of an ELCA congregation), while the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (in which I grew up) and Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod are quite conservative theologically. There is a similar circumstance among Presbyterians, and the United Methodists and Episcopalians are going through liberal-conservative conflicts.

My point isn't a litany of the conflicts among Protestants or the corresponding stuff in the Catholic Church, but to point out potential sources of error in the poll that would be difficult for the pollsters to compensate for, and possibly even to recognize. My opinion, which isn't worth much, is that the poll puts acceptance of those various teachings 10%-15% too high. If that ~75%-~80% is real there are a lot of Americans whose way of life does not at all reflect their beliefs.

[Ptarmigan]

I find those stats somewhat surprising (FWIW, I'm an Evangelical Christian). I wonder if the ~1500 sample size yields a more coarse resolution than the stated +/-2.9% margin of error. "Protestant" encompasses a very wide range of theological perspectives: Unitarians and United Church of Christ people might be more likely to believe in UFOs than in a God who is a person distinct from the universe; at the other end of the spectrum are people whose faithfulness of belief in what the Bible teaches is pretty much only limited by their personal knowledge and human understanding.

While the Catholic Church is one organization, it also has a lot of variation from parish to parish (some are very New-Agey, some quite orthodox), and of course there are "Cafeteria Catholics" and Christmas-and-Easter Catholics (I'm not being critical, just pointing out reality I've "observed" second-hand).

Going back to Protestants, even sampling Protestants by Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Episcopalian, Lutheran, etc. can be misleading. Among Baptists, the American Baptist Church is liberal theologically, while the Southern Baptists are theologically conservative. Among Lutherans, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is quite liberal (Abortionist George Tiller was an active member of an ELCA congregation), while the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (in which I grew up) and Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod are quite conservative theologically. There is a similar circumstance among Presbyterians, and the United Methodists and Episcopalians are going through liberal-conservative conflicts.

My point isn't a litany of the conflicts among Protestants or the corresponding stuff in the Catholic Church, but to point out potential sources of error in the poll that would be difficult for the pollsters to compensate for, and possibly even to recognize. My opinion, which isn't worth much, is that the poll puts acceptance of those various teachings 10%-15% too high. If that ~75%-~80% is real there are a lot of Americans whose way of life does not at all reflect their beliefs.

I would generally be careful with polls.

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)-Mainline Protestant and more liberal.
Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)-Not Mainline Protestant and more conservative.
There are more Presbyterian Churches, but those two are the largest.

Unitarian is not Protestant, it is Nontrinitarian along side with Jehovah's Witness, Mormon, Christian Scientists, etc.

[SVPete]

I would generally be careful with polls.

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)-Mainline Protestant and more liberal.
Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)-Not Mainline Protestant and more conservative.
There are more Presbyterian Churches, but those two are the largest.

Unitarian is not Protestant, it is Nontrinitarian along side with Jehovah's Witness, Mormon, Christian Scientists, etc.

I'm well aware of the beliefs - to the degree they have any - of the U-Us, and though they grew out of Protestantism, I consider them out of Protestantism. But awareness of religious teachings and history is pretty minimal - and maybe even scarce - in the MSM, and I think it probable that if the pollsters had U-U respondents, the U-U person(s) would have been classified as "Protestant". For that matter, the pollsters probably would have classified Mormons and witnesses as "Protestant"; not sure about Christian Science practitioners.

It's interesting that you group Mormons as non-Trinitarian. I agree, but as the saying goes, "It's complicated."