BRITAIN is still seen as a Christian country by more than three fifths of the public, according to a poll for the Easter weekend.

The Populus poll for The Times, undertaken at the beginning of this month, suggests that a belief in Christianity and the Easter story runs far ahead of the reality of church attendance. It is still part of the self-image of a majority of voters.

Sixty-three per cent say that they think of Britain as a Christian country. There is a direct correlation between age and these perceptions. Fewer than half (48 per cent) of 18 to 24 year-olds take this view, compared with roughly three quarters of 55 to 64 year-olds (72 per cent) and of over-65s (75 per cent).

This ties in with the findings of the 2001 Census which showed that nearly seven out ten people in England and Wales identified themselves as white Christians.

Moreover, a similar proportion of black people and a half of those of mixed ethnic backgrounds also identified themselves as Christians.

Fewer than two in five (37 per cent) say they will go to a church service at some point over Easter, and 61 per cent say that they will not go. Even so, these answers are almost certainly an exaggeration of probable church attendance (regularly fewer than one in ten on Sundays, though higher over Easter).

People aged between 18 and 24 are half as likely to say they will go to church as over-65s (23 to 50 per cent). However, more than half the public (55 per cent) say that they personally believe that the “Easter story that Jesus rose from the dead is true”. Personal belief in the Resurrection rises from 39 per cent among 18 to 24 year-olds to 64 per cent among the over-65 age group.

Women are significantly more likely than men to say they plan to go to church (42 against 33 per cent) and to believe in the Resurrection (60 against 48 per cent).

More than two thirds of the public (70 per cent) think that Muslims in Britain seem “to take their faith more seriously than Christians take theirs”.

Populus interviewed 1,045 adults by telephone across the country between April 2 and 4.

The poll was published as victims of war were remembered at services across the country to mark Good Friday.

In Westminster, more than 800 people took part in the annual procession along Victoria Street, taking in the Roman Catholic cathedral, Methodist Central Hall and Westminster Abbey.

The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, included the voiceless members of society, such as the homeless, poor and asylum-seekers in his reflection on peace. Speaking on the steps of Westminster Cathedral yesterday, he told the crowd not to give up hoping. Jesus also felt despair and abandonment at his Crucifixion, he said.

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