Premier St Pauls Survey

 Survey of UK Christians on behalf of Premier

Date Published: 20 Dec 2011

Categories: Financial Services | Public and communities | Social | Third Sector | UK

Description

 ‘Church mishandled Occupy London protests’ says UK Christian community

New ComRes poll reveals Christians are unhappy with the Church’s handling of the ‘Occupy London’ protest

 

According to a new public opinion poll, 2 in 3 (66%) Christians believe the Church of England has mishandled its response to the ‘Occupy London’ protests.

The poll conducted by ComRes on behalf of the Premier Christian Media Trust, also revealed similar strength of opinion in relation to the Church of England’s communication with the media regarding the protestors. More than half of Christians surveyed (56%) thought that the way in which the Church of England communicated with the media on this matter was poor;  only 12%  disagreed.

The Christian community also agrees that the Church of England should do more to speak out against the financial sector (63%), compared to just 1 in 5 (22%) respondents who disagreed.

Peter Kerridge CEO of Premier Christian Media Trust said;

“The Church of England found themselves in a difficult position when taken by surprise by the protestors encampment. However the Bishop of London’s intervention did make a positive difference to what could have become a truly disastrous situation.

The results clearly shows that Christians believe the Church could have responded better to the protestors, as well as doing more to combat corruption within some parts of the financial sector.

Even David Cameron, recently acknowledged that the absence of a Christian moral code allowed some bankers and politicans to behave immorally to the detriment of British society. The Prime Minister’s speech has now given the Church of England  the perfect opportunity to take a stand against this corruption on behalf of the Christian community and beyond.”

Methodology Note: ComRes surveyed 559 UK Christians on Cpanel between 2^nd and 14^th December 2011 by online questionnaire. Data were weighted by denomination to reflect the composition of the UK Christian population according to the 2005 Church Census. ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.  Full data tables available at www.comres.co.uk.