Americans Belief in the Ressurection of Christ Plummets

CNS News has the details...

A study released by the Rasmussen Reports polling firm on Good Friday found that 64% of Americans believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. While Americans who believe in the resurrection remain in the majority, that number is down significantly when compared to a Rasmussen Poll that asked the same question, released a year ago. On April 7th, 2012 Rasmussen released a poll finding that 77% of Americans believed the resurrection of Christ to be historical fact. The difference between the two polls shows a 13 percentage point drop in the number of Americans who believe that Christ rose from the dead, since last Easter. Additionally, this year's poll found that 19% of Americans reject the central tenet of the Christian faith and do not believe that Christ was resurrected. That's compared to only 7% who said they didn't believe that Christ rose from the dead a year ago. A staggering 12 percentage point jump.

I don't find the general trend of the loss of faith to be such a surprise, after all we have been witnessing this same trend across the pond in Europe now for a few decades. What is shocking to me is the disparity in numbers in such a short time. I'll be interested to see next years numbers around Easter time to see if this trend continues, or if this sample was an anomaly.