Puzzled People

Do most people still believe in God, prayer, or an afterlife?

Searching for the answers, a topflight British opinion-sampling organization called Mass-Observation interviewed 500 people in a semi-suburban borough of London. The results, published in a book called Puzzled People (Victor Gollancz, 7s. 6d.), do not add up to a complete cross section of British religious thinking. Nonetheless, Puzzled People makes profitable reading for churchmen, sociologists and trendspotters in the U.S. as well as England. Highlights:

Belief in God. To the question, "Do you believe there is a God, or there isn't, or haven't you made up your mind?," approximately two-thirds of the men and four-fifths of the women classed themselves as believers, more or less. "One man in three and one woman in five expressed definite doubt. . . . Altogether, one in 20 . . . are uncompromising disbelievers in a deity, and these are mostly men."

Life after Death. Although "there is no significant difference among more and less educated people so far as expressed belief in God is concerned, there is a major difference in their attitude to life after death: 66% of those with secondary education say they believe in life after death; 41% of those with elementary education say [they believe]." Explains Mass-Observation: ". . . The greater disbelief of the less educated means that many of them have nothing to put in the place of hell fire and harps. . . ."

Prayer. "Nearly three men out of five, and more than one woman in five, say they never pray outside [church]. Identical proportions of the more and less educated say they pray. . . ."

Religion. "Thirty-six percent spontaneously define religion in terms of beliefs, faith and God; 32% spontaneously define it in terms of conduct; 14% spontaneously define it by criticising it." Mass-Observation reports "a slight tendency" for more educated people to define religion in terms of belief and the less educated in terms of behavior.

M-O on the results: "Ostensibly . . . minds are being cleared. But are they? If Christ was just a man, and Mary just a wife, if God is a likely probability and life after death a less likely one, then it is sensible enough not to trouble too much about these things. But if, in crises, the people who don't bother about God start praying . . . if, at funerals, the people who don't bother about life after death want assurance . . . then we may legitimately be suspicious. Are these minds clearer, or are they . . . less clear than ever?"

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