This post, authored by Harry Phibbs ,was republished with permission from The Daily Sceptic
Some good news from the Church of England, that you might have missed. Eighty per cent of the population correctly identified the phrase “Give us this day our daily bread” as being from The Lord’s Prayer.
Polling for the Church of England by Savanta found that among seven famous phrases it had the highest recognition rate.
It beat “To be or not to be” from Hamlet. The opening to Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. “Never in the field of human conflict, was so much owed by so many to so few” – Churchill’s verdict on the Battle of Britain. “You’ll never walk alone” which was a hit for Gerry and the Pacemakers. “May the force be with you” from Star Wars and “Happy and glorious/Long to reign over us,” from the National Anthem.
Monarchists might be mildly encouraged that the phrase from the National Anthem, correctly identified by 63% of respondents, beat Gerry and Pacemakers, who scored 58%.
The survey then proceeded to ask specifically about The Lord’s Prayer. Overall, 89% of those surveyed said they had previously heard of it. It found that 26% pray using The Lord’s Prayer (whether reciting it or silently) “daily or almost daily”.
Of course, although the Anglicans stumped up to pay for the polling, that’s also encouraging for the Roman Catholics, the Baptists, the Methodists and orthodox and the other Christian denominations for which those words are a central part of their faith. A 2024 YouGov poll for the Bible Society found 12% of the population attend church at least monthly. Up from eight per cent in 2018 but still a small minority.
The lack of churchgoers is often cited as evidence that we have become a secular nation. It would seem, though, that quite a chunk of the population that can’t face going to Church, for whatever reason, is still sneakily praying on the quiet.
Anyway, according to the Savanta survey, all respondents – whether Christians or not – were read each line of The Lord’s Prayer and asked if they understood it. There are plenty of aspects of Christian theology which are hard to follow – this is continually acknowledged from the pews as the “peace of God which passeth all understanding”.
But The Lord’s Prayer was considered to be clear enough. “Hallowed be thy name,” was the trickiest bit. But even that was judged “easy to understand” by 65% and “challenging to understand” by just 13%. “And lead us not into temptation” and “But deliver us from evil” were considered easy to understand by 80%, with just 8% finding those phrases “challenging to understand”.
Another question found that “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us” came top with 43% when respondents were asked which lines were particularly meaningful to them.
So, these are all findings that should give Anglicans a much-needed confidence boost. But I wonder if all the high-ups are rejoicing. In fairness, the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, did say of The Lord’s Prayer that “though ancient, its words continue to resonate with people of all faiths and none”.
Yet I have some suspicions of the motives of those who commissioned the polling. What were they hoping to find? They are not usually keen to stress how “ancient” language “resonates”. More often, they are looking to banish it for the sake of “modernisation” and to allow for the Church’s faith to avoid being “rigid” but instead “updated” to suit passing fashions.
The Lord’s Prayer was first published in English in William’s New Testament translation in 1526 from the Greek. The version we are all so familiar with comes from the 1662 version of Thomas Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer. While modern church services have usually ditched the BCP for an insipid new version, they found The Lord’s Prayer too tough a nut to crack. A couple of tiresome tweaks were brought in, which parishioners routinely ignore – “on earth” rather than “in earth” and “those that trespass” rather than “them that trespass”. Amidst the sanitised mush of the rest of a Holy Communion service, its powerful lines have largely survived.
Imagine if the Anglican bureaucrats had got the polling they were secretly hoping for? That The Lord’s Prayer was just obscure mumbo jumbo that if the punters recognised at all felt it left them befuddled? The arrogant clerics would have seized on the findings to offer an “improved” version. That what Jesus Christ said might have been all very well at the time, but we need to move on, put a contemporary interpretation on it. Praying for an end to climate change, equal distribution of wealth and equality and inclusion. A church service would become just another quango training session.
It’s not just The Lord’s Prayer, of course. There is a greater likelihood of hearing the words of The Prayer Book by going to see the latest Hollywood blockbuster than by going to Church.
Suppose you’re a film director (of any religious belief or none) and you’re including a wedding scene. Or a funeral. Which version would you prefer to have the service begin with? Just compare the power of the language from the BCP against, say, Common Worship. It is not even close. Cranmer turns out to have become one of the greatest screenwriters in the business. How perverse that the Church of England has largely ditched this extraordinary inheritance. But how satisfying that their cunning wheeze to complete their awful mission by ditching the Lord’s Prayer has backfired so emphatically.
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