Do you believe in elves? OK, what about angels?
When I was Father Christmas at the bazaar of my granddaughter’s nursery, I was supported by a green-clad elf – but he did look remarkably like the 10 year old son of one of the nursery workers. However, there is a news item today explaining that opposition to a new road in Iceland is based in part on concern about disruption to the elf environment. According to this piece, a recent survey found that 62% of the respondents thought it was at least possible that elves exist.
Silly Icelanders? When let’s move here to Britain and consider belief in angels and such-like notions. According to a recent poll commissioned by the Christian think tank Theos:
- A majority of people (59%) are believers in the existence of some kind of spiritual being, 30% believe in God “as a universal life force”, 30% in spirits, 25% in angels, and 12% in “a higher spiritual being that can’t be called God.”
- Nearly two in five people believe in the existence of a soul (39%), 32% in life after death, 26% in heaven, 16% in reincarnation, 13% in hell, and 13% in the power of deceased ancestors. In total, over half the British public (54%) holds at least one of these spiritual beliefs.
Can we really assert that there is more evidence – and I do mean evidence – for the existence of angels than there is for the presence of elves? And how is it that twice as many people believe in heaven as accept the notion of hell? And what happened to purgatory? Maybe, just maybe, there is no substantive and convincing evidence for any of these beliefs – but they are comforting, especially at a time like Christmas.
Just off to prepare the chimney for Santa’s arrival …