Over half of Britons believe Jesus rose from the dead

New research from Theos indicates that more than half of us here in the UK believe that Jesus rose from the dead. But only half of those (~30% of the total sample) accept the traditional Christian belief in the bodily resurrection of Christ and the rest (27%) believe that Jesus rose in spirit form.

If the research is accurate - and there is no reason to think it not - I wonder how these millions of people will react to The Passion, the BBC's new production about the last week in Jesus' life.

Well, we'll start finding out from this Palm Sunday evening, when the first episode of four airs. The final episode is on Easter Sunday, with the two and a half hours of the preceeding episodes repeated beforehand.

With a number of resurrection appearances, the final episode is sure to drive many a conversation across the country about the possibility of life after death.

At the same time, the HopeInfo.co.uk website - the online public face of Hope 2008 - releases a new film of its own dealing with the question of life after death. It includes vox pops filmed recently in which people give their reactions to questions about death.

Poverty and Justice Bible

Bible Society have launched The Poverty and Justice Bible, a new resource that (literally) highlights verses in the Bible that show what it has to say about poverty and justice.

Find out more about this new version of the Bible at www.povertyandjusticebible.org/

This Contemporary English Version translation could well be a helpful resource for people who care deeply about the extreme suffering in the world and can't reconcile that with the existence of a loving God.