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However, Tony wrongly attributes the survey that started his meditations to the Standard of London. Now there might be such a publication (even though I can't find it around) but the survey he refers to must, in fact, be one I'd just read a few hours earlier over at the Spectator of London. Registration is required to get into the site -- it's free and relatively quick -- but, after reading Tony's very good column, I thought you might be interested in some of the answers of that survey. The Spectator's survey actually consisted of one simple question: ‘Do you believe that Jesus physically rose from the dead?’ Here are a few of the responses:
Taki Theodo
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I like to believe it. No, I do believe it, and I believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. I was brought up as a very strict Greek Orthodox. I don’t think about it much. I don’t intellectualise it. I am very pagan that way.
The Most Reverend Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury
Thursday. Archbishop’s assistant: ‘He’s very busy but I’ll see what I can do.’
Friday. Archbishop’s assistant: ‘I’m afraid we don’t take part in compare-and-contrast surveys.’
The Spectator: ‘But we’re not comparing or contrasting anything. Please at least ask him.’
Monday. The Spectator: ‘Any luck with the Archbishop?’
Archbishop’s assistant: ‘Archbishop Rowan said to put him firmly in the “yes” camp. What were the follow-up questions?’
The Spectator: ‘No follow-up questions. Just the one about the Resurrection.’
Tuesday. Another assistant: ‘I’m afraid there won’t be a [further] quote from the Archbishop.
Keith Ward, Professor of Divinity at Gresham College, London, and emeritus student of Christ Church, Oxford
I am certain the apostles had visionary experiences of Jesus after his death. I think these were genuine. But though Jesus appeared in physical form, his mode of existence after death was not in physical space-time as we know it.
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Edward Stourton, reporter, broadcaster and author
Yes. I am pretty liberal in most Catholic matters, but I am old-fashioned about the Resurrection, because if it’s not true, what’s the point? Actually, it’s a non-controversial belief. If God intervenes in human history, there is absolutely nothing peculiar about his raising his son from the dead.
Christopher Howse, author and arts critic for the Telegraph
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(By the way, I posted earlier today a Christopher Howse book review on the Da Vinci Code over at The Book Den.)
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Sir Cliff Richard, pop music pioneer
Yes. For me the validity of the Christian faith stands or falls by the Resurrection. If it didn’t happen, then all we’ve got is a code of ethics. Good ones certainly, but we need more than ethics to change lives.
Richard Dawkins, evolutionary biologist
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Charles Moore, the former Editor (23 years) of the Telegraph
Yes: he overcame death, body and soul. However, this is a statement of belief, not science. If archaeologists could prove (which they won’t) that they had found the bones of Jesus in Jerusalem, Christianity would still be true. This sounds like a contradictory statement, but I do not think it is.
Paul Johnson, acclaimed historian and author
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I believe Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday and later appeared to St Peter, the other apostles and over 500 of the brethren, as recorded in St Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians. This triumph over death is an adumbration of our own entrance into eternal life.