Poll finds some Anglican priests do not believe in God

Women priests of the Church of England gather at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. AFP

LONDON–Two percent of Anglican clergy do not believe in God, according to a poll on Tuesday in which dozens of respondents said they were “not sure ‘God’ is more than a human construct”.

Asked to choose the statement that most closely resembled their beliefs, nine percent also chose the phrase “No-one can know what God is like”.

The overwhelming majority, 83 percent, chose: “There is a personal God”, while three percent went for: “There is some sort of spirit or life force”.

The survey of 1,500 Anglican clergy in Britain and Ireland by the polling company YouGov and the University of Lancaster was carried out in August and September.

David Paterson, a retired Church of England priest from the Sea of Faith network which rejects the traditional belief in one personal God and claims to represent dozens of vicars, said he saw no contradiction.

“I preach using God’s terminology but never with the suggestion that God actually exists,” he told the University Times, Trinity College Dublin’s newspaper.