A new campaign, aimed at one million young people, will urge parents to read, listen to or watch Bible stories with their children.
The Bible Society is launching its ‘Pass It On’ campaign amidst a rise in TV and film adaptations of biblical stories.
The Society’s Chief Executive, James Catford, said the “campaign is about the people that count in children’s lives helping to keep the Bible alive for many generations to come”.
Values
The Daily Telegraph reports that the campaign organisers are talking with children’s authors to release print adaptations of Biblical stories.
New apps for iPads and other tablet devices are also understood to be in the works.
Underlying the initiative is an aim to capture the attention of a “time-poor generation”, who according to Catford, “spend more than an average working week on computers and other devices”.
Blockbusters
The campaign will move to capitalise on upcoming Hollywood adaptations retelling the stories of Noah and Moses.
Catford said: “Blockbuster films and TV interpretation are testament to the fact that it is a book filled with exciting stories that have inspired children and adults for generations”.
The Telegraph reports on research commissioned by the Society – which is yet to be published – that found British adults who recognise scriptural themes and stories to be in the minority.
Santa
A recent ComRes survey of over 2,000 people revealed that 12 per cent of Londoners think Santa is in the Bible.
Over 80 per cent of the public believe that three kings visited Jesus, despite the Gospels only mentioning “wise men from the East”.
Describing the rate at which the Bible is read Catford said, “more than four in five never, or hardly ever, choose to open its pages. Only one in ten reads it regularly”.
Courts
“Despite being the world’s all-time bestseller, the Bible today faces its greatest challenges in the UK for centuries”, Catford added.
Last year, magistrates debated a motion to replace the swearing of oaths on the Bible with a promise to “sincerely tell the truth”.
The Magistrates’ Association – which represents more than 80 per cent of the 23,000 magistrates in England and Wales – rejected the proposal.