There has been a sharp decline in the proportion of Americans who believe the biblical account of the Christmas story, a new survey suggests.
While nine in 10 will celebrate Christmas in some form this year just over half think key aspects to the Bible's Nativity story are true, such as Jesus being born to a virgin, laid in a manger, wise men bringing gifts after being guided to him by a star and angels appearing to shepherds.
Researchers at the Washington-based Pew Research Center describe the drop as 'one of the most striking changes in recent years' as 57 per cent said they believed four central aspects to the biblical account. This compared to 65 per cent just three years ago in 2014.
While the rise in religious 'nones' – those with no belief in God – partly explains this drop, a significant fall in the number of self-described Christians who say they don't believe the biblical Nativity account furthered the trend.
The shares of Christians who believe in the virgin birth, the visit of the Magi, the announcement of Jesus' birth by an angel and the baby Jesus lying in the manger have all dropped in recent years. Overall, the proportion of Christians who believe in all four of these elements of the Christmas story has dipped from 81 per cent in 2014 to 76 per cent today. This decline has been particularly pronounced among white mainline Protestants, 71 per cent of whom believe in the virgin birth for instance, compared to 83 per cent in 2014.
The US' increasingly secular approach to Christmas was further emphasised as more than a quarter said no Christian symbols whatsoever should be allowed on government property, a rise of six points from 2014, and another third said Christmas symbols should only be allowed if they go alongside other displays from other faiths.
It comes after Donald Trump vowed to end the so-called 'War on Christmas' and he gleefully told supporters in Missouri last week: 'I told you that we would be saying Merry Christmas again, right?'
Although Barack Obama wished Americans 'Merry Christmas' every year of his presidency, Trump has whipped up a conservative notion that Christians were being banned from using the phrase.
However the study by Pew, released on Tuesday, revealed fewer and fewer Americans care whether they are greeted with 'Merry Christmas' or another more secular phrase like 'Season's Greetings' or 'Happy Holidays'.
Now more than half of Americans say they don't mind which greeting is used when they walk into a shop and just a third say prefer 'Merry Christmas'. This is a dramatic change from when Pew asked the same question in 2012 and found opinion evenly split between those who did not mind and those who preferred 'Merry Christmas'.
Similarly while most Americans agree that the religious aspects of Christmas are less emphasised than they once were, only 31 per cent said they were bothered by this trend.
