Poll: Half of Brits Mistrust Pastors and Priests
The new archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, gestures after being enthroned during a ceremony at Canterbury Cathedral, in Canterbury, Southern England, March 21. A new poll shows 54 percent of Britons believe the Church of England has struggled to give moral leadership to its constituency. (Reuters/Gareth Fuller/Pool )
Only around a half of Britons trust the clergy to tell the truth, and a similar proportion think the Church of England does a bad job of providing moral leadership, a poll showed on Sunday.
The survey by pollster YouGov commissioned by Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper further showed that 69 percent of respondents thought the Church of England, mother church of the world’s 80-million-strong Anglican communion, was out of touch.
Forty percent of those polled said they did not trust priests, vicars and other clergy to tell the truth, and overall doctors, teachers and judges were rated as more trustworthy.
Fifty-four percent believe the Church of England has struggled to give moral leadership, the poll found.














