The celebration of Christmas Day and New Year's Eve has traditionally been a time when many Jamaicans attend a church service. But a Gleaner-commission poll suggests that most Jamaicans stayed away from church in the period between Christmas Day 2006 and January 1, 2007.

A total of 1,008 persons were interviewed by pollster Bill Johnson and his team in 84 communities across the island's 14 parishes between January 5 and 6. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus three per cent.

When asked, 'Did you go to church or other religious services for Christmas this year?', 43 per cent of the respondents said yes, while 57 per cent said no.

The Gleaner asked church leaders what these statistics reveal about church attendance at Christmas and New Year's Eve?

Dr. Anna Perkins, former dean of studies at St. Michael's Theological College, University of West Indies, Mona, said that having not seen comparative attendance figures for 2005 it was difficult to identify a trend in church attendance. Nevertheless, she said, "the expectation is that during high festivals (for example, Christ-mas, New Year's Eve, Easter) there will be a greater number of people in places of worship, certainly owing to the celebra-tory nature of the event and also because those occasions do call forth deeper reflection and a sense of newness and expectancy.

PERKINS

Let's face it, people need markers in their lives and given the nature of the church as an institution that both gives meaning to and celebrates such moments, increased attendance seems reasonable.

She expressed uncertainty about what the statistics surrounding the celebration of New Year's Eve indicated.

"If we take the 60 per cent that did celebrate, we see some interesting things. I would have assumed given the high crime rate in Jamaica that going out would have been reduced. However, using the celebration figures as 100 per cent of the sample, we see that 72 per cent of the group celebrated in some fashion outside their homes. Church attendance may have been the main means of celebration (32 per cent), but partying (25 per cent) comes close. Some people may want to interpret this as a sign of the churches' fading relevance to society; I'm not so sure.

"Churches continue to struggle to find innovative means of attracting persons to celebrate the New Year in a more "spiritual" (more traditional, maybe) fashion. Hence, Genesis Triple Fest and other such laudable events."

The Rev. Dr. Phillip Phinn, senior pastor at Word of Life Ministries Inter-national, St. Andrew.

PHINN

"Something is wrong with this survey. Between staying home, going to party, visiting friends and going to dinner, we are looking at 41 per cent plus 19 per cent for church - a total of 60 per cent. So what of the other 40 per cent? The truth is 85 per cent of the population go to church during Christmas and Easter. Have you ever heard of of the term Christmas and Easter Christian?

Rev. Don McDowell, formerly of the Open Bible Standard Churches, now head of Global Highways & Byways Mission, said the church attendance figures at Christmas and New Year's Eve services show that people are uninterested in these celebrations. The trends, he said, are not surprising, especially as "people are beginning to realise the big lie of the church, that is, December 25 as Jesus birthday and plainly pagan worship with its ornamental trees, lights, and Santa (Satan), all in modern form." He said many pastors know the truth but are afraid to rock the boat. He said that on a personal level, he does not attend such services "now that I know the truth".

Pastor Kevin Edwards, assistant pastor at Rosemount Missionary Church in Montego Bay, said the poll statistics for Christmas season church attendance concurred with his own observations. "The statistics clearly express the sentiment or lack thereof towards church going on Christmas Sunday. It was the same in Montego Bay. It was not the turn out we were expecting. I think one of the reason why the turnout was poor for this was that Christmas Eve came on a Sunday, which was Christmas Sunday.

The Rev. Dr. Stevenson Samuels, general secretary of the Students Christian Fellow-ship and Scripture Union (SCF-SU)

SAMUELS

"Considering that we are living in a post-modern, post-Christian era I would say that 43 per cent church attendance around Christmas is good. My informal source tells me that church attendance on a regular basis is below this figure for teens."

Concerning the celebration of New Year's Eve, he suggested four ways to interpret the data: "Firstly, it may be saying that society is not as religiously cohesive, traditional and homogenous as former times.

"Secondly, it might be saying that people, including religious persons, have more options and hence may opt to engage in other activities which might even be religious for that night.

"Thirdly, it may be saying that the crime situation is causing worshippers to stay away from late evening activities, especially when you consider the disparity between the 43 per cent attendance at Christmas versus the 19 per cent attendance on Watchnight.

"Fourthly, it could be saying that persons are simply not as religious as they used to be and finally, it may be saying that a segment of the population is travelling for that period."

'Did you celebrate New Year's Eve?' The responses indicated that 61 per cent did celebrate the dawning of 2007, while the remaining 39 per cent did not. Of those that said they celebrated New Year's Eve, 19 per cent went to church, 17 per cent stayed at home, 15 per cent partied, six per cent visited with friends, and three per cent went out to dinner.