Most Christians believe that four of the commandments are not "important principles to live by"

The ten commandments are a central tenet of the Christian faith.

But research has revealed that just six of them are still important to British Christians.

Most Christians believe that four of the commandments are not "important principles to live by" according to a YouGov poll.

The four which have fallen by the wayside are the requirement not to worship idols, use the Lord's name in vain, to worship no other God, and to keep the Sabbath day holy.

Less than one in three Christians believe in preserving Sunday as a day of rest, with 38 per cent against using the Lord's name in vain and 43 per cent condemning the worshipping of idols.

But most Christians, in common with the general public, still believe that it's wrong to disobey your father and mother, commit adultery, covet others' possessions, bear false witness, steal and commit murder.

Stealing and killing were the most widely condemned transgressions, with 94 per cent of Christians and 93 per cent of non-religious people believing those commandments are still important and relevant.

The Bishop of Chelmsford, Stephen Cottrell, said: " In an age as busy, frantic and feverish as ours I would have thought that keeping the Sabbath, or at the very least observing a balance between work and rest and play was more important than ever.

Sabbath is both a radical idea and a practically useful idea for it simply acknowledges that we need to rest and we need to play. Indeed, it says this is what we are made for."

He also lamented Christians' abandonment of the commandment about idolatry, saying: "Whether it is celebrity, wealth, a certain designer label pair of jeans jeans or a make of car, we have all construct a sense of worth in the desire to own and possess certain things that we believe will give value.

"None of it works; or perhaps more accurately we should say it works just enough to get you hooked. Without being warned of the dangers of idolatry, we just become a society of junkies."

But other senior Church of England figures said the statistics showed that the tenets of the Jewish and Christian faiths still held influence.

The Bishop of Manchester, David Walker, said: "This survey shows that the practical morality which has lain at the heart of the Judeo Christian tradition for the last 3500 years still finds favour with most British people today, even where explicitly religious commandments gain less support.

"Believers and non-believers alike support the simple, ancient statements which continue to provide the foundations of our legal system and our shared sense of right and wrong.

"Britain today may be a more culturally and religiously diverse country than ever before, but across that diversity these pillars of wisdom are holding firm."

Credit to The Telegraph.co.uk
Olivia Rudgard