The majority of adults in Britain (58%) agree that it is important to understand the story of religious festivals that other people celebrate even if they do not celebrate them themselves.
However, one in five are not confident at retelling the stories themselves.
Seven out of ten people said they could confidently tell the Christian Christmas story, although there was a considerable difference between generations with around half (56%) of young people aged 18-24 saying they could do so confidently, compared with eight out of ten (83%) of those aged over 55.
In a survey of over 2,000 British adults by YouGov, on behalf of the National Association of Teachers of RE (NATRE) and the Religious Education Council of England and Wales (REC), more young people aged 18-24 agreed that it is important to understand religious festivals than those over 55 did - with 64% among the young and 55% among the older generation thinking understanding is important.
When asked about various religious festivals, including Christmas, Easter, Hannukah, Diwali, and Eid-ul-Fitr, 18% of all ages said they could not confidently retell the story of any of them though.
Understanding of non-Christian festivals and holidays was lower, with around one in twenty or fewer agreeing that they can confidently retell the Jewish story of Hannukah (5%), the Hindu Diwali festival (5%), or Muslim Eid-el-Fitr (3%). The figures were slightly higher among younger people (5%, 8% and 5% respectively).
Listen to an interview from Premier Christian Radio's News Hour on this with Ed Pawson, former chair of the National Association of Teachers of RE and adviser to Church of England and secular schools on Religious Education. Ed was also an RE teacher himself for 25 years:
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