One Out of Five Americans Consider Themselves Holy -- Beliefnet.com

Survey: One Out of Five Americans Holy

By Nathan Herpich
Religion News Service

A new survey indicates that 21 percent of Americans consider themselves holy.

The survey, conducted by the Barna Research Group, also found that 73 percent of Americans believe that a person can become holy, regardless of his past, while half of those surveyed said they knew someone whom they considered holy.

The study also asked Americans to define holy. The largest category of respondents (21 percent) admitted they didn't know how to. The highest number that had an idea said "being Christ-like'' (19 percent), while 18 percent said "making faith your top priority.''

The survey's director, Christian researcher George Barna, said that "the results portray a body of Christians who attend church but do not understand the concept or significance of holiness. ... The challenge to the nation's Christian ministries is to foster a genuine hunger for holiness among the masses who claim they love God but who are ignorant about biblical teachings regarding holiness.''

The Barna report was based on a nationwide telephone survey of 1,003 adults during January. The margin of error for the survey is 3.2 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

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