{"id":11478,"date":"2024-08-22T12:18:35","date_gmt":"2024-08-22T16:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=11478"},"modified":"2024-08-22T12:18:35","modified_gmt":"2024-08-22T16:18:35","slug":"new-survey-shows-even-less-americans-are-evangelical-than-previously-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2024\/08\/new-survey-shows-even-less-americans-are-evangelical-than-previously-thought.html","title":{"rendered":"New Survey Shows Even Less Americans Are Evangelical Than Previously Thought"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_11481\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11481\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11481\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/409\/2024\/08\/decline-evangelicals_credit-Lightstock.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11481\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lightstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"The%20American%20Worldview%20Inventory%20survey%20from%20George%20Barna%20at%20Arizona%20Christian%20University\">The American Worldview Inventory<\/a> survey from George Barna at Arizona Christian University has revealed that religious faith in America continues to decline, with the number of evangelicals being lower than originally thought. The survey found that only 10 percent of respondents would be considered \u201cevangelical,\u201d or those who \u201crecognize their sinful life, rely upon Jesus Christ for their redemption, and receive practical life guidance and wisdom from the Bible in their quest to live under the lordship of Jesus.\u201d The number is lower than expected, and that\u2019s not all that\u2019s lower. \u201cIn reality, evangelicals are far fewer in number than typically reported, often are far less biblical in their thinking than one might think, and tend to vote in far fewer numbers than expected,\u201d said the report. According to the report, previous numbers of 25 to 40 percent were highly inflated due to the fact that surveys relied on self-reporting. \u201cBut those figures are suspect,\u201d said the report. \u201cMost statistics regarding the incidence of evangelicals are based on self-reporting. It is also common for journalists and cultural analysts to deem survey data of self-identified \u2018born-again Christians\u2019 and self-identified \u2018evangelical Christians\u2019 as the same group, even though theologically speaking, they are not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of those who are evangelicals, only about a third can be defined as having a biblical worldview, with nearly two-thirds (64 percent) being Syncretists, defined as, \u201cthe combination of different forms of belief or practice.\u201d The report suggests that this syncretism is involuntary or subconscious. \u201cThe research does not suggest that evangelicals are anti-biblical or even biblically illiterate (as is true for many self-identified Christians who are not evangelicals). The study instead reveals that while evangelicals often get the \u2018big picture\u2019 of Christianity, they struggle to apply core principles to everyday situations, and are too often victims of catchy slogans and feel-good behaviors promoted by a culture propelled by competing worldviews.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite 67 percent of evangelicals typically voting, only about a third plan to vote in the current election. More than half of evangelicals identify as conservative. They tend to be older with a median age around 54, still married to their first spouse (48 percent vs 34 percent of the general US population) and less likely to be single and never married (16 percent vs 31 percent). Mike Griffin of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board <a href=\"https:\/\/christianindex.org\/stories\/research-study-shows-evangelicals-to-be-fewer-less-biblically-grounded-and-less-politically,87932\">said<\/a> pastors need to focus on teaching a clear biblical worldview. \u201cYou see, many of our millennials and Gen Z\u2019s have not heard preaching and teaching on what the Bible has to say about the social and moral issues we are facing in our country. A common social moral code can no longer be assumed in our nation anymore. Now is the time for the church to step up to the plate and make a difference for Christ in our culture and government.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The American Worldview Inventory survey from George Barna at Arizona Christian University has revealed that religious faith in America continues to decline, with the number of evangelicals being lower than originally thought. The survey found that only 10 percent of respondents would be considered \u201cevangelical,\u201d or those who \u201crecognize their sinful life, rely upon Jesus&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":627,"featured_media":11481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>New Survey Shows Even Less Americans Are Evangelical Than Previously Thought<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2024\/08\/new-survey-shows-even-less-americans-are-evangelical-than-previously-thought.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Survey Shows Even Less Americans Are Evangelical Than Previously Thought\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The American Worldview Inventory survey from George Barna at Arizona Christian University has revealed that religious faith in America continues to decline, with the number of evangelicals being lower than originally thought. The survey found that only 10 percent of respondents would be considered \u201cevangelical,\u201d or those who \u201crecognize their sinful life, rely upon Jesus&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2024\/08\/new-survey-shows-even-less-americans-are-evangelical-than-previously-thought.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Christ News Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-08-22T16:18:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/409\/2024\/08\/decline-evangelicals_credit-Lightstock.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cecilia Buchanan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Survey Shows Even Less Americans Are Evangelical Than Previously Thought","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2024\/08\/new-survey-shows-even-less-americans-are-evangelical-than-previously-thought.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Survey Shows Even Less Americans Are Evangelical Than Previously Thought","og_description":"The American Worldview Inventory survey from George Barna at Arizona Christian University has revealed that religious faith in America continues to decline, with the number of evangelicals being lower than originally thought. The survey found that only 10 percent of respondents would be considered \u201cevangelical,\u201d or those who \u201crecognize their sinful life, rely upon Jesus&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2024\/08\/new-survey-shows-even-less-americans-are-evangelical-than-previously-thought.html","og_site_name":"Christ News Today","article_published_time":"2024-08-22T16:18:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/409\/2024\/08\/decline-evangelicals_credit-Lightstock.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cecilia 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