(CP) Evangelicals make up a much smaller share of the United States population than expected as a consequence of a misunderstanding of the term, a latest research report states, finding that the dearth of a uniform biblical worldview amongst Evangelicals has negative implications.
The Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, led by longtime Evangelical pollster George Barna, released the fourth installment of its American Worldview Inventory 2024 last week.
The report, specializing in “The Limitations of Christian Evangelicalism in American Society,” concluded that “Evangelicals are far fewer in number than typically reported, often are far less biblical of their pondering than one might assume, and are inclined to vote in far fewer numbers than expected.”
The data within the report relies on the American Worldview Inventory, a survey of two,000 adults conducted by Arizona Christian University in January 2024. The Cultural Research Center estimates that Evangelicals constitute 10% of adults within the U.S., between 25 and 30 million people.
The report uses the National Association of Evangelicals’ definition of Evangelicals as “individuals who recognize their sinful life, depend on Jesus Christ for his or her redemption, and receive practical life guidance and wisdom from the Bible of their quest to live under the lordship of Jesus” and ties data from the American Worldview Inventory.
The report contrasted its findings with steadily cited estimates that place the Evangelical share of the U.S. population at 25% to 40% and suggested that other reports rely heavily on self-reporting, which leads to counting individuals who merely describe themselves as Evangelical, even in the event that they don’t meet the factors.
“Media reports generally mislead readers by reporting data representing self-reported Evangelicals, most of whom don’t meet the type of theological criteria utilized in our research,” CRC Director Barna said in a press release.
Barna said they may “report on individuals who attend what the person considers to be an Evangelical church.”
“This research, nonetheless, points out that most people who qualify theologically as Evangelicals don’t attend what could be deemed an Evangelical church,” he added. The report focused specifically on the views of theological Evangelicals.
The Cultural Research Center noted that there’s near-unanimous agreement amongst Evangelicals that “God is the all-knowing, all-powerful, just and excellent Creator of the universe who still rules the world today” (97%) and “is the idea of all truth” (96%). More than 90% of Evangelicals also consider that “the aim of life is to totally know, love, and serve God with all of your heart and soul, mind, and strength” (92%) and that God created the universe (97%).
Belief in Satan, Jesus Christ as “a vital guide” in life, and the concept “all humans are born into sin and might only escape the implications of sin through Jesus Christ” are also shared by greater than 90% of Evangelicals. Large shares of Evangelicals also view same-sex marriage (86%), fornication (84%), abortion (82%) and telling lies (81%) as “not morally acceptable.”
However, the report highlighted plenty of beliefs embraced by Evangelicals which might be at odds with biblical teachings.
Majorities of Evangelicals consider that married couples “might be bonded to one another for eternity” (76%), “it’s all the time in your best interest to follow your natural instincts” (71%), treatment with kindness and respect shouldn’t be automatic but earned (65%), humans are “imagined to live in harmony” with animals, plants and nature versus dominating them (54%), and “individuals are principally good” (54%).
Just 35% of Evangelicals subscribe to what the CRC considers a biblical worldview. In contrast, a majority of Evangelicals (64%) embrace syncretism as their worldview.
The report defined syncretism as “a worldview that mixes core beliefs and behaviors from a wide range of well-defined worldviews, comparable to Marxism, Secular Humanism, Eastern Mysticism and Postmodernism, into an individualized, customized mix.”
Meanwhile, lower than half of Evangelicals read or study the Bible day by day “aside from at church services/events” (41%), describe themselves as “very lively of their Christian faith” (42%), “pay ‘so much’ or ‘quite a bit’ of attention” to news about politics and government (42%), and meet the qualifications for a Spiritually Active, Governance Engaged Conservative Christian (44%).
While two-thirds of Evangelicals (67%) “vote in all general and all/most primary elections,” the report considers Evangelicals’ level of participation in elections as inadequate. Other “biblically correct beliefs/behaviors embraced by too few evangelicals” include a refusal to “buy specific services or products due to company’s position on a problem that matters to you” (52%) and the view that “animals, plants, wind, and water have a singular spirit, similar to human beings do” (60%).
The report attributed the failure of Evangelicals to embrace a biblical worldview as a serious reason behind “the decadence of American society and the demise of the United States.”
It also found that “most theologically-defined evangelicals don’t even attend what are considered to be evangelical churches.”
Barna expressed concern about “the influence of unbiblical — or, at a minimum, non-Evangelical — perspectives taught to Evangelicals in non-Evangelical churches that alter the theological beliefs and lifestyle selections of Evangelicals.”
Statistics included within the report demonstrated that just 35% of those that meet the definition of an Evangelical attend Evangelical churches, while 21% go to independent or non-denominational churches, 15% attend mainline churches, 14% frequent Pentecostal churches and significantly smaller shares attend Catholic (3%) and traditionally Black churches (2%).
© The Christian Post
