An unexpected percentage of Americans seem confused about the teachings of their faith, Christian scholars and leaders commented after viewing findings from the latest Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life survey.
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(Photo: AP Images / Nam Y. Huh)A parishioner holds a Bible during a service at the Carpenter's House, in Chicago, Sunday, July 29, 2007.
Both Americans of faith and those who don’t believe in God gave conflicting responses to questions about their religious beliefs, according to the “U.S. Religious Landscape Survey,” released this week.
A majority of evangelical church attendees (57 percent) agreed with the statement that many religions can lead to eternal life, which contradicts with traditional evangelical teachings. Likewise, 66 percent of all Protestants, 79 percent of all Catholics, and 56 percent of all Muslims believe there are other ways to gain eternal life besides their religion.
Additionally, one third of Catholics view God as an impersonal force and, perhaps most puzzling, one fifth of atheists say they believe in God.
“While one applauds what could be thought of as an openness to other religions, one has to wonder if this is essentially bland secularism (in which all religions are constructed by humans and therefore equally true or untrue) among religionists who don't understand their own faith,” commented Todd Johnson, director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
He added, “I think leaders of religious communities will look at this finding and ask how they can more effectively educate their communities, both about their own faith and that of others.”
Some Christian leaders questioned Pew Forum’s categorization of respondents as evangelicals. They contend using denominational affiliation and self-description as criteria for who is an evangelical is too broad.
“Being an evangelical Christian is not about a denominational label, and affiliation with a political party, or simply defining yourself as an evangelical,” said Geoff Tunnicliffe, international director of the World Evangelical Alliance.
Rather, an evangelical is defined by a set of core beliefs, Tunnicliffe contends. These beliefs include a person being “converted from sin to salvation” and a commitment to proclaim the Gospel and participate in the Great Commission.
The Pew Forum survey interviewed 35,000 adults and found overall that 70 percent of Americans affiliated with a religion believe there are other ways besides their own faith that will lead to eternal life. Still, Americans were found to be strongly religious with 92 percent believing in God, 74 percent believing in a life after death and 63 percent saying their sacred text are the word of God.
Comments
"PREACH THE BIBLE MAN! IT'S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE HERE!"
Amen!
He added, âI think leaders of religious communities will look at this finding and ask how they can more effectively educate their communities, both about their own faith and that of others.â
JUST PREACH THE BIBLE MAN! IT'S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE HERE!
Believe Gods word: "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6) "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)
itsallaboutjesusnotme.blogspot.com
I see Satan's old trick of only using a partial truth, a twisting of our own words in a poll, continues to confuse and cause division among the Disciples of Christ.
Polls can be written, worded, to receive specific results. Statistics can always be twisted to show support for what ever you want to convince others of.
All information, whether it is from a 'Christian' source or from a news report, must be studied and taken to the Lord God in prayer Before it is presented to your congregations and fellow Disciples as truth.
âAn unexpected percentage of Americans seem confused about the teachings of their faith. . .â
What is so confusing about these texts here (within Christian circles) which explicitly teach the exclusivity of Christ as the ONLY way for salvation?
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12).
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (John 14:6).
For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ (1Corinthians 3:11).
The Church has allowed higher criticism (negative biblical criticism) into their camp which gave birth to postmodernism and political correctness. This âhigher criticismâ has subtly assaulted the Word of God by creating doubt in the minds of believers; so much so, that Christians today are inept to stand upon solid ground. It has undermined the inspiration, authority, veracity, and reliability of the Scriptures; it sees the Word of God as nothing more than a piece of âhuman literatureâ and a âcultural phenomenon.â
The negative impact of Biblical Criticism can be seen in the increasing number of Bible scholars, preachers, and lay-Christians who have lost their confidence in the trustworthiness of the Bible. This is the root cause why so many do not know what they believe. The Bible historically has been regarded as Godâs revealed Word; today liberal critics refuse to identify Godâs Word with the message of the Bible. Stay encouraged saints, this was foretold â
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; (2Timothy 4:3).
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, (2Peter 3:3).
Polls are as good as the questions they ask and who is asking the questions. But I do agree with Tunnicliffe definition of what a true evangelical Christian is and there are many who come to this website who claim to be but certainly do not adhere to his definition.
Polls are never right. For instance, another recent poll said 90 per cent of evangelicals believe that Jesus is the only way to Heaven. I don't know what confusion set in on the other ten per cent. Compare those numbers to these, and you see that one can make no sense out of the polls. Among the reasons that polls are always wrong are these: 1) polling is based on bad science 2) people answer deceptively purposefully 3) people change their minds often, sometimes going back and forth between positions (especially those without the anchor that Christians have) 4) pollsters word questions carefully to get the results they are looking for 5) pollsters are careful about the people they choose to answer so that they get the results they want.
This reminds me of another article noting a srvey in England.
"The opinions of atheists are especially interesting. 23% of respondents identified themselves as such, but 14% of these think Easter was about Jesus dying for the sins of the world, 12% believe he rose again from the dead, and, remarkably, 7% think he was son of God."
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/over.half.of.britons.believe.jesus.rose.from.the.dead/17383.htm
"A majority of evangelical church attendees (57 percent) agreed with the statement that many religions can lead to eternal life, which contradicts with traditional evangelical teachings. Likewise, 66 percent of all Protestants, 79 percent of all Catholics, and 56 percent of all Muslims believe there are other ways to gain eternal life besides their religion."
It sounds like more believers are losing the understanding why they became believers in the first place.
Not sure who's at fault for that, but let's turn off the Super Bowl and get back to the scriptures.
ETERNAL LIFE .even an atheist has eternallife ,but where and with whom.only CHRIST promises an etenal life living in a mansion ,with the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE.
no other releigion promises the above.
CHRIST asked his followers to preach about the KINGDOM OF GOD.
how many christiana know about this kingdom of god and the eternal life with the CREATOR?
I recommend the following book for anyone interested in this subject:
http://tinyurl.com/5rejed (Amazon.com Link)
There is only one way to Heaven and eternal life, and that is Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Son of God, the Messiah. Period. End of Story. "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man comes to the Father but through me." - John 14:6
This is nothing more than a sad statement about how infected our society has become by postmodernism, and political correctness. This belief that no one can judge anyone or anything, that most people can't even distinguish right from wrong anymore, that no one is comfortable calling sin sin or evil evil, or worse (according to our postmodern culture) that there is any kind of objective truth and that there is only one way to Heaven.
Our society is sick, and this article shows just how systemic the infection is. That even "Christians" are this muddled and confused about what they believe and the tenets of their own faith is just sad.