Barna’s 2004 research offers encouragement, challenges

VENTURA, Calif. — After a year of interviewing thousands of adults, ministers, and young people, many insights into the spiritual contours of Americans emerged from the studies conducted by The Barna Group. In his annual year-end summary of some of the highlights and lowlights from his company’s research, cultural analyst George Barna noted that there is reason to be encouraged—and concerned.

According to Barna, last year’s research shows that there is still much to discover about the role of faith in people’s lives.

“People’s religious beliefs change very little, if at all, after the age of 12, but the way in which they apply those beliefs to their lifestyle and societal situations, and the degree to which they allow their faith to affect their behavior, is constantly shifting,” the California-based researcher said.

“Staying informed about the relationship between faith and lifestyle is a never-ending process. Having some influence on the faith-related choices that drive behaviors is similarly challenging.”

Barna has been conducting and analyzing primary research to understand cultural trends related to values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors since 1984. In addition to his research, conducted through his for-profit corporation, Barna produces visual media and books that address many of the issues he studies.

Reflecting on the more than 10,000 interviews his firm completed during 2004, Barna identified some of the outcomes he felt were most noteworthy. Those facts were divided into four types: the most encouraging outcomes, the most surprising findings, the most disappointing revelations, and the most significant challenges. Each category featured 10 specific findings. Below is a sample of some of those findings.

Encouraging outcomes
Most Americans want their faith in Christ to be reflected in public symbols and language, as evident in public places and policies. Consequently, they support retaining statements such as “In God We Trust” and “One Nation Under God,” displays of the Ten Commandments, and teaching creationism in schools.

A large majority of adults reject the idea of active homosexuals being ordained or retained within the clergy.

Most Americans—nearly two-thirds of them—continue to give significant amounts of money to churches and houses of worship. Not only did the dollar amount of donations rise, but about three out of every four dollars contributed to a non-profit entity was given to a church last year.

Born-again Christians played a huge role in the outcome of the presidential election. They not only turned out in record numbers—they were a majority of the voters participating on election day—but their solidarity provided President George W. Bush with the margin he needed for re-election.

Despite numerous economic, political and social challenges, African-Americans remain firmly committed to their Christian faith. They were more likely than people from white, Hispanic or Asian backgrounds to exhibit evidence of Christian practice and Christian belief.

The number of adults involved in small groups has jumped from 12 percent to 20 percent since 1994.

Half of all born-again adults have endeavored to share their faith in Christ with a non-believer in the past year. Although a large share of those efforts are indirect—such as “lifestyle evangelism”—and few believers are aware of anyone accepting Christ as a result of their efforts, there is a veritable army of Christians who understand and accept the importance of bringing the good news to the world.

Ten surprising findings
Hundreds of thousands of Americans embrace Jesus Christ as their savior for the first time in any given year. However, only 7 percent of those are likely to do so in direct response to the outreach efforts of a minister, whether it be through preaching, teaching, or a more personal form of interaction.

Although the West is often maligned as a spiritually bankrupt region, it is the area of the nation that has experienced the greatest increases in Bible reading, church attendance and small group participation in the past decade.

Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ,” was a stunning film that generated hundreds of millions of dollars and attracted millions of viewers. However, despite its undeniable emotional and spiritual force, few people accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior as a result of watching that movie; few changed any of their religious beliefs or practices as a result; and less than one-half of one percent of the audience said the movie motivated them to be more active in evangelism.

For the typical adult in America, the number of movies they watch during the year is greater than the number of worship services they attend.

Adherents of non-Christian faiths are twice as likely as born-again Christians to engage in fasting for religious purposes.

Disappointing realities
Born-again adults who have been married are just as likely as non-born-again adults who have been married to eventually become divorced. Because the vast majority of born-again marriages occurred after the partners had accepted Christ as their savior, it appears that their connection to Christ makes less difference in the durability of people’s marriages than many people might expect.

Just half of all Protestant senior pastors (51 percent) meet the criteria for having a biblical worldview.

Only 8 percent of teen-agers consider music piracy—defined as copying their CDs for friends and making unauthorized downloads of music from the Internet—to be morally wrong.

The good news is that most born-again Christians donate money to religious causes. The bad news is that their generosity is limited. A mere 7 percent of born-again adults tithed last year.

Churches are difficult to reach. Only 55 percent of Protestant churches provided telephone callers with a human response to their call attempt after multiple attempts made at different times of the day on a succession of days—during the holiday season!

Born-again Christians and adults who attend Christian churches are more likely than atheists, agnostics, and adherents of non-Christian faiths to buy lottery tickets.

There seems to be a consistent degree of attrition of men from the Christian faith. The numbers of men who are unchurched is rising, while the numbers of men who are “deeply spiritual” and those who possess an active faith (attend church, pray and read the Bible during the week) is declining.

Challenging conditions
Half of all adults are so satisfied with their spiritual lives that there is nothing at all they wish to change or improve in the future. Another one-quarter listed changes that were quite general or not personally challenging.

Most evangelistic funding, events and programs emphasize reaching adults with the gospel. However, two-thirds of all Americans who accept Jesus Christ as their Savior do so before they reach the age of 18.

Most Americans do not accept the notion that they are engaged in a spiritual battle. This is fueled by the widespread rejection of the notion that Satan is real, that salvation is by faith alone, and by the common acceptance of the idea that there are multiple paths to salvation.

The number of unchurched adults in the United States has doubled since 1991. That growth has been especially pronounced among men, people under 40, singles, and people living in coastal states.

Tithing is pitifully uncommon. However, it is almost non-existent among people under the age of 40.

Four out of 10 adults have seen a movie in the past two years that has caused them to think more seriously about their faith. As the mass media and customized media capture an increasing share of people’s attention, Christians are challenged to figure out how to harness or address the power of such communication vehicles for the advancement of Christianity.

For more information about the research, log on to barna.org.

Published by Keener Communications Group, February 2005

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