Although 38% of Americans call themselves evangelical, only 9% actually agree with key evangelical beliefs, says research firm the Barna Group. In a surveys of 4,014 adults nationwide, conducted over four months in 2006, "one out of every four self-identified evangelicals has not even accepted Christ as their savior," says George Barna.
While I don't hold too much to the formulaic thing about accepting Christ as saviour -after all it's minimally biblical- it is very surprising that more self-designating evangelicals don't accept it. What's the back story here then?
Evangelical: Can the 'E-word' be saved? - USATODAY.com: Filed in: Evangelical, Christian, USA, label, values
3 comments:
It even tends to mean different things on either side of the Atlantic in English. But you're right: Evangelische in German simply means protestant...
That stat does not surprise me at all. In answer to the question, "Are you a Christian?" it has been said before, "Of course I am. I'm American."
I am cautious not to paint all with the same brush, but because Christianity is such a big part of the founding of America, I wonder if there are some who equate the two as being the same (as that stat demonstrates).
On another note, can you expand a bit, perhaps in another post, your thoughts on the "Christ as Saviour" model? I have some thoughts on this topic, and would like to hear yours.
Blessings to you.
I forgot to mention that in German, !evangelical" is the word for evagelical. It's not a proper German word but borrowed from the English to express the different meaning from 'Evangelische'.
As to the Christ as Saviour model, hmmm, I think I'd need to chew that over a bit more. But I do think that there are dangerously gnostic overtones to it ...
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