- Welcome back.
We've heard how peopleare searching for answers
and turning to faith during the pandemic,
but a new study revealsshocking information
about what exactly Americans believe.
It found about half,51%, of American adults
have a traditional biblical view of God
as the all-powerful, all-knowing creator,
a dramatic 30-yeardecrease from 73% in 1991.
Of those who believe in Jesus,
more say he sinned thandidn't, 44% to 41%,
and a higher percentagebelieve in Satan, 56%,
than believe in God.
Well what does it all mean?
Joining me now is George Barna,
Director of Research at theCultural Research Center
at Arizona Christian University.
He is also the founder of the Barna Group.
Dr. Barna, good to see you.
Your group released these findings
in the "American Worldview Inventory."
Even though more peopleare turning to faith
in these uncertain times,we're hearing anecdotally,
why do you say most Americans'faith will fail them
in the current crisis?
- Well you have to look atthe substance of their faith,
and the reality is, ifthey don't know God,
they don't really know Christ.
Only three out of every 10 Americans
know Christ as their Savior.
We know that only aboutthree out of 10 Americans
bother to read the Bibleduring a typical week.
And then when we asked people
how they make their day-to-day decisions,
where they turn to for advice,
God typically is not in the equation.
We look at the impactthat the virus is having
on people's attitudes and values,
and what we find is thatthe primary focus right now
is emotion, with theprimary emotion being fear.
And leadership.
They're looking to thegovernment for leadership.
Once again, God isn't really at the center
of their thinking asthey try to figure out
how to deal with things, howto understand what's going on,
who to trust.
We look at theirperceptions about the Bible.
And we know that onlyfour out of 10 Americans,
based on the new survey,believe that the Bible
is true and accurate inthe things that it teaches.
You put together theiroverall view of God,
only one out of 10 Americans
believe in that definition of God
as you started to describe it,
but also believe that Godloves them unconditionally,
is involved in their life, has a reason
for everything that happens in their life,
and they're certain that He exists.
Only one out of 10.
So by and large, what we see happening
is that people are lookinginward rather than upward
for the kind of solutionsthat they're gonna need
to figure out how to treatthis unique period in history.
- Dr. Barna--- Rather than seeing it
as a great time to grow and to minister,
they're trying to survive.
- Dr. Barna, I want to ask you,
what does that say aboutdiscipleship, spiritual formation,
and what people who callthemselves Christians
are learning in church?
- Yeah, I mean, what we discovered,again, from the research
is that the most effective way
that people learn spiritual truths
is through conversations and relationships
with one, two, maybe three other people
who are, perhaps, a bitmore spiritually mature
than they are.
So there's a coaching process going on.
And once again, this is agreat time during the pandemic
for those kind of relationships to blossom
and that kind of insight to be shared.
- 51% of pastors on Barna's church panel
said church attendance interms of virtual attendance,
is up compared to typical Sundayin-person worship services.
Could that uptick changethe trend we're seeing
in the "Worldview Inventory?"
- Not likely.
When we look at howpeople's worldview develops,
it begins developing at15 to 18 months of age,
almost completely developed by age 13.
During our teens and our 20s,we refine that worldview,
but after that, we basically run with it.
So, for the most part,it's too late with adults.
We're not really doing very much
in developing the worldview of children.
And frankly, as we'vedone content analysis
on sermons that get preached,
we find that people aren'tgetting the full counsel of God.
They're not getting the totality
of what the scripturesteach, and particularly
in not as sufficiently systematic manner,
to help them develop a real worldview.
- All right, Dr. Barna, itis a treat to have you here.
Thank you so much forsharing your insights
and we wish you the best.
Have a great weekend.- Thank you.
Thank you.
