I recently read the results of a survey called the American Worldview Inventory 2025. The study was led by George Barna and the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University. Barna has been highly respected for years as a Christian researcher, so I’m always interested in his findings.
I’ll state here at the beginning that the findings of this year’s survey are disturbing. I can’t candy-coat it, so here goes.
First, the study confirmed that Syncretism is gaining serious traction in American culture. Syncretism is a worldview in which an individual combines ideas from several different areas into a philosophy of life suited to himself. According to the survey, a whopping 92% of Americans adhere to this worldview. Let that sink in for a moment: over 90% of Americans pick and choose from different worldviews/religions to create their own. The runner-up worldview, Biblical Theism, or belief based on the Bible, is followed by only 4% of Americans. At the same time, belief in the loving, omnipotent, moral God of the Bible has declined, with only about 50% of U. S. adults stating they believe in such a God.
The fastest growing religious segment in the country is what Barna terms the “Don’t’s,” people who don’t know, believe, or care about God’s existence. This includes agnostics, people who claim they don’t or can’t know whether a Supreme Being exists, and atheists, people who believe no such being exists. Almost 30% of Americans claim to be either agnostic or atheistic. That’s almost one-third of our population. Thirty years ago, in 1995, this figure was only 8%.
In addition, 17% of those interviewed, one out of every six adults, view humans as divine beings or supernatural authorities. A full 14% stated that they believe the term “god” refers to a person who has reached full human potential, or a state of higher consciousness, while 3% believe that “everyone is god.”
One bit of good news is that 59% of adults named Jesus as a living spiritual authority that influences human lives today, but the bad news is that only 40% believe the same about the God of the Bible, and only 29% believe in the living Holy Spirit. Only 11% of adults surveyed believe in the existence and influence of all three persons of the Trinity, which was lower than the 12% who believe that Mother Earth exists and affects human lives. The third most listed “living spiritual authority that influences human lives today,” after Jesus and the God of the Bible, was Mary, mother of Jesus, with 21% of adults stating this belief.
To me, the most disturbing results came from those who claimed to be born-again Christians. This group accounted for only one-third of Americans. Of those who self-identified as Christians — read that again, of those who claim to be Christians — only 53% listed the God of the Bible as a living spiritual authority. 22% of those who claim to be Christians did not include Jesus among living, influential authorities. Listen to that again: almost one-fourth of people who claim to be Christians don’t believe the Person their faith is named for is a living, influential person.
Here are some other survey results, not among the population as a whole, but among self-identified Christians:
- Only 55% say they worship the God of the Bible.
- 25% stated they do not worship Jesus. Even though they claim to be Christians, they do not claim to worship Christ.
- Only 36% of Christians say they worship both God and Jesus. 11% worship God but not Jesus, and 31% worship Jesus but not God.
- One out of every 12 Christians stated they worship God, Jesus, and also Mary and/or other prophets.
- One out of every 14 Christians worships God, Jesus, and at least one other god from non-Christian faiths.
You can read a more detailed article here.
I don’t write this post to discourage anyone (the news is not all doom and gloom; just read these survey results about the status of Christianity in the UK!), but simply to remind us of the state of our country, and especially the state of those who claim to be believers. The truth is that while this study is sobering, we worship an Almighty, all-loving God who is in control of this world and who is still calling people to himself. We worship a Savior who gave his life for us so that we could be made right with him and live with him forever. Never waver in your trust in our Lord.
It reminds us, too, that the Church has work to do, prayers to pray, a God to obey, a Christ to proclaim, and love to give. Let us not shirk from our duty to share God’s love and to stand for him.
As the song “In Christ Alone” says, let us all also say, “Till He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.”