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Light or Hot House—Which
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on School Size and Its Impact
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One
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A Biblical
Worldview Has a Radical Effect on a Person's
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On The Mandate For
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Salt &
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Great Commission and Who's Responsible for
Educating
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by
E. Ray Moore, Jr., |
|
Parent Resources—Articles
A Biblical Worldview
Has a Radical Effect on a Person's Life
Barna Research Online
December 1, 2003
(Ventura, CA) - Any objective social analyst
would conclude that the United States faces its
fair share of moral and spiritual problems. A
new research study from the Barna Research Group
suggests that a large share of the nation's
moral and spiritual challenges is directly
attributable to the absence of a biblical
worldview among Americans.
Citing the
findings from a just-completed national survey
of 2033 adults that showed only 4% of adults
have a biblical worldview as the basis of their
decision-making, researcher George Barna
described the outcome. "If Jesus Christ came to
this planet as a model of how we ought to live,
then our goal should be to act like Jesus.
Sadly, few people consistently demonstrate the
love, obedience and priorities of Jesus.
The primary reason that people do not act
like Jesus is because they do not think like
Jesus. Behavior stems from what we think - our
attitudes, beliefs, values and opinions.
Although most people own a Bible and know some
of its content, our research found that most
Americans have little idea how to integrate core
biblical principles to form a unified and
meaningful response to the challenges and
opportunities of life. We're often more
concerned with survival amidst chaos than with
experiencing truth and significance."
Not Just Any Worldview
The
research indicated that everyone has a
worldview, but relatively few people have a
biblical worldview - even among devoutly
religious people. The survey discovered that
only 9% of born again Christians have such a
perspective on life. The numbers were even lower
among other religious classifications:
Protestants (7%), adults who attend mainline
Protestant churches (2%) and Catholics (less
than one-half of 1%). The denominations that
produced the highest proportions of adults with
a biblical worldview were non-denominational
Protestant churches (13%), Pentecostal churches
(10%) and Baptist churches (8%).
Among
the most prevalent alternative worldviews was
postmodernism, which seemed to be the dominant
perspective among the two youngest generations
(i.e., the Busters and Mosaics).For the purposes
of the research, a biblical worldview was
defined as believing that absolute moral truths
exist; that such truth is defined by the Bible;
and firm belief in six specific religious views.
Those views were that Jesus Christ lived a
sinless life; God is the all-powerful and
all-knowing Creator of the universe and He
stills rules it today; salvation is a gift from
God and cannot be earned; Satan is real; a
Christian has a responsibility to share their
faith in Christ with other people; and the Bible
is accurate in all of its teachings.
The Difference a Biblical Worldview
Makes
One of the most striking
insights from the research was the influence of
such a way of thinking upon people's behavior.
Adults with a biblical worldview possessed
radically different views on morality, held
divergent religious beliefs, and demonstrated
vastly different lifestyle choices.
People's views on morally acceptable behavior
are deeply impacted by their worldview. Upon
comparing the perspectives of those who have a
biblical worldview with those who do not, the
former group were 31 times less likely to accept
cohabitation (2% versus 62%, respectively); 18
times less likely to endorse drunkenness (2%
versus 36%); 15 times less likely to condone gay
sex (2% versus 31%); 12 times less likely to
accept profanity 3% versus 37%): and 11 times
less likely to describe adultery as morally
acceptable (4% versus 44%). In addition, less
than one-half of one percent of those with a
biblical worldview said voluntary exposure to
pornography was morally acceptable (compared to
39% of other adults), and a similarly miniscule
proportion endorsed abortion (compared to 46% of
adults who lack a biblical worldview).
Among the more intriguing lifestyle differences
were the lesser propensity for those with a
biblical worldview to gamble (they were eight
times less likely to buy lottery tickets and 17
times less likely to place bets); to get drunk
(three times less likely); and to view
pornography (two times less common).
They
were also twice as likely to have discussed
spiritual matters with other people in the past
month and twice as likely to have fasted for
religious reasons during the preceding month.
While one out of every eight adults who lack a
biblical worldview had sexual relations with
someone other than their spouse during the prior
month, less than one out of every 100
individuals who have such a worldview had done
so.
Some Groups Are More Likely
to Have a Biblical Worldview
Adults
who have a biblical worldview possessed a
somewhat different demographic profile than
those who did not. For instance, individuals who
attended college were much more likely than
those who did not to have this perspective (6%
versus 2%, respectively). Married adults were
more than twice as likely as adults who had
never been wed to hold such a worldview (5%
versus 2%). Whites (5%) were slightly more
likely than either blacks (3%) or Hispanics (3%)
to hold this ideology. One of the largest gaps
was between Republicans (10% of whom had a
biblical worldview), Independents (2%) and
Democrats (1%).
Residents of Texas and
North Carolina were more likely than people in
other states to have a biblical worldview. Among
the states in which such a worldview was least
common were Louisiana and the six states in New
England. The nation's largest state- California
- was average (i.e., 4% of its residents had a
biblical worldview).
Attributes such as
gender, age and household income showed no
statistical relationship to the possession of a
biblical worldview.
Some Churches
Are Helping People
The research
found that one of the most effective methods of
enabling people to develop a biblical worldview
is by addressing seven critical questions that
consistently lead to beliefs and behaviors that
are in tune with biblical teaching. Outlining
that process in a new book he has written as an
outgrowth of the research, entitled Think Like
Jesus, Barna also noted that many churches are
already helping their congregants to implement
such a way of addressing daily challenges and
opportunities.
"The emphasis of these
churches is to not only teach biblical
perspectives," according to Barna, "but also to
help people connect the dots of the core
principles taught. Rather than simply provide
people with good material and hope they figure
out what to do with it, these are churches whose
services, programs, events and relationships are
geared to weaving a limited number of
foundational biblical principles into a way of
responding to every life situation. The goal is
to facilitate a means of interpreting and
responding to every life situation that is
consistent with God's expectations. These are
not perfect people, but once they catch on to
the critical principles found in the Bible and
train their minds to incorporate those views
into their thinking, their behavior varies
noticeably from the norm."
Research Source and Methodology
The
data described above are from telephone
interviews with a nationwide random sample of
2033 adults conducted during September through
November 2003. The maximum margin of sampling
error associated with the aggregate sample is
±2.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence
level. All of the interviews were conducted from
the Barna Research Group telephone interviewing
facility in Ventura, CA. Adults in the 48
continental states were eligible to be
interviewed and the distribution of respondents
coincided with the geographic dispersion of the
U.S. adult population. Multiple callbacks were
used to increase the probability of including a
reliable distribution of adults.
The data
from the 2003 survey was compared with figures
on worldview possession compiled from Barna
Research Group surveys conducted in 2002 in
order to assess the reliability of the new data.
The 2002 surveys also showed that just 4% of the
aggregate population and 9% of the born again
segment had a biblical worldview. Other repeated
measures were compared, producing virtually
identical results to the current measures.
"Born again Christians" were defined in
these surveys as people who said they have made
a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is
still important in their life today and who also
indicated they believe that when they die they
will go to Heaven because they had confessed
their sins and had accepted Jesus Christ as
their savior. Respondents were not asked to
describe themselves as "born again." Being 'born
again" is not dependent upon any church or
denominational affiliation or involvement.
The Barna Research Group, Ltd. is an
independent marketing research company located
in southern California. Since 1984, it has been
studying cultural trends related to values,
beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. If you would
like to receive regular e-mailings of a brief
overview of each new bi-weekly update on the
latest research findings from the Barna Research
Group, you may subscribe to this free service at
the Barna Research web site (www.barna.org).
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