In his annual review of the top religious findings, George Barna provided five lists of faith-related survey results. Other people would probably place some different outcomes on each of these lists, admitted Barna. But based on our ongoing assessment of the spiritual climate and religious gyrations in America, these outcomes give a pretty dynamic summary of what happened in the United States in its religious life this year. Such lists are always subjective, but the breadth of revelations represented by these factors may be helpful in reviewing the true spiritual condition of America.

Poring over hundreds of statistics released during the last year through The Barna Update, the biweekly report on American culture and faith that gathers statistics cutting across all denominational lines, Barna chose the following outcomes as those with the most significant implications.

Subsequent lists tell the most important or revealing results, the most unexpected outcomes, the most significant-but-not-surprising insights, the greatest challenges churches face and what got people the most exercised.

Most important or revealing results
When people who regularly attend Christian church services were asked to describe the importance of various spiritual endeavors, only a minority of regular attenders described these very important endeavors: evangelism, having meaningful relationships with other people in their church, and giving 10 percent or more of their income to their church.

After studying more than three dozen faith practices and biblical beliefs, adults under the age of 35 were the least likely to have a biblical perspective or consistent participation in each of the factors examined.

Forty-one percent of the adults who attend Christian church services in a typical week are not born-again Christiansmeaning they have not embraced Jesus Christ as their savior.

After exploring the religious life of adults attending a variety of Protestant churches, only three types of churchesPentecostal, Assembly of God, and non-denominational churcheshad a majority of adherents who had shared their faith in Christ with a non-Christian in the past year.

Based on peoples reactions to a series of moral issues, Americans are comfortable legalizing activitiessuch as abortion, homosexuality and pornographythat they feel are immoral.

Religious teaching or values only minimally affect peoples moral choices. The major influences on such decisions are the expected personal outcomes of their choices, minimizing conflict over their choices, and the values their parents taught them.

Compared to two years ago, just half as many Americans believe that absolute moral truth exists, dropping from 38 percent in January 2000 to only 22 percent in November Barna noted: This list suggests that faith is just one component in peoples lives that helps them to interpret and cope with realityand it certainly is not the central shaping influence for most people.

The data regarding young adults also pose the possibility that churches are losing ground in terms of influence and may need to consider new approaches to making ancient truths more vivid and comprehensible in a technology-drenched, relativistic global community.

Most surprising findings
Barna acknowledged that, after more than two decades of conducting research on faith matters, its unusual for surprises to emerge from the research. However, he listed the following unexpected outcomes:

The percentage of U.S. Hispanics affiliated with the Catholic Church has declined from 68 percent in 1991 to just 53 percent today.

Since 1993, the number of pastors who say they have the spiritual gifts of preaching/teaching, pastor/shepherd, discernment and leadership has risen significantly.

A higher percentage of adults are against legalized abortion in all or most circumstances (55 percent) than supports it (42 percent).

More than 50 percent of adults support the legalization of same-gender sexual relations, and even one-third of born-again Christians support this aspect of gay rights.

Four out of ten senior pastors [across all denominations] do not have a seminary degree.

Despite sales that top five million units, The Prayer of Jabez was known to only 13 percent of adults; and despite sales exceeding 20 million units, the Left Behind books were known to only 24 percent. In contrast, the Harry Potter books were known to 69 percent of Americansthat was before the movie release and related hype.

According to Barna: These findings remind us that American culture as well as peoples faith is constantly changing, and assumptions need to be continually re-examined to assess their validity.

Most significant but-not-surprising insights
Some conditions have been assumed or anticipated, yet having factual evidence of their existence does not diminish the significance of such knowledge. Among the figures Barna cited that meet this description were these:

After the 9-11 attacks, religious activity surged, but within two months, virtually every spiritual indicator available suggested that things were back to pre-attack levels.

Just 12 percent of senior pastors say they have the spiritual gift of leadership; only 8 percent say they have the gift of evangelism. In contrast, two-thirds say they have the gift of teaching or preaching.

A fairly strong correlation exists between regularly reading the Bible and having conservative theological, moral, social and political views.

Less than one percent of Hispanics attend a mainline Protestant church, and less than one percent attend a Baptist church.

Barna noted: Sometimes, its the things that we have suspected but failed to act upon due to lack of factual support that have the greatest potential for impact in ministry. Some of these findings are perhaps obvious but are nevertheless critical elements in facilitating strategic responses.

Most challenging outcomes
Barna describes the greatest challenges churches face based on the years research findings.

There has been a substantial deterioration regarding peoples understanding of spiritual gifts, with a five-fold increase in born-again adults who are aware of gifts saying God did not give them one, and half of all born-again adults listing gifts they possess which are not among the spiritual gifts listed in the Bible. Even one-quarter of all Protestant pastors listed one or more gifts that they claim which are not identified in the Bible.

Financial support of churches dropped substantially between 1998 and 2000and will likely decline again this year, as a result of changed giving patterns related to the 9-11 attacks.

At least three out of ten born-again adults say that co-habitation, gay sex, sexual fantasies, breaking the speed limit or watching sexually explicit movies are morally acceptable behaviors.

Although attending church as a child increases the likelihood of a person attending as an adult, that effect is declining substantially.

The religious beliefs of people who have attended church since childhood are no different from those of people who did not attend when young but do attend as adults.

Compared to teens throughout the past 20 years, todays teenagers have the lowest likelihood of attending church when they are living independent of their parents.

Barna commented that such data underscore the magnitude of the challenges facing American ministries. This is an exciting time to be alive for religious leaders who understand the spiritual search that millions of Americans have embarked upon and who are willing to engage with people who do not necessarily accept pat answers or traditional solutions to spiritual problems.

Most controversial stats
Based on the letters, phone calls and emails received in response to the biweekly Updates released during the year, Barna identified the statistics that got the greatest number of people exercised.

Among adults who have been married, born-again Christians and non-Christians have essentially the same probability of divorce.

Mormons are more likely to read the Bible during the week than are Protestants or Catholics.

Adults who attend charismatic or Pentecostal churches were more likely to possess biblical beliefs than were those attending other Protestant and Catholic churches.

By the end of the decade, 50 million Americans will seek to have their spiritual experience solely through the Internet, rather than at a church; and upward of 100 million Americans will rely upon the Internet to deliver some aspects of their religious experience.

Roman Catholics represent the second largest denominational group in the nationtrailing the Southern Baptists, but way ahead of Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians and others.

Although one-third of all born-again adults claim to tithe their income, only 12 percent actually do so.

Just half of all home schooling parents are born-again Christians.

Barna explained: One of the greatest values of research is that it can identify myths that we hold on tomyths that often prevent us from seizing opportunities, or that prevent us from responding appropriately to the world around us. A lot of the anger that was expressed to us in reaction to these findings reflects the difficulty we sometimes have in changing our predispositions and coming to grips with a world that is rapidly changing and does not conform to the rules we believed were firmly entrenched. Knowing the reality, rather than the myth, can help us address reality and, if need be, redirect it.

Source: Barna Research Group, December 17, 2001

Research Background
All of the data mentioned in this report are drawn from previous Barna Updates released throughout 2001 and can be referenced on the Barna Research website at www.barna.org. The specific statistics listed are from nationwide surveys of random samples of adults, teenagers or Protestant pastors conducted during 2000. The sample sizes of those studies range from 600 to 1,010 respondents.

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 or if they considered themselves to be born-again.

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.

This research was funded solely by Barna Research as part of its regular tracking of the social, religious and political state of the nation. For more information on these statistics and others, visit www.barna.org.