|
The
majority of American Christians do not believe that
Satan is a real being or that the Holy Spirit is a
living entity, the latest Barna survey found. Nearly six
out of ten Christians either strongly agreed or somewhat
agreed with the statement that Satan "is not a living
being but is a symbol of evil," the survey found.
Forty percent strongly agreed with the statement while
19 percent of American Christians somewhat agreed. In
contrast, about 35 percent of American Christians
believe Satan is real. Twenty-six percent strongly
disagreed with the statement that Satan is merely
symbolic and about one-tenth (9 percent) somewhat
disagreed. The remaining eight percent of American
Christians responded they were unsure what to believe
about the existence of Satan.
Interestingly, the majority of Christians believe a
person can be under the influence of spiritual forces,
such as demons or evil spirits, even though many of
these same people believe Satan is merely a symbol of
evil. Two out of three Christians agreed that such
forces are real (39 percent agreed strongly, 25 percent
agreed somewhat).
Likewise, most Christians in the United States do not
believe that the Holy Spirit is a living force. Fifty
eight percent strongly or somewhat agreed with the
statement that the Holy Spirit is "a symbol of God's
power or presence but is not a living entity. "Only
one-third of Christians disagreed with the statement
that the Holy Spirit is not just symbolic (9 percent
disagreed somewhat, 25 percent disagreed strongly). Nine
percent expressed they were unsure.
Interestingly, about half (49 percent) of those who
agreed that the Holy Spirit is only a symbol but not a
living entity, agreed that the Bible is totally accurate
in all of the principles it teaches. The Bible states
that the Holy Spirit is God's power or presence, not
just symbolic. "Most Americans, even those who say they
are Christian, have doubts about the intrusion of the
supernatural into the natural world," commented George
Barna, founder of The Barna Group and author of books
analyzing research concerning America's faith.
"Hollywood has made evil accessible and tame, making
Satan and demons less worrisome than the Bible suggests
they really are," he said. "It's hard for achievement
driven, self reliant, independent people to believe that
their lives can be impacted by unseen forces. "But a
large majority of American Christians agree that a
person must choose to side with either good or evil.
More than six out of ten American Christians strongly
agreed (61 percent) with the idea that a person must
either side with God or with the devil - that there is
no inbetween position. Another 15 percent somewhat
agreed. Just one out of ten adults disagreed somewhat
(10 percent) and a similar proportion (11 percent)
strongly disagreed. Only a few adults (3 percent) did
not have an opinion on the issue.
Barna explained that because of the "sheer force of
repetition" many Americans "intellectually" accept the
idea that you either side with God or Satan and there's
no in-between, even though this idea does "not get
translated into practice.
"Other survey findings include a significant number of
self described Christians believing that Jesus sinned
when he lived on earth, contrary to the core teaching of
Christianity that teaches the divinity and perfection of
Jesus. More than one-fifth (22 percent) strongly agreed
that Jesus Christ sinned when He lived on earth, with an
additional 17 percent agreeing somewhat.
However, nearly half of American Christians (46 percent)
strongly disagreed with the idea that Jesus sinned, and
9 percent disagreed somewhat. Six percent did not have
an opinion on the statement. The Barna report is based
on telephone interviews for two surveys among people who
described themselves as Christians. A total of 1,871
adults were randomly selected from across the 48
continental states, with the first 873 interviews
conducted in January and February 2008, and the
remaining 998 interviews conducted in November 2008.
|
