What do Americans believe about God, salvation, ethics, and the Bible?
Ligonier Ministries and LifeWay Research partnered to find out and last week released the results of their 2018 State of Theology survey, which interviewed a demographically balanced online panel of 3,000 American adults.
“Every two years, we take the theological temperature of the United States to help Christians better understand today’s culture and equip the church with better insights for discipleship,” explained Ligonier Ministries in introducing its survey results at TheStateOfTheology.com.
Some of the key findings from 2018 included:
Among evangelicals, some key findings included:
“The 2018 State of Theology survey reveals deep confusion about the Bible’s teaching, not only among Americans as a whole, but also among evangelicals,” concluded Ligonier Ministries. “There is something very wrong when a majority of Americans can give the correct answers to basic Bible questions and at the same time say that their beliefs are purely a matter of personal opinion.”
According to the ministry, the survey results “show the urgent need for sound biblical teaching and the bold preaching of the gospel.”
“There is much work to be done, but it is our hope that these findings will serve the church in its efforts to reach more people with the faithful proclamation of the truth of God’s Word,” it stated.
The State of Theology survey was carried out from April 24 to May 4, 2018, and the results are available online at TheStateOfTheology.com.
Evangelicals were defined by LifeWay Research as people who strongly agreed with the following four statements:
By NRB Staff
Published: October 25, 2018