America at the Crossroads

Explosive Trends Shaping America's Future and What You Can Do about It

George Barna

• Publisher: Baker Books
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781493404865
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: History of Religion

Today's Most Troubling Trends about Faith and Culture in AmericaWe live in a tumultuous time. Upheavals and reversals in culture, popular opinion, morality, race relations, socioeconomic status, and so much more have entire generations feeling off balance or out of touch. How do we keep pace with the breathtaking rate of change in our society when we can hardly find time to keep up with our racing newsfeeds? And in the face of such enormous cultural forces, is there anything we can do to help shape our culture?With America at the Crossroads, bestselling author and cultural analyst George Barna turns his researcher's eye on the most significant trends of our moment in history, compiling and distilling the most salient information for busy readers who want to shape culture rather than allow it to shape them. Anyone who has felt overwhelmed by our swiftly changing times will appreciate Barna's extensive research and his "bottom line" approach.

PART 1

FAITH AND SPIRITUALITY

1

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

Summary

Religious beliefs are the Rodney Dangerfield of cultural analysis: they get little attention and even less respect. Yet, those beliefs constitute the centerpiece of people’s decision-making in virtually every aspect of life. What we believe about the existence and nature of God, the veracity and reliability of the Bible, the means to and nature of eternal salvation, the concepts of truth, love, forgiveness, power, purpose, and sin—these are the fundamental perspectives on which our moment-to-moment choices are based. The failure to grasp what is happening with people’s core beliefs severely limits the ability to understand the present and future conditions of a society.

A careful study of Americans’ core beliefs reveals a nation in transition, moving from a predominantly Judeo-Christian point of view to a mostly postmodern, secular worldview. The transition has been both rapid and monumental in its ramifications, as seen in the breathtakingly quick acceptance of same-sex marriage and the widespread acceptance of expanding government authority. Those who have strategically tracked the shift in our central faith tenets have seen the cultural earthquake coming for some time.

It is clear that the faith realm is in turmoil. In 2005, two-thirds of American adults said their religious faith was very important to them. Just ten years later that had slipped to only half. While millions of Americans contend, often defensively, that they are “spiritual but not religious,” their notion of being spiritual is typically tied more to their sense of self-determination and spiritual independence than to a historic faith steeped in truth, tradition, or orthodoxy. In fact, the number of adults who label themselves “deeply spiritual” has declined by almost 40 percent since 2005.[1]

Nine out of ten adults believe in “God.” However, only six out of ten believe in the God of the Christian Bible—a deity who is all-knowing, omnipresent, has unlimited power, created the universe, and rules that universe today and forever. Belief in such a God has dropped by seven percentage points in the past decade.[2]

Most Americans (78 percent) accept the idea that Jesus Christ was a real person,[3] but fewer than four out of ten believe that He was both human and divine and that He lived a sinless life on Earth. A growing proportion of Americans are uncertain about the nature and ministry of Jesus. Compared to a decade ago, fewer people have made a “personal commitment” to Jesus Christ that is important to them. Some have made that commitment to the person of Christ, while others have made it to the idea of a savior or spiritual protector. Combined, only six out of ten now say they have made such a commitment, down from nearly three-quarters of Americans just ten years ago. Further, fewer than half of all Americans (45 percent) contend that Jesus Christ is actually alive today.[4]

During the past decade, Americans have become more lukewarm about eternal salvation. While the same proportion of adults (three out of every ten) reject the idea that a good person can earn a place in Heaven, a larger and growing share of the public (about half) doesn’t know what to think about what happens after they die. This rise in uncertainty corresponds to the decline in the percentage of born-again Christians who believe they have a responsibility to share the gospel with nonbelievers during the course of the year—a twelve-point decline in the last ten years. Meanwhile, the percentage of believers who have shared their faith with nonbelievers has dropped from two-thirds to less than one-half in the last decade.[5]

Perceptions about Satan are another point of theological murkiness for millions of Americans. Barely one-quarter of the public believes Satan is a living entity. A similar proportion believes Satan is merely a symbol of evil but not a living entity. The other half of the public is not sure what to make of the idea of the devil. Overall, Satan is not a being or a spiritual concept that most Americans take seriously.[6]

The Bible no longer holds the revered place in society that it once had. Most households (91 percent) still own one or more copies of the Bible, but barely one-third of all adults firmly believe that it is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches. Not quite one-half of the public confidently embraces the view that the Bible contains everything you need to know to live a meaningful life.[7]

Overall, slightly more than one-half of the public believes the Bible is either the actual word of God, to be taken literally (22 percent), or the inspired and inerrant word of God, containing symbolism (33 percent). Almost one-half of the population (44 percent) contends that the Bible contains historical errors or personal interpretations that prevent it from being a trustworthy document. Some of the doubt about the Bible’s reliability relates to the miracles it describes; just half of all adults believe they actually occurred.[8]

As for sacred literature, a majority of people aren’t sure what to make of the documents relied on by the world’s most popular religions. Most people lean toward believing that the Bible, Koran, and Book of Mormon are simply different expressions of the same spiritual truths. It is not surprising, then, that only one out of eight adults considers themselves to be “highly knowledgeable” about the content of the Bible.[9]

Key Facts

Spiritual Indicator	2005	2015
Self-description: deeply spiritual	58%	37%
“My religious faith is very important to me”	68	52
Have a personal responsibility to share religious beliefs with nonbelievers	34	25
God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the universe who still rules it today	69	62
Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches	45	36
Bible is neither the actual nor inspired Word of God; it is written by men	22	30
Have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in my life today	72	60
Sources: OmniPoll™1-05, Barna Group, Ventura, CA, N=1,003, January 2005; OmniPoll™1-15, Barna Group, Ventura, CA, N=2,005, January 2015.

Adults Who Say Faith Is Their Highest Priority in Life

Source: Barna Group, OmniPoll™1-15OL, N=989, January 2015.

Outlook and Interpretation

Clearly, orthodox Christianity is much less popular in America today than it was just one decade ago. The continued questioning if not rejection of the Bible as a standard of truth has led tens of millions of people to adopt new morals, values, and behaviors. People are confused regarding what to believe and how to integrate their faith into the fabric of their lives, which is a testimony to the different voices and perspectives influencing their worldview.

Can you identify any nation in world history that abandoned biblical beliefs for a more secular worldview, only to quickly realize the error of its ways and return to biblically orthodox beliefs? Such transitions usually occur, if they happen at all, after a prolonged era of pain and decline. The United States is in the early stages of biblical abandonment and the consequent cultural decline. Increasing numbers of people are comfortable with faith as long as it provides the benefits they seek and is neither demanding nor constraining. This shift began tentatively more than four decades ago and has been gathering momentum ever since. Millennials, the generation whose choices will ultimately determine the nature of Christianity and the Church in America for several decades, appear poised to wholeheartedly support the shift away from biblical Christianity and toward new belief patterns.

The biblical warning that best captures the condition in America comes from the book of Judges, which tells us: “In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes” (17:9). Substitute “United States” for “Israel” and you have an accurate reflection of the present situation: a nation with no acknowledged King or deity, a nation in which its people have declared themselves in charge of their lives and destinies. Paul’s warning that the world will enter a time when people will “no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching” (2 Tim. 4:3) but instead will “follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear” (v. 4) and “reject the truth and chase after myths” (v. 4) is an apt description of America at the start of the twenty-first century.

A fundamental principle of human behavior is that you do what you believe. The country’s present situation suggests that Americans are on a course to engage in an increasing body of unbiblical behaviors without guilt or restraint. Almighty God can cause us to repent instantly should He so desire, but His preference is to give us the consequences of the exercise of our free will. It seems that we have a small window of opportunity to imagine what a twenty-first-century nation beholden to biblical principles might look like and how to foster such a transformation, but with each passing day the chance of successfully doing so seems to shrink.

2

RELIGIOUS BEHAVIOR

Summary

As noted in chapter 1, people do what they believe. Given that chapter...