Barna Research did a survey on Americans and their worldviews.

For the purposes of the survey, a “biblical worldview” was defined as believing that absolute moral truth exists; the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches; Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic; a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today. In the research, anyone who held all of those beliefs was said to have a biblical worldview.

That would mean I have a biblical worldview by their definition. Although by other people’s definitions that would mean I am a fundamentalist and bad, bad, bad. (I just read a paper yesterday where terms were misused and fundamentalists were described as pathological and unconcerned about reality. I’m having a hard time with a dialogue with these people because of that.)

So how many Americans have biblical worldviews? Not very many. Not even very many of the born again adults.

One-third of all adults (34%) believe that moral truth is absolute and unaffected by the circumstances. Slightly less than half of the born again adults (46%) believe in absolute moral truth.

Half of all adults firmly believe that the Bible is accurate in all the principles it teaches. That proportion includes the four-fifths of born again adults (79%) who concur.

Just one-quarter of adults (27%) are convinced that Satan is a real force. Even a minority of born again adults (40%) adopt that perspective.

Similarly, only one-quarter of adults (28%) believe that it is impossible for someone to earn their way into Heaven through good behavior. Not quite half of all born again Christians (47%) strongly reject the notion of earning salvation through their deeds.

A minority of American adults (40%) are persuaded that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life while He was on earth. Slightly less than two-thirds of the born again segment (62%) strongly believes that He was sinless.

Seven out of ten adults (70%) say that God is the all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the universe who still rules it today. That includes the 93% of born again adults who hold that conviction.

The one that I might see answering a little differently is the question on Satan. I believe that Satan is a real entity. I also believe that we use that identifier for more than Satan, so I guess I could see another answer on that one being legitimate.

I am appalled that 7% of born again Christians don’t believe that God is omnipotent and omniscient.

The survey is here.