Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!ucsd!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: pmafire!geoff@uunet.uu.net (Geoff Allen) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Christianity in the US (was Re: Genesis 3:14,15) Message-ID: Date: 30 Aug 90 04:29:24 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: WINCO Computer Engineering, INEL, Idaho Lines: 53 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu rodvan@microsoft.UUCP (Rod VAN MECHELEN) wrote: |According to the STATISTICAL ABSTRACT OF THE US, 1989 edition of the |National Data Book, in 1987 (more recent stats are not available) |56 percent of Americans believe themselves to be Christians. And rjd4507@venus.tamu.edu (DEFRESE, RAYMOND JACK) followed up: > I seem to remember seeing the results of a Gallup poll that > said 95% of Americans believe in God (not necessarily the > Judeo-Christian God), 84% believed Jesus to be the Son of > God and 25% considered themselves "evangelical" (of which > I am one). |Setting aside debates over "professors" vs. "possessors," that means |the majority of Americans have a predisposition to serve a Christian |agenda. > Judging from the Gallup results, I'd say you're right. I'd love to believe that the majority of folks in the US are either Christians or predisposed to Christianity, but I just don't see it. I think people in the US believe they are Christians because they are Americans. You can talk about God and Jesus in a generic sort of way, and everyone's happy. But if you start talking about sin, repentance, or the need for a personal commitment to Christ, most will start tuning you out (or even become hostile). Evangelism Explosion has encouraged the use of the following question to get to the heart of the issue: If you were to die today and God said to you, ``Why should I let you in to my heaven?'' what would you say? The majority of answers you'll hear will say nothing about Jesus. Most answers will go something like: Well, I'm a pretty good person, and I've never killed anybody.... The 25% evangelical is an interesting figure, though. Summary: I think most people in the US *think* they're Christians, but don't really know what Christianity is about. Disclaimer: I've lived all my life in the west. Maybe things are different down in the Bible Belt. -- Geoff Allen \ Since we live by the Spirit, uunet!pmafire!geoff \ let us keep in step with the Spirit. bigtex!pmafire!geoff \ -- Gal. 5:25 (NIV)