Singles Of Faith.Com ... The Faith Convictions of America

(The Barna Research Group, Ltd., an independent marketing research company located
in southern California, has been studying the values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors of
Americans since 1984. It's research has played a significant role in our expansion and
service strategies. This research is part of its regular tracking of the social, religious and
political state of the nation and its churches.)

America's convictions of faith:

The data described above are from national telephone surveys among random samples of adults (age 18 or older) in the 48 continental states. The interviews analyzed were conducted in August 2001 (1001 adults), October/November 2001 (1010 adults), January 2002 (1006), April 2002 (1007 adults), July 2002 (1012 adults) and August 2002 (1256 adults). Adults in the 48 continental states were eligible to be interviewed and the distribution coincided with the geographic dispersion of the U.S. adult population. Multiple callbacks were used to increase the probability of including a reliable distribution of adults.

There are five discernible religious segments among Americans. Three of those are associated with the Christian faith, but each is unique from the others in significant ways. Many Americans have apparently developed a form of faith that is comforting but only vaguely Bible-related while the stereotypical, Bible-based Christian faith is more unusual than it is typical. Evangelicals are 8% of the population; non-evangelical born again Christians are 33% and notional Christians are 44%. The atheist/agnostic group contains 8% of adults, while other faith groups have 7%.

Evangelicals are 8% of the population. Because evangelicals are also born again, the total born again Christian population in the U.S. is currently 41%. In addition to meeting the born again criteria, evangelicals also meet seven other conditions. Those include (1) saying their faith is very important in their life today; (2) believing they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs about Christ with non-Christians; (3) believing that Satan exists; (4) believing that eternal salvation is possible only through grace, not works; (5) believing that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; (6) asserting that the Bible is accurate in all of its teachings; and (7) describing God as the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today. Being classified as an evangelical has no relationship to church attendance or denominational affiliation. Evangelicals are the only group among which a majority (68%) base their moral decisions on the Bible or religious teaching and the sole segment that is more likely to believe in absolute moral truth (58%) than to say that moral choices are relative to the individual and the circumstances (i.e., relativism - 27%). Consequently, their moral views were significantly different from those of every other segment. By definition, evangelicals believe that the Bible is accurate in all that it teaches.

Evangelicals are born again, but most born again Christians are not evangelical. (In fact, only one out of five born again adults meet the evangelical criteria.) The 33% of the adult population who are born again but not evangelical represent some 65 to 70 million people. They believe they have eternal salvation through the grace given them by God through their personal faith in Christ, but do not believe in various core doctrines taught in the Bible. "Born again Christians" were defined in these surveys as people who said they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today and who also indicated they believe that when they die they will go to Heaven because they had confessed their sins and had accepted Jesus Christ as their savior.On moral issues, this group is most likely to take its cues from sources other than the Bible or religious teaching. The primary influences on their moral decisions are personal feelings about what is right, the values taught to them by their parents, and whatever choices produce the best personal outcomes. A majority of the non-evangelical born again group attends church, reads the Bible, and prays to God during a typical week. Slightly more than half of these adults shared their faith in Christ with a non-Christian during the past year. Only six out of ten people in this category strongly believe that "the Bible is totally accurate in all that it teaches."

The largest segment is comprised of people who describe themselves as Christians, but do not believe that they will have eternal life because of their reliance upon the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the grace extended to people through a relationship with Christ. (A large majority of these individuals believe they will have eternal life, but not because of a grace-based relationship with Jesus Christ.) This group, referred to as "notional Christians," encompasses 44% of all adults in the U.S., which represents roughly 90 million adults. Only one out of every ten notional Christians bases moral choices on the Bible or religious teaching, and just one out of every six believes in absolute moral truth. Even though three-quarters of these people regularly attended a Christian church during their childhood, only a minority regularly attends these days. In a typical week, one out four reads the Bible, one out of three attends a church service, one out of ten attends a religious education class, and one out of ten participates in a small group that meets for spiritual purposes. Only three out of ten notional Christians claim to be "absolutely committed" to the Christian faith. One out of four firmly believes that the Bible is totally accurate; just one out of seven (15%) strongly disagrees that Satan is symbolic but not real and a similar number (11%) firmly rejects the idea that the Holy Spirit is merely symbolic. A majority contends that eternal life can be earned through good behavior. Only one out of four strongly disagrees with the contention that Jesus committed sins during His tenure on earth.

Adults associated with a faith group other than Christianity represent 7% of the population. Among the most prolific faith groups included in this hybrid segment are Jews, Muslims and Buddhists. This segment represents an estimated 10 to 15 million American adults.

Adults aligned with non-Christian faiths are two and one-half times more likely to describe themselves as "mostly liberal" than "mostly conservative" - a vivid contrast from the self-portrait of those associated with the Christian faith. Similar to the notional Christians, but in a major departure from the views of evangelical and born again Christians, most adults who follow a non-Christian faith believe that all truth is relative (75%); just one out of six (17%) believe in absolute moral truth. Only 8% of these Americans rely on the Bible or their religious teaching as the dominant influence upon their moral choices - and those choices are dramatically different from the norm. Six out of ten pray to their deity during a typical week, but only one out of every seven attends some type of religious gathering or service during a typical week and less than one out of 10 participates in some type of religious education class or meeting.

(Singles Of Faith.Com is not currently serving folks without convictions of faith.) Eight percent of all adults describe themselves as atheist or agnostic. This segment covers an estimated 10 to 15 million adults. Three-quarters of the self-proclaimed atheists and agnostics say that all moral truth is relative to the person and circumstances; only 10% believe in absolute moral truth. Several million atheists and agnostics grew up regularly attending Christian churches (30%).

Since the significant majority (78% - 85%) of single adult Americans would call themselves "Christians," we have chosen to concentrate (at least initially) on those 57,000,000+ "singles of faith" who would call themselves Christians. As God leads, we look to additionally serve the balance of single Americans at some point in the future.