Do You Know What You Believe?

A newly released major survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life finds that most U.S. adults do not know or care about the distinctive teachings of their professed faith. They believe overwhelmingly in God (92%) and say they pray at least once a day (58%), but when it comes to specific religions – such as the teachings of the Southern Baptist Convention, the Roman Catholic Church or scores of other denominations – they are all over the map.

Pew’s U.S. Religious Landscape Survey questioned 35,000 Americans between May and August last year – nearly three in 10 of whom profess no religious identity, but sometimes go to church. Most evangelicals, whose denominations teach that Jesus is the sole route to salvation, instead say people who have “led good lives” go to heaven. Only one in three Catholics say their church should preserve its traditional beliefs rather than change with the times or adopt modern practices.

This analysis, based on a questionnaire that never mentions Jesus, portrays a nation of “free-flowing spirituality,” says Pew Forum director Luis Lugo, who finds the declining adherence to dogma “stunning.”

“You no longer have an alignment of affiliation, belief and behavior. Instead, we find complexity and diversity, not only between religious communities, but within them. [And] we find a high level of comfort with this diversity,” says political scientist John Green, a senior fellow with the Pew Forum.

When Green and Lugo factor in Pew’s data, released in February, that 44 percent of adults say they have switched to another religion or to none at all, Lugo says, “You have to wonder: How do you guarantee the integrity of a religious tradition when so many people are coming or going or following ideas that don’t match up?”

“You can’t,” says Rev. Frank Page of Taylors, S.C., the immediate past president of the Southern Baptist Convention. “I’m a pastor in the real world. I see this every day.” Page claims that, “Gospel, once clearly preached in virtually every Protestant church, is rarely heard in the 21st century. The number who teach a clear doctrinal Christianity are a minority today. How would people know it when they never hear about how to be saved?”

“Overall, people say they are religious, but they have no command of theology, doctrine or history, so it’s an empty religiosity,” says political science professor Alan Wolfe, director of the Boise Center for American and Public Life at Boston University.

Some other key findings:

• 78 percent overall say there are “absolute standards of right and wrong,” but only 29 percent rely on their religion to delineate these standards. The majority (52%) turn to “practical experience and common sense,” with nine percent relying on philosophy and reason, and five percent on scientific information.
• 70 percent, including a majority of all major Christian and non-Christian religious groups (except Mormons), agree that “many religions can lead to eternal life.”
• 68 percent say “there is more than one true way to interpret the teachings of my religion.”
• 44 percent want to preserve their religion’s traditional beliefs and practices. But most Catholics (67%), Jews (65%), mainline Christians (56%) and Muslims (51%) say their religion should either “adjust to new circumstances” or “adopt modern beliefs and practices.”

Sociologist Michael Lindsay of Rice University points out that, “after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the national memorial service was at Washington’s National Cathedral, conducted by Episcopal clergy. After the 9/11 attack, Oprah Winfrey organized the official memorial at Yankee Stadium and, while clergy participated, she was the master of ceremonies.” He says, “It’s a spiritual salad bar.”

as seen in the June 27, 2008 edition of “The Pastor’s Weekly Briefing”

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