Published:August 23, 2021
-The Blaze
A new study has found that over 60% of born-again Christians in America between the ages of 18 and 39 believe that Jesus isn’t the only way to Heaven — and that Buddha and Muhammad also are valid paths to salvation, the Christian Post reported.
What are the details?
The outlet — citing the results of Probe Ministries’ Religious Views & Practices Survey — also said that for those in that age group, over 30% say they either believe that Jesus sinned just like other people or aren’t sure.
In addition, the Christian Post said the study shows a “striking decline” in evangelical religious beliefs and practices over the last decade. The study added that the percentage of self-proclaimed believers who now hold to pluralism has gone up.
More from the outlet:
The study, which interviewed 3,100 Americans ages 18 to 55 in 2020 and looked at various other previous studies, saw a drop in “basic biblical worldview” — God’s attributes, the accuracy of the Bible, salvation and Jesus being sinless — from 47% in 2010 to 25% in 2020 among born-again Christians.
The drop in the “expanded biblical worldview” — beliefs about Satan and morals being objective — went from 32% in 2010 to 16% in 2020.
“So, the percentage of Born Again Christians with a biblical worldview (of either type) has been cut in half over the last decade,” the study says, according to the Christian Post, adding that it compared the 18-29 age group from 2010 with the same age group 10 years later, now 30-39. “This result is a startling degradation in worldview beliefs of born-again Christians over just 10 years.”
Kerby Anderson, president of Probe Ministries, said that means even born-again Christians “can have a false view of Jesus Christ and embrace a pluralistic worldview” and that “pastors and church leaders just can’t assume any longer that the members of their church or Christian organization have a biblical worldview,” the outlet reported.
The Christian Post said Anderson attributes the disturbing fall of biblical views — especially among younger Christians — to the media.
He said they are “not paying attention” and are “focused — nearly exclusively, it seems — on their phones, social media and other content they deem more compelling,” the outlet said.
Anything else?
The Christian Post added that an article about the study’s findings on the Probe Ministries website explains that in the Roman Empire in AD 60, biblical-worldview Christians made up fewer than 1% of the population — but “three hundred years later, virtually the entire empire was at least nominally Christian.”
“If we will commit ourselves to ‘proclaiming the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light,’ God will bring revival to our land,” the article adds, the outlet noted.
