Evangelicals make up a far smaller share of the United States population than expected due to a misunderstanding of the term, a new research report states, finding that the lack of a uniform biblical worldview among Evangelicals has negative implications.
The Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, led by longtime Evangelical pollster George Barna, released the fourth installment of its American Worldview Inventory 2024 last week.
The report, focusing on "The Limitations of Christian Evangelicalism in American Society," concluded that "Evangelicals are far fewer in number than typically reported, often are far less biblical in their thinking than one might assume, and tend to vote in far fewer numbers than expected."
The data in the report is based on the American Worldview Inventory, a survey of 2,000 adults conducted by Arizona Christian University in January 2024. The Cultural Research Center estimates that Evangelicals constitute 10% of adults in the U.S., between 25 and 30 million people.
The report uses the National Association of Evangelicals' definition of Evangelicals as "people who recognize their sinful life, rely upon Jesus Christ for their redemption, and receive practical life guidance and wisdom from the Bible in their quest to live under the lordship of Jesus" and ties data from the American Worldview Inventory.
The report contrasted its findings with frequently cited estimates that place the Evangelical share of the U.S. population at 25% to 40% and suggested that other reports rely heavily on self-reporting, which results in counting people who merely describe themselves as Evangelical, even if they do not meet the criteria.
"Media reports generally mislead readers by reporting data representing self-reported Evangelicals, most of whom do not meet the kind of theological criteria used in our research," CRC Director Barna said in a statement.
Barna said they may also "report on people who attend what the individual considers to be an Evangelical church."
"This research, however, points out that most of the people who qualify theologically as Evangelicals do not attend what might be deemed an Evangelical church," he added. The report focused specifically on the views of theological Evangelicals.
The Cultural Research Center noted that there is near-unanimous agreement among Evangelicals that "God is the all-knowing, all-powerful, just and perfect Creator of the universe who still rules the world today" (97%) and "is the basis of all truth" (96%). More than 90% of Evangelicals also believe that "the purpose of life is to fully know, love, and serve God with all your heart and soul, mind, and strength" (92%) and that God created the universe (97%).
Belief in Satan, Jesus Christ as "an important guide" in life, and the idea that "all humans are born into sin and can only escape the consequences of sin through Jesus Christ" are also shared by more than 90% of Evangelicals. Large shares of Evangelicals also view same-sex marriage (86%), fornication (84%), abortion (82%) and telling lies (81%) as "not morally acceptable."
However, the report highlighted a number of beliefs embraced by Evangelicals that are at odds with biblical teachings.
Majorities of Evangelicals believe that married couples "can be bonded to each other for eternity" (76%), "it is always in your best interest to follow your natural instincts" (71%), treatment with kindness and respect should not be automatic but earned (65%), humans are "supposed to live in harmony" with animals, plants and nature as opposed to dominating them (54%), and "people are basically good" (54%).
Just 35% of Evangelicals subscribe to what the CRC considers a biblical worldview. In contrast, a majority of Evangelicals (64%) embrace syncretism as their worldview.
The report defined syncretism as "a worldview that combines core beliefs and behaviors from a variety of well-defined worldviews, such as Marxism, Secular Humanism, Eastern Mysticism and Postmodernism, into an individualized, customized blend."
Meanwhile, less than half of Evangelicals read or study the Bible daily "other than at church services/events" (41%), describe themselves as "very active in their Christian faith" (42%), "pay 'a lot' or 'quite a bit' of attention" to news about politics and government (42%), and meet the qualifications for a Spiritually Active, Governance Engaged Conservative Christian (44%).
While two-thirds of Evangelicals (67%) "vote in all general and all/most primary elections," the report considers Evangelicals' level of participation in elections as inadequate. Other "biblically correct beliefs/behaviors embraced by too few evangelicals" include a refusal to "buy specific products or services because of the company's position on an issue that matters to you" (52%) and the view that "animals, plants, wind, and water have a unique spirit, just like human beings do" (60%).
The report attributed the failure of Evangelicals to embrace a biblical worldview as a major reason behind "the decadence of American society and the demise of the United States."
It also found that "most theologically-defined evangelicals do not even attend what are considered to be evangelical churches."
Barna expressed concern about "the influence of unbiblical — or, at a minimum, non-Evangelical — perspectives taught to Evangelicals in non-Evangelical churches that alter the theological beliefs and lifestyle choices of Evangelicals."
Statistics included in the report demonstrated that just 35% of those who meet the definition of an Evangelical attend Evangelical churches, while 21% go to independent or non-denominational churches, 15% attend mainline churches, 14% frequent Pentecostal churches and significantly smaller shares attend Catholic (3%) and traditionally Black churches (2%).
