Saturday, March 14, 2009

The Heartbeat of America

This past week the results of the American Religious Identification Survey were released (source). This poll is regarded as one of the most comprehensive studies of "how contemporary Americans identify themselves religiously, and how that self-identification has changed over the past generation" (they've also conducted the survey in 1990 and 2001). The survey found that the number of Americans that identify themselves as "Christian" has dropped from 86% in 1990 to 76% in 2008.

My friend and fellow blogger Adam recently commented on the opportunity that these findings hold to remind us of the growing need of lost people. I agree with Adam that our reaction to this survey should not be to circle the wagons and cry about the decaying moral fabric of our culture. I mean, who among us in the church really believe that 76% of Americans are Christian? Perhaps this is a good sign that many people who consider themselves Christian are realizing just how little they invest in their faith. Maybe there are people out there today that would be willing to explore a walk with Christ who would have not thought of it as necessary previously.

People need the Lord. It's not just a rockin' 80's tune... it's the truth.

3 comments:

Angela said...

you are a better blogger then me. but then again, you are better then me at almost everything.

alex said...

ang, don't sell yourself short. you are awesome! (and better than me at plenty of things)

Anonymous said...

I love it when you get to preachin!