Survey: Few Outside Christianity Have Positive View of Evangelicals
Researcher Says Believers Perceived as 'Not Particularly Loving'
By Allie Martin
December 6, 2002
(AgapePress) - A new survey shows that adults with no connection to the Christian faith have low opinions of evangelicals. The researcher who conducted the study believes that may be one reason why churches are not growing.
The Barna survey asked respondents how they felt about evangelicals, born-again Christians, ministers, and other types of people.
According to the survey, evangelicals came in tenth out of eleven, trailing lesbians and lawyers but beating out prostitutes.
George Barna, president of the Barna Research Group, says evangelicals have a lot of work to do to overcome such an image.
"We may not be 'evil' people, we may not be 'bad' people -- we may be completely loving and wonderful.
But somehow we are being perceived by non-Christians in America as a group of people who are not particularly loving [and] not particularly generous, kind, or understanding," Barna says.
"Whether that's because the media portray evangelicals in a negative light or because we've earned that 'badge of dishonor,' if you will, we've got to figure that out -- and then we have to address that."
Barna says evangelicals have an opportunity to reverse the negative public opinion: through the way they live their lives. "We're not going to have many opportunities to have meaningful interaction on a spiritual level with people outside the Christian faith until they can look at us and say, 'You know what? These people live what they talk,'" he says.
The survey also found the more highly educated a person without a Christian connection is, the less likely he or she is to have a positive impression of Christians. The only group that received a favorable response from the non-Christian respondents was military officers.
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