Barna finds more "born again"

George Barna's gang has had a busy year so far. This is the third news release I've received from them this month. this one is entitled Barna Survey Reveals Significant Growth in Born Again Population. The following is an excerpt form this news release. What I find interesting is the criteria used to determine "born again" and "evangelical."

The new research found that 45% of all adults meet the criteria that The Barna Group uses to classify people as "born again." That number is up from 31% in 1983. The percentage hovered in the 36% to 43% range from 1992 through 2005. The current figure represents the largest single-year increase since 1991-1992.

Evangelicals, who are born again but also possess each of seven core beliefs that mirror those taught in the Bible, represent 9% of the adult public.

Non-evangelical born again adults constitutes 36% of the adult base. They do not meet the evangelical criteria by virtue of their beliefs related to the seven core biblical perspectives tested in Barna's surveys.

Notional Christians "people who describe themselves as Christian but do not meet the born again criteria" have declined from 46% in 1991 to 36% today.

Adults who are aligned with faiths other than Christianity, and those who consider themselves to be atheist or agnostic, each comprise less than 10% of the population.

"Born again Christians" are defined as people who said they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today and who also indicated they believe that when they die they will go to Heaven because they had confessed their sins and had accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. Respondents were not asked to describe themselves as "born again."

"Evangelicals" meet the born again criteria (described above) plus seven other conditions. Those include saying their faith is very important in their life today; believing they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs about Christ with non-Christians; believing that Satan exists; believing that eternal salvation is possible only through grace, not works; believing that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; asserting that the Bible is accurate in all that it teaches; and describing God as the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today. Being classified as an evangelical is not dependent upon church attendance or the denominational affiliation of the church attended. Respondents were not asked to describe themselves as "evangelical."