The Christian Worldview The State of Theology in America
GUEST: Dr. Stephen Nichols, Ligonier Ministries
Theology is defined as “the study of the nature of God and religious beliefs.” So “what do Americans believe about God, salvation, ethics, and the Bible?”
That is how Ligonier Ministries frames The State of Theology survey that they and LifeWay Research partner together to produce every two years.
If you’re a Christian and are paying attention to the shift away from God and Scripture that has taken place in our country over the past 75 years, you won’t be surprised to learn that Americans have an unbiblical, syncretistic worldview, which is a mix of flawed human reasoning and remnants of religious moralism borrowed from Christianity.
The survey made 35 theological statements to over 3,000 respondents of differing backgrounds and regions. Respondents could answer “strongly agree, somewhat agree, not sure, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree”.
Here are a few examples of the theological statements in the survey:
- “God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.”
(67% agreed with this falsehood, as did 56% of Evangelicals). - “Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God.”
(53% agreed with this lie, as did 43% of professing Evangelicals) - “The Bible has the authority to tell us what we must do.”
(52% overall agreed, with 94% of Evangelicals agreeing…thankfully)
Dr. Stephen Nichols, chief academic officer of Ligonier Ministries and president of Reformation Bible College, joins us on The Christian Worldview to discuss The State of Theology survey for 2022.