DALLAS (ABP) — One out of every four adults who call themselves “evangelical” is not a “born-again” Christian, according to a recent report from the Barna Group. And that's just the beginning of the confusion surrounding the term “evangelical.”
For instance, some political pundits tend to qualify evangelicals mainly as people who vote against abortion rights and gay marriage. Many Roman Catholics think they're evangelical. Most Mormons don't.
The confusion has progressed so far that some “progressive evangelicals” have decided to forego the term completely, opting instead for the ambiguous label of “red-letter Christian.”
What's the real cause of the misunderstanding and misuse? The very nature of what makes an evangelical has fluctuated for decades.
Barna's Jan. 22 report calls people “born again” if they have made a personal commitment to Jesus and believe they'll go to heaven because they confessed their sin and accepted Jesus as savior. But many who also call themselves evangelical just don't fit that bill, Barna Group founder George Barna said.
His report differentiates between two kinds of evangelicals: people who self-identify as evangelicals and people who meet a nine-point theological criterion that defines the identity.
All told, 84 million adults in the United States call themselves evangelicals, while only 18 million qualify as such using the nine-point filter, the report said.
Either way, “evangelical” was not used in the Bible and has become a “sloppy” way to label believers, Barna said.
“Responsible analysts … should be encouraged to re-examine the term and the measures they are using,” he said in the report. “Political commentators, reporters, educators and researchers continually make important claims about the spiritual life, lifestyle patterns, voting preferences and issue stands of evangelicals, even though it is clear that the criteria they use for identifying evangelicals are misleading at best.”
Barna's nine criteria are based on earlier assessments conducted by the National Associations of Evangelicals. They include the two qualifiers for the born-again label, plus belief that faith is “very important” in life; belief that Christians have a responsibility to tell others about Christ; belief that Satan exists; belief that unending life is possible only through God and can't be earned through works; belief that Jesus lived a sinless life; belief that the Bible is complete and accurate; and belief that God is an all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created and participates in the universe.
Survey respondents were not labeled based on whether or not they attended church.
Nancy French, an author and former political columnist for Philadelphia's City Paper, questions some of Barna's analysis, especially when it comes to the nine-point criteria. As co-founder of Evangelicals for Mitt, a group supporting Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) for president, French defines evangelicals simply as “people who believe in the Nicene Creed.”
“I think Barna's restrictive definition of ‘evangelical' skews the numbers,” she said.
Analysts say Romney will have to capture the evangelical vote to compete as a presidential candidate.
One big differentiator in the term's uses involves Satan. By Barna's standards, Christians who are not sure who Satan is — a spirit, a demon, a person, a fallen angel — wouldn't be considered evangelical, French pointed out.
New and “born-again” Christians are commonly confused over that question, but ambiguous feelings about Satan shouldn't disqualify them from the evangelical camp, she said. What's more, many Catholics consider themselves evangelical because they live the gospel message in their daily life and strive to spread it around the world, she said, and they shouldn't necessarily be disqualified either.
Along with the claim that not all evangelicals are born-again, the study found other discrepancies between the popular perception of who — or what — an evangelical is and who meets the Barna litmus test.
Researchers found that self-proclaimed evangelicals are less likely to have graduated from college than their nine-point counterparts (29 percent versus 39 percent), were less likely to be married (63 percent versus 77 percent) and had lower household incomes ($40,250 for self-reporters compared to $49,194).
They also found political opinions misaligned somewhat between self-described evangelicals and nine-point evangelicals. For instance, the former are less likely to be socially conservative — 45 percent of them are, compared to 65 percent of the latter.
All told, “there is only a seven-percentage-point difference in the number of Democrats and Republicans among the self-defined evangelicals but a 25-point difference among those who are deemed evangelical by virtue of their beliefs,” the report said.
Data for the survey came from nationwide telephone surveys conducted in January, April, August and October of 2006. In total, 4014 adults were interviewed.
For political activists like French, targeting every pocket population of evangelicals is near impossible. And her team hasn't “reached out” to evangelicals to draw them to the website, she said. Those who happen to find www.evangelicalsformitt.org stick around because they share common values and beliefs, she said.
“Politically, our site appeals to those who are pro-life, pro-family, pro-traditional marriage,” she said. “Democratic evangelicals like the ones in the Barna group who might be pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, etc., are not our target demographic.”
Still, conservative values do seem to resonate with evangelicals in general, she added.
Other critics have noted that the Barna report hints at only one — mostly theological — side of the inevitable conundrum pollsters and pundits face in classifying the group. Historically and geographically, however, usage of the word has varied widely.
Since the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, for instance, Lutheran churches in Europe have been called “evangelical” to distinguish them from the Reformed churches of John Calvin and his followers.
The Puritans also used the “evangelical” label to separate themselves from the 17th century's Church of England. And in the 1700s, the Methodist Wesleyan revival provided the impetus for some Anglicans to create the “Evangelical Party.”
The First Great Awakening, a movement among American colonists in the 1730s, is usually credited with starting modern evangelicalism in the United States.
Both the Methodist movement and awakening emphasized the importance of individual conversion, Bible study, morality (which at that time, included temperance), enhanced roles for laity and women, evangelism and cooperation across denominational borders.
In his latest book, Letters to a Young Evangelical, Tony Campolo charts the more recent history of American evangelicalism through World War II, Billy Graham's increasing prominence in the 1950s, and the rise of megachurches like Willow Creek Church in Barrington, Ill.
A well-known progressive evangelical and theologian, Campolo defines evangelicals as people who believe the doctrines of the Apostle's Creed, believe Scripture is “divinely inspired,” and believe in the “ultimate significance” on having a “personal and transforming” relationship with the resurrected Christ.
According to Campolo's book, more than 80 percent of evangelicals voted for Republican candidates in the 2004 elections. But he rejects the popular notion that all evangelicals align themselves with the Religious Right. Although evangelicals who embrace a progressive political agenda are sometimes called the Evangelical Left, Campolo rejects that as well.
“We don't like that designation because it suggests that we are an arm of the Democratic Party in the same way in which the Republican Right has become an arm of the Republican Party,” he wrote. “We contend that to ally Jesus with either political party is idolatry. The Jesus of Scripture will not conform to the ideologies of any party.”
Campolo also decried the term “progressive evangelical.” Instead he opted to call himself a “red-letter Christian.”
The term came from a radio announcer in Nashville, Tenn., who referred to progressive evangelicals as “folks [who are] into those verses in the Bible that are in red letters” –meaning the words of Jesus, which traditionally are printed in red ink.
Apparently, that includes Jim Wallis of Sojourners magazine; Father Richard Rohr, a well-known Catholic writer; Brian McLaren, a leader of the emergent church movement; Cheryl Sanders, a prominent African-American pastor; and Noel Castellanos, a prominent leader in the Hispanic community — all of whom have joined Campolo's campaign to differentiate between evangelicals and the Religious Right.
Ultimately, of course, Campolo said he has no “special handle on truth” and urged all evangelicals to carefully critique all claims thrust upon them.
“Some beliefs about Christ and the salvation story are rock-solid foundations for us evangelicals, but thinking for yourselves about everything else is in harmony with the evangelical tradition,” he said. “When you enter an evangelical household, you are not expected to leave your brains at the door.”
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