11 Oct 2006, Posted by Lance in General, No Comments.

Updated Barna Group Study

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Christianity No Longer Looks Like Jesus

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Young Americans today are more skeptical and resistant to
Christianity than were people of the same age just a decade ago, says a
new study.

Negative perceptions toward the Christian
faith have outweighed the positive as a growing percentage of younger
Americans associate with a faith outside Christianity.

Only 16
percent of non-Christians aged 16 to 29 years old said they have a
"good impression" of Christianity, according to a report released
Monday by The Barna Group. A decade ago, the vast majority of Americans
outside the Christian faith, including young people, felt favorably
toward Christianity’s role in society,

Young people have an even
lesser positive impression of evangelicals. Only 3 percent of 16- to
29-year-olds who are not of the Christian faith express favorable views
of evangelicals. In the previous generation, 25 percent of young people
had positive associations toward evangelicals.

"[Evangelicals]
have always been viewed with skepticism in the broader culture," said
the Barna report. "However, those negative views are crystallizing and
intensifying among young non-Christians."

Common negative
perceptions among non-Christians is that present-day Christianity is
judgmental (87 percent), hypocritical (85 percent), old-fashioned (78
percent), and too involved in politics (75 percent).

For the most
part, Christians are aware of the greater degree of criticism toward
Christianity. According to the study, 91 percent of the nation’s
evangelicals believe that "Americans are becoming more hostile and
negative toward Christianity."

Half of senior pastors say that
"ministry is more difficult than ever before because people are
increasingly hostile and negative toward Christianity."

There
were also some widely held favorable perceptions toward Christianity
including beliefs that Christianity teaches the same basic ideas as
other religions (82 percent), has good values and principles (76
percent), is friendly (71 percent), and is a faith they respect (55
percent).

Criticism, however, was not limited to young people
outside the Christian faith. Half of young churchgoers said they
perceive Christianity to be judgmental, hypocritical and too political.
Also, one-third said it was old-fashioned and out of touch with reality.

Moreover,
the study showed a new image attached to the Christian faith that is
growing in prominence over the last decade. Overall, 91 percent of
young non-Christians and 80 percent of young churchgoers say
present-day Christianity is "anti-homosexual."

"As the research
probed this perception, non-Christians and Christians explained that
beyond their recognition that Christians oppose homosexuality, they
believe that Christians show excessive contempt and unloving attitudes
towards gays and lesbians," the Barna report stated.

Young
Christians largely criticize the church, saying it has made
homosexuality a "bigger sin" than anything else and that the church has
not helped them apply the biblical teaching on homosexuality to their
friendships with gays and lesbians.

Among other common
impressions, 23 percent of young non-Christians said "Christianity is
changed from what it used to be" and "Christianity in today’s society
no longer looks like Jesus." Young born-again Christians were just as
likely to say the same (22 percent).

"That’s where the term
‘unChristian’ came from," said David Kinnaman, president of The Barna
Group who presents the findings in his new book unChristian.
"Young people are very candid. In our interviews, we kept encountering
young people – both those inside the church and outside of it – who
said that something was broken in the present-day expression of
Christianity. Their perceptions about Christianity were not always
accurate, but what surprised me was not only the severity of their
frustration with Christians, but also how frequently young born again
Christians expressed some of the very same comments as young
non-Christians."

Research further revealed that those outside of
Christian faith have had significant experience with Christians and
Christian churches. On average, young non-Christians said they have
five friends who are Christians; more than four out of five have
attended a Christian church for a period of at least six months in the
past; and half have previously considered becoming a Christian.

"Older
generations more easily dismiss the criticism of those who are
outsiders," Kinnaman said. "But we discovered that young leaders and
young Christians are more aware of and concerned about the views of
outsiders, because they are more likely to interact closely with such
people. Their life is more deeply affected by the negative image of
Christianity. For them, what Christianity looks like from an outsider’s
perspective has greater relevance, because outsiders are more likely to
be schoolmates, colleagues, and friends."

The declining reputation of Christianity correlates with shifting faith allegiances of Americans, the study pointed out.

Each
new generation has a larger share of people who are not Christians,
which includes atheists, agnostics, people with no faith orientation or
people associated with another faith). Among adults over the age of 40,
only about one-quarter associate with a non-Christian faith compared to
40 percent of 16- to 29-year-olds.

"This is not a passing fad
wherein young people will become ‘more Christian’ as they grow up,"
according to the report. "While Christianity remains the typical
experience and most common faith in America, a fundamental
recalibration is occurring within the spiritual allegiance of America’s
upcoming generations."