In a partial release of a study planned for publishing in full this fall, LifeWay Research’s findings about evangelicals’ beliefs regarding the exclusivity of Christ differed from the recently published results from a Pew poll.
The Pew findings indicated widespread agreement with universalism in the U.S., “70 percent of Americans with a religious affiliation say that many religions – not just their own – can lead to eternal life.” Pew also indicated 57 percent of those attending evangelical churches agree that many religions can lead to eternal life. Only 36 percent chose the alternative, “My religion is the one, true faith leading to eternal life.”
The LifeWay study used more specific wording than Pew’s use of “religion” which can be confused as meaning “denominational affiliation.” Asking Protestant churchgoers whether a person can obtain eternal life through “religions other than Christianity,” LifeWay found only 31 percent agreed “strongly” or “somewhat.”
The LifeWay Research finding adds quantifiable data to growing criticisms that the Pew survey was flawed in how it asked its question, and that poor wording was the cause of Pew’s counterintuitive conclusions about evangelicals’ beliefs regarding the exclusivity of Christ for salvation.
LifeWay Research, an arm of LifeWay Christian Resources, has been studying practices and beliefs of hundreds of Protestant churchgoers in a longitudinal multiyear study.
In the study, which will be featured in “The Shape of Faith to Come,” a fall 2008 book by B&H Publishing Group vice president Brad Waggoner, LifeWay Research asked 2,500 Protestant adults who attend church at least once a month, “How much do you agree/disagree: If a person is sincerely seeking God, he/she can obtain eternal life through religions other than Christianity.”
Although not directly comparable, there is a 39 percentage point difference in the universalistic beliefs identified in the LifeWay Research study and the Pew study.
“The Pew Forum accurately reported the question they asked and accurately reported the responses they received, but I do not think that led to an accurate portrayal of evangelicals,” said Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research.
He cautioned, “When we define evangelicals as not just those who sit in pews but who agree with certain evangelical beliefs, we find a different picture than was widely reported in the news about the recent Pew study.”
“LifeWay Research utilized a five-point scale, in which 28 percent of Protestant churchgoers neither agreed nor disagreed with the universalistic statement. Assuming that all the ‘neither agree nor disagree’ would move to the universalist side when forced to choose, the difference is still 10 percent,” Stetzer noted.
Forty percent of these Protestant churchgoers disagreed (strongly or somewhat) that eternal life can be obtained through religions other than Christianity. When “evangelical” is defined by beliefs, rather than which church is attended, 8 out of 10 evangelicals reject this universalistic statement.
Rejection of the universalistic statement in the LifeWay study by disagreeing strongly or somewhat are shown in the following percentages:
– 80 percent of those who indicate evangelical beliefs.
– 61 percent of born-again Christians.
– 49 percent who say they attend an evangelical church.
– 27 percent of those who do not indicate evangelical beliefs.