Ignorance on Core Christian Beliefs

The Barna Research Group recently surveyed 1,007 American adults and found that many born-again Christians exhibit surprisingly high levels of ignorance on the following core Christian beliefs: 80 percent of born-again Christians agree with the statement, "the Bible teaches that God helps those who help themselves." The Bible does not make this claim. 49 percent of born-again believers accept the notion that Satan is not a living being, but a symbol of evil. Even though born-again Christians are those who believe they will go to heaven because they &ls;have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus...," 39 percent of the born-again segment also maintain that "if a person is generally good, or does enough good things for others during their life, they will earn a place in heaven." 30 percent claim that "Jesus Christ was a great Teacher, but He did not come back to physical life after He was crucified." 29 percent say "there are some crimes, sins or other things people might do which cannot be forgiven by God." 26 percent disagree with the notion that they personally have "a responsibility to tell other people [their] religious beliefs."