Poll: Anti-Gay Stance Hurts Christianity in America

A 1996 poll showed a generally good impression of Christianity in America; now, just a decade later, the same organization has taken a new poll that paints a much bleaker picture.

The Barna Group found in its 1996 poll that 83 percent of Americans self-identified as Christians, and that the overwhelming majority of non-Christians had a favorable impression of the Christian faith.

But a new poll, conduct over the last three years, suggests that things have changed--and changed for the worse. The Barna Group's new poll surveyed 440 non-Christians and a roughly equal number of Christians, aged 16-29, and found that 38 percent of respondents say that they have a "bad impression" of Christianity.

David Kinnaman, of the Barna Group, sums up the decline in the esteem commanded by Christianity in America since 1996 with the words, "That was then."

Kinnaman has co-written a book, titled, UnChristian, on the subject, reports TIME.com in an article posted Oct. 2. The book, co-written with Gabe Lyons, offers the observation, "It's not a pretty picture."

The TIME story says that Kinnaman found non-Christians still regard the Bible, and Jesus, reverently; however, the faithful come in for diminished regard by non-Christian respondents, about ninety percent of whom saw Christians as anti-gay, "hypocritical," and "judgmental."

Seventy-five percent of non-Christian respondents regarded Christians as "too involved in politics" for their liking.

What non-Christians think is important because, as the TIME article notes, the poll found a quickly-growing number of people now describe themselves as not being Christian.

In part, this is the result of a narrower definition of the word "Christian" than the definition used in the 1996 poll. (The Barna Group's main clientele are Evangelicals.) Still, according to Kinnaman, each generation shows less and less inclination toward Christianity, with 23 percent of Americans over the age of 61 falling into the non-Christian category, compared to 27 percent in the 42-60 age group, and 40 percent among respondents 16-29 years of age.

This means, the TIME article says, that by Kinnaman's reckoning, younger Christians find that two out of five of their age cohort to not share their faith.

But those same young Christians share many of the same complaints about their own religion as do their non-Christian fellows. Eighty percent of all Christian respondents characterized their faith's "anti-homosexual" attitudes as a negative aspect, with 52 percent of Christians aged 16-29 agreeing with the 85 percent of non-Christians in the same age bracket who said that the faithful are "hypocritical," which the poll defined as "saying one thing [but] doing another."

Fifty percent of Christians said that their faith was "too involved in politics," and 44 percent described Christianity as "confusing."

Though Christians have historically known that non-Christians had issues with how the Christian faith is expressed by its adherents, they have not always been concerned as to what members of other faiths (or no faith) thought about them.

Said Kinnaman, "The question is whether to care."

However, the TIME article said, Kinnaman acknowledged that in this case Christians may wish to hear what others have to say, given the demographic shifts among the younger set, and the fact that many younger Christians share the same dissatisfaction and perceptions as their non-Christian peers about their faith.