Study: Teens embracing religion, but not the Bible

America’s teens have embraced religion — but what religion? A new survey shows that while most teens consider themselves to be Christians, many of their beliefs are not consistent with biblical teaching.
   
The study found that 86 percent of teens claim to be Christians, up slightly from a year ago. However, among those who say they are Christians, commitment to the Christian faith is limited. Only about one-third describe themselves as “absolutely committed” to Christianity, while half say they are “moderately committed.”
   
Most teens have positive impressions of Christianity, faith and local churches. Eight out of 10 say their faith has helped them to achieve a greater sense of peace in life. The same percentage also stated that Christian churches in their community add real value to the life of their community, and that religious faith is very important in their life these days.
   
While the Christian faith may generate positive feelings among teens, individual Christians are more suspect. One-third of teens questioned said they feel that “most adult Christians are hypocrites.” Older teens were more likely to hold this view, as were those who described themselves as “mostly liberal” on political and social issues.
   
The study found that teens respect the Bible, with three out of five saying they believe the Bible to be totally accurate in all that it teaches. Protestant teens were twice as likely as Catholic teens to hold this high view of Scripture.
   
However, when asked about specific religious beliefs, many teens expressed views that are not consistent with the Bible. For instance, two-thirds stated that Satan is not a living being but merely a symbol of evil. Six out of 10 argued that a good person can earn eternal salvation through good deeds. And a majority (53 percent) said that Jesus committed sins while He was on earth.
   
Past Barna surveys have found that adult Christians also hold unbiblical beliefs, but this survey found that in comparison to adults, teens are more likely to deny the existence of Satan, more likely to perceive eternal salvation to be a consequence of personal goodness  and more likely to contend that Jesus Christ was a sinner.
   
The survey points to major challenges for the church, according to George Barna, the researcher whose firm conducted the survey. “Two out of three teenagers said they are ‘very familiar with all the major principles and teachings of the Christian faith.” 
   
“In addition, three-fourths of all teens said their religious beliefs are not likely to change in the future. The bottom line is that today’s teens think they have learned and absorbed whatever the Christian faith has to offer and are therefore not questioning their spiritual beliefs, and are not open to being challenged in their views,” said Barna. “Among teenagers, what we see is what we will continue to get from them — well-intentioned but misinformed faith perspectives that lead to bad choices and spiritual confusion. As the future leaders of the Christian church, we must be concerned about the substance of the faith that will be communicated and practiced in the long term.”
   
Barna added that the dominant influences on the spiritual views of young people — parents, friends, music and other forms of popular entertainment — are largely responsible for the errant theological views of teens.
   
The study was based on 605 telephone interviews among randomly selected teenagers in the continental U.S. The estimated sampling error for the survey is plus or minus five percentage points. (EP)