The re-wording of a question about religious beliefs coupled with a more precise definition of a Christian group led to a new survey finding far fewer evangelical universalists than in last week's Pew Forum report.
LifeWay Research, associated with the Southern Baptist Convention, found that only two out of 10 evangelicals – as defined by their belief system rather than what church they attend – agreed with the statement that eternal life can be obtained through religions other than Christianity.
"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," said Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research, the research arm of LifeWay Christian Resources, in a statement.
The “evangelical” beliefs were based on The Barna Group’s definition, which includes describing one’s faith as very important to one’s life; a commitment to sharing one’s religious beliefs about Christ with non-Christians; believing that eternal salvation is possible only through grace, not works; believing that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and asserting the Bible is accurate in all its teaching, among other criteria.
In the Pew Forum’s “US Religious Landscape Survey,” evangelicals were defined only as those attending evangelical churches. Based on this definition, Pew found that 57 per cent of evangelicals agreed with the idea that other religions than their own can lead to eternal life.
“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," Stetzer said.
