New research from Barna about American faith and worldview shows that only 51% of Americans believe in the most basic biblical attributes of God, down from 73% three decades ago.
Americans are more confident about the existence of Satan than they are of God, with 56% contending that Satan is an influential spiritual being, yet almost half (49%) are not fully confident that God truly exists. 44% of Americans believe Jesus Christ sinned while on Earth.
52% said that ‘the Holy Spirit is not a living entity, but merely a symbol of God’s power, presence or purity’.
Only those in households with income at least 20% above the national average saw an increase in belief in a biblical description of God. The South is the only region that has more than half of its residents maintaining an orthodox biblical understanding of God (59%).
Explosion of uncertainty
Interestingly those who say ‘a higher power may exist, but nobody really knows for certain’ has exploded from 1% of the public 30 years ago to 20% today.
Even among Americans who hold to basic biblical beliefs about God, there are inconsistencies. Only 51% of those with a biblical view of God also believe that it is possible to be certain that God exists. That means nearly half of those who believe in a personal, powerful and perfect God, 45%, also believe that certainty about the God they believe in is impossible. Just 34% of those who have a biblical view of God also believe that He is involved in their life.
A traditional atheistic view of ‘there is no such thing as God’ is a view held by 6% of US adults.
