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Christianity Today
New! Survey reveals 5 kinds of Christians in America
A new national survey shows there is much disparity among people in America who call themselves Christian. Read the article here.
New Barna book challenges faith communities.
George Barna has released a new book entitled "The Seven Faith Tribes" in which he warns that the United States is immersed in a serious decline that shows no signs of reversal--and that the country's dominant faith communities not our politicians are the ones who hold the key to restoring our nation to strength and stability. This book makes some important pronouncements and challenges that are relevant to the current condition of our nation. Based on 30,000 personal interviews, Barna outlines the identity, nature, and restoration potential of the seven dominant religious groups (which he calls "faith tribes"). Barna believes the nation is in a downward spiral due to the dramatic shift in our goals and values over the past 30 years.
Barna also believes that our religious communitites have not adapted well to the challenges our country faces today, taking their value cues from the political and business sectors instead of playing their historic role as the moral and spiritual leaders of the nation. He cites 5 dangerous outcomes as a result: 1) the absence of a shared vision for the future; 2) confusion regarding appropriate values for decision-making; 3) the elimination of a sense of the common good; 4) the deterioration of respectful dialogue and fruitful exchange of ideas; and 5) the abandonment of moral character and personal decency.
"We must recover the values that made this nation great and that must be firmly in place for order, reason, freedom, and unity to prevail," Barna explains. He believes our "faith tribes" are intregal in the development and implementation of people's worldviews, which in turn produce the values people display in decision making. We need courageous leadership to bring about "a national restoration of the mind, heart, and soul" of our nation, Barna portends.
The book describes these seven "faith tribes" as : 1) casual Christians-66% of adult population; 2) captive Christians-16% of adult pop.; 3) Jews-2% of adult pop.; 4) Mormons-2%; 5) Pantheists-2%; 6) Muslims-0.05%; and 7) Skeptics-11% of adult pop. Barna's book goes into great detail describing these seven groups such as their religious beliefs and practices, primary lifestyles and attitudes; political inclinations and recent voting history, and the values that characterize them.
Although the "faith tribes" vary greatly on theological and doctrinal positions, Barna found they do share 20 common values. These values, Barna believes, have historically been the basis of the nation's consensus about how to be a great nation and achieve the common good. Barna warns that this is not a promotion of some "watered-down ecumenism" and acknowledges the importance that each faith has important uncompromisable distinctives; however, the overlap in ideology and life principles concerning a meaningful sense of shared purposes can be jointly embraced and pursued.
Barna also reveals a restorative strategy for the "faith tribes" to helping mobilize Americans to action to get the United States "back on track", which includes actions by families, leaders, the media, and faith tribes. By putting this strategy in place, Barna believes we can restore our spiritual equilibrium, national character and health, and our positive global influence.
You can order the book at www.barna.org.
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