Albert Mohler undertakes to parse the result of a new Pew study about Americans’ belief in Our Invisible Friend.
Perhaps the most basic finding of this study is not what’s printed in the report at all, but what’s there in the background. It turns out that millions and millions of Americans seem to believe that the question of the existence and character of God is not even important. It’s not even worth any kind of serious intellectual engagement. They clearly are not living in fear of God, nor are they even living in fear of not knowing how to answer the question, “Is there a God, and if so, what kind of God is He? And if so, what does God think of me?”
But on the other side of the equation, the confusion is found also even amongst those who identify as Christians. Another important paragraph in the report is this. Again, I quote it in full. “Belief in God is described in The Bible as most pronounced among U.S. Christians. Overall, eight in 10 self-identified Christians say they believe in the God of The Bible, while one in five do not believe in the biblical description of God, but do believe in a higher power of some kind. Very few self-identified Christians (just one percent), say they do not believe in any higher power at all.”
I love that indignant harrumph about people not living in fear of God, as all right-minded people ought.
All this survey achieves, so far as I can tell, is reveal what every thinking adult in the universe has known for a long time: Belief in supernatural beings (or, Being) is mostly a shibboleth that people affirm in order to keep the peace, and an awful lot of church attendance is about finding wholesome activities for the kids. The overwhelming majority have never read the Bible, and know very little about its contents.
Mohler should be grateful for that. As countless people have pointed-out over the millennia, the best way to produce skeptics is Biblical education.