Focus on the Family Action exposes a shocking revelation from a new poll on religious beliefs and politics — liberals and conservatives are different.
The evangelical pollster The Barna Group reveals this and other rather obvious conclusions at CitizenLink.com, the lobbying arm of the Colorado Springs-based ministry and publishing empire. Grab the smelling salts and read on.
The survey of 3,012 adults was overwhelmingly weighted toward self-defined social/political conservatives (992) vs. liberals (511) but is entertaining nonetheless for its “Seinfeld”-esque capacity to rationalize any predicament and make something out of nothing.
Survey Shows How Liberals and Conservatives Differ on Matters of Faith
The Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches
Liberals 27%
Conservatives 63%Believe that Satan is real
Liberals 17%
Conservatives 36%Contend that they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs with others
Liberals 23%
Conservatives 48%Religious faith is very important in their life
Liberals 54%
Conservatives 82%The primary purpose in life is to love God with all their heart, mind, strength and soul
Liberals 43%
Conservatives 76%Jesus Christ did not commit sins during His time on Earth
Liberals 33%
Conservatives 55%
These results hinge on some serious skewing of the poll subjects’ political ideologies:
• 94% of conservatives call themselves Christians, while just 74% of liberals do so
• 2% of conservatives and 11% of liberals were atheist or agnostic
•15% of conservatives and 2% of liberals were Christian evangelicals
• conservatives were twice as likely as liberals to be categorized as born again, based on their theological views about salvation (63% vs. 32%)
• 21% of conservatives were associated with the Catholic church, compared to 30% among the liberals.
These figures vastly distort the ideological faith demographics for both groups, according to the more trusted Pew Forum on Religion and Politics.
George Barna then applies his powers of persuasion and analysis to how these beliefs are reflected in political impact:
“Liberals appear to place a greater emphasis upon self-reliance and what they personally accomplish than upon faith alone or intense participation in a community of faith. They also seem less inclined to trust the Bible as a moral authority or source of truth, and have less involvement in some type of personal relationship with their god.”
“Conservatives are more active in a wide range of religious behaviors, both individual and corporate. They are also more connected to their deity, seeing God as more personal, interactive and involved in their lives than do liberals.”
[…]
“Every person’s central choices in life are driven by their worldview, and everyone’s worldview is greatly influenced by their spiritual inclinations. The social and political preferences of people are closely tied to their spiritual beliefs and practices. One of the great challenges to our nation’s leaders is to help people of different spiritual and ideological perspectives maintain dialogue and an appreciation of each other’s innate value despite those divergent points of view.”
Get this man a job at Vandalay Industries!
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