( ABP) -- A large percentage of Americans believe the Bible, Quran and the Book of Mormon are equal expressions of the same spiritual truth, according to a recent survey by pollster George Barna.
A plurality of polled adults (44 percent) agreed with a statement that "the Bible, Quran and the Book of Mormon are just different expressions of the same spiritual truths." Thirty-eight percent rejected the idea. Among evangelicals, 10 percent agreed with the statement and 84 percent disagreed.
Barna, head of Barna Research Group in Ventura, Calif., said the results of the survey reflect a nation with theological views that are increasingly inclusive of other faiths. Barna, an evangelical Christian, viewed the trend with alarm.
"Over the past 20 years we have seen the nation's theological views become less aligned with the Bible," he said. "Americans still revere the Bible and like to think of themselves as Bible-believing people, but the evidence suggests otherwise."
Barna said Christians increasingly are adopting spiritual views from Islam, Wicca, secular humanism, eastern religions and other sources. His evidence includes the following poll results.
Six out of 10 Americans (59 percent) said they believe Satan is a symbol of evil, and not a literal being. In a seeming contradiction, however, 54 percent said they believe a person can be controlled by spiritual forces, such as demons. More than a third believe it is possible to communicate with the dead.
While most Americans are aligned with a Catholic or Protestant church, 42 percent said they believe Jesus committed sins while on earth. Half agreed with church teachings that Jesus did not sin.
Half believe that people who go to heaven get there by doing good works, and three fourths said people are neither good nor evil when they're born, a rejection of the doctrine of original sin.
By a two-to-one margin, (53 percent-27 percent) Americans said the Bible specifically condemns homosexuality, but 20 percent said they didn't know if it does or not.
A majority (54 percent) said truth is discovered only from "logic, human reasoning and personal experience," rather than from holy texts.
Four adults in five, meanwhile, affirmed basic Christian doctrines of the Trinity and that people have souls that will live forever. Three fourths rejected a statement that "the Bible can only be correctly interpreted by people who have years of intense training in theology."
Barna based his findings on telephone surveys of 630 adults in the 48 continental states in August 2002. The sampling margin of error is 4 percent.
© 2003 Associated Baptist Press
© 2003 Maranatha Christian News Service