A Barna Group survey of Americans' opinion of Christianity is being reported with emphasis on claims that "Christians have incited violence or hatred in the name of Jesus Christ" and saying the "church opposition to same-sex marriage was a negative."
-- From "1 in 4 Americans can't think of recent positive contribution by Christians" by Electa Draper, The Denver Post 10/26/10
One in four Americans said they couldn't think of a single positive societal contribution made by Christians in recent years, according to a nationwide survey released Monday.
Also, one in 10 adults said they couldn't think of a recent positive contribution because Christians hadn't made one, the Barna Group reported.
On the positive side, almost one in five mentioned how U.S. Christians help poor and underprivileged people. Those under the age of 25 were most likely to reference such service.
Among other findings, researchers noted that Evangelical Christians over age 25 and those who said they are "mostly conservative" on socio- political matters were least likely to list serving the poor as an important contribution.
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In contrast to the media spin above, below is the actual survey synopsis:
From "Americans Say Serving the Needy is Christianity’s Biggest Contribution to Society" posted at Barna Group 10/25/10
Most Americans believe that the Christian faith has made positive contributions to American society during the past few years. A new nationwide survey from The Barna Group reveals that most of those contributions fall into one of three categories. Surprisingly, the survey also discovered that Americans are even more likely to identify negative contributions to society by Christianity in recent years.
. . . one out of every five adults (19%) mentioned how Christians in the United States have helped poor or underprivileged people to have a better life.
The second most prolific contribution named related to evangelism . . . one out of every six adults (16%) offered this response.
The third most common contribution listed was shaping or protecting the values and morals of the nation. This perspective was given by one out of every seven adults (14%).
Slightly more than one out of every ten adults (11%) said Christianity had not made any positive contributions to the United States. This perspective was most common among people associated with a faith other than Christianity (23%) and Skeptics (27%).
To read the actual survey, CLICK HERE.
