Time Magazine reports:
Americans of every religious stripe are considerably more tolerant of the beliefs of others than most of us might have assumed, according to a new poll released Monday. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life last year surveyed 35,000 Americans, and found that 70% of respondents agreed with the statement “Many religions can lead to eternal life.” Even more remarkable was the fact that 57% of Evangelical Christians were willing to accept that theirs might not be the only path to salvation, since most Christians historically have embraced the words of Jesus, in the Gospel of John, that “no one comes to the Father except through me.” Even as mainline churches had become more tolerant, the exclusivity of Christianity’s path to heaven has long been one of the Evangelicals’ fundamental tenets. The new poll suggests a major shift, at least in the pews.
The Religious Landscape Survey’s findings appear to signal that religion may actually be a less divisive factor in American political life than had been suggested by the national conversation over the last few decades. Peter Berger, University Professor of Sociology and Theology at Boston University, said that the poll confirms that “the so-called culture war, in its more aggressive form, is mainly waged between rather small groups of people.” The combination of such tolerance with high levels of religious participation and intensity in the U.S., says Berger, “is distinctively American — and rather cheering.”
Less so, perhaps, to Christian conservatives, for whom Rice University sociologist D. Michael Lindsay suggests the survey results have a “devastating effect on theological purity.” An acceptance of the notion of other paths to salvation dilutes the impact of the doctrine that Christ died to remove sin and thus opened the pathway to eternal life for those who accept him as their personal savior. It could also reduce the impulse to evangelize, which is based on the premise that those who are not Christian are denied salvation. The problem, says Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, is that “the cultural context and the reality of pluralism has pulled many away from historic Christianity.
Comments 2
Jeanne M. — July 16, 2008
Which 'Christians' are they referring to, as they most certainly are not talking about those Christians who stand on the Word of God, and "know" that the "only" path to salvation is Jesus Christ? Acts 4: 10-12, expressly verse 12: "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved". It amazes me how the Bible is fulfilling itself faster and faster as time goes by, as most assuredly 'Christians' are 'departing' from the faith (may God have mercy on our eternal souls) faster than fish can swim upstream.
I'll be praying for those who say they've accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but have decided to buy into men's horrendous lies, for He is most certainly on His way back and something tells me it's coming sooner than 'any' of us realize.
Either we believe "all" of His Word, or none of it, we can not pick and choose.
Jon Smajda — July 16, 2008
"Which ‘Christians’ are they referring to?"
It says very clearly which Christians they're referring to: 57% of evangelicals.
In other words, the finding is that most Christians aren't like you.