An alarming survey by the Barna Research Group (BRG) has discovered that many Christians are ambivalent toward moral absolutes. As reported by Eric Tiansay in "Ministries Today" magazine (May/June 2002 Issue), the following statistics came from 4000 people polled.

For this survey, a 'Christian' was defined as a person who self-identified as 'born again' and/or believed in salvation through Christ Jesus. This narrower definition eliminated the bias of using church affiliation or the vague term of 'Christian' as measures. This makes these numbers even more unsettling. Only a minority of those who claim to be born again hold to biblical values that impact their personal lives.

• 15% of the 4000 polled - Agnostic, atheist, or belonged to a faith other than Christianity
• 33% - All Christians who took their moral issue cues from sources other than the Bible
• 26% - All Christians who based ethical and moral decision-making upon the Bible.

• 32% - Christian Adults who believe in moral absolutes, less than 1 Christian adult in 3.
• 22% - All Adults who believe in moral absolutes (including the Christian adults). As expected, this means that considerably less non-Christian adults believe in moral absolutes.
• 64% - All adults who thought truth was always relative to situation.

• 9% - Christian Teens who believe in moral absolutes, less than 1 Christian teen in 10.
• 4% - All teens who believe in moral absolutes (including the Christian teens). As expected, this means that virtually NO non-Christian teen believes in moral absolutes.
• 83% -All teens who thought truth was always relative to situation.

BRG President, George Barna, said "... preach(ing) more sermons and teach(ing) more Sunday School classes ... won't solve the problem since most ... don't accept the basis of the principles being taught in those venues."

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