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The Barna Group has identified "post-Christian" cities in the US, according to the following criteria:
Post-Christian = meet at least 60% of the following 15 factors (9 or more factors)
Highly Post-Christian = meet at least 80% of the following 15 factors (12 or more factors)
1. do not believe in GodI don't think you can buy their criteria as all necessarily "Post-Christian". The Barna group is evangelical, and I think that you can better describe some of these as "Post-Evangelical". For example, 5. have never made a commitment to Jesus. Would your average Episcopalian say s/he has made such a commitment? That's not the language of the mainline, or the Catholics.
2. identify as atheist or agnostic
3. disagree that faith is important in their lives
4. have not prayed to God (in the last year)
5. have never made a commitment to Jesus
6. disagree the Bible is accurate
7. have not donated money to a church (in the last year)
8. have not attended a Christian church (in the last year)
9. agree that Jesus committed sins
10. do not feel a responsibility to “share their faith”
11. have not read the Bible (in the last week)
12. have not volunteered at church (in the last week)
13. have not attended Sunday school (in the last week)
14. have not attended religious small group (in the last week)
15. do not participate in a house church (in the last year)
Similarly, 6. disagree the Bible is accurate. Well, I don't know any Episcopalians who buy that the Bible is literally true, do you?
And what about 9. agree that Jesus committed sins. If Jesus was human, didn't he commit any sins? He doubted, didn't he? I bet he got rude and annoyed. Did he ever talk back to Mary when he was a teenager?
And then: 10. do not feel a responsibility to “share their faith” That would be the evangelizing that names the evangelical, don't you think? God's Frozen Chosen are often very reticent.
11. have not read the Bible (in the last week) Until BP joined EfM, I don't think she read the Bible frequently, I mean outside of the Gospel readings in church. Occasionally, yes, but not every week.
12. have not volunteered at church (in the last week) Oh, you mean because you are working two jobs and have the flu? C'mon Barna, not everyone volunteers.
13. have not attended Sunday school (in the last week) If you're over 15, you probably aren't attending Sunday school. But this makes you "post-Christian"?
14. have not attended religious small group (in the last week)
15. do not participate in a house church (in the last year)
Wow, I don't think the big Sunday Eucharist counts.
So, 'piskies:
If you are not clergy: how many of the Barna's list applies to you? Are you, by their definition, "post-Christian"?
15. do not participate in a house church (in the last year)
Wow, I don't think the big Sunday Eucharist counts.
So, 'piskies:
If you are not clergy: how many of the Barna's list applies to you? Are you, by their definition, "post-Christian"?
8 comments:
While I agree with you that many of these criteria do not seem indicative of “post-Christian” per se, (it would be more interesting to see these results over time) it does pique an interest in how one defines being “Christian?”
I have always been curious about people who label themselves something, yet do nothing to actually belong to the club. As the Barna website states “the vitality of faith in America is much more than simply how people label themselves.”
Does just calling yourself a Christian make it so? You seem to disagree with Barna’s criteria - are there other mutually agreed upon qualifications? If you label yourself a Christian, what does that mean? Is it just a belief or does it require some sort of practice? Or is it like a bumper sticker I recently saw that said “I am a Christian, my bumper sticker says so.”
WEll, I'm not a Christian at all, just the atheist gadfly of the Episco-Blogosphere. My post here follows up on the conversation at the Lead, asking whether there are required Christian beliefs
Re "9. agree that Jesus committed sins"
Gotta say, I think that's pushing it. It's one thing to allow that Jesus MIGHT have committed sins---though that in itself is outside what I would consider to be the historic Christian faith-claims---but stipulating "Jesus committed sins" totally kiboshes the claim "human in every way that we are EXCEPT without sins".
God is Good. God is without sin. Why, because some SuperBeing called God is asserted doesn't sin? No. Because if any being sins then, by definition, they are NOT God (Gotta look elsewhere!).
Personally, I don't need a physical resurrection (nor a virgin birth, duh). I *do* need a sinless Jesus, or else my personal search for a Higher Power continues...
* "Sinless", I concede, is a term that in itself needs unpacking. For me, sin is "I know what's Right, but I'm intentionally NOT doing it/I know what's Wrong, and I'm intentionally Doing it".
By the Barna criteria, Martin Luther was "post Christian."
Sorry, I didn't mean "you" personally. I am also a non-Christian and live in the #1 post-Christian city.
My comment related more to what the Barna group seems to be saying - is being "Christian" just a set of beliefs, or are there acions required to live the faith?
I think Christianity is consistently accused of hypocrisy because the deeds of Christians often don't seem to reflect their so-called beliefs.
8thday, it would seem that the Barna group thinks being Christian is a very particular set of beliefs that leaves out many Christians.
JCF, I think that unpacking what is meant by "sin" is indeed the challenge. Does saying "Jesus was without sin" mean "Jesus was perfect"? I bet after a hot dusty day on the road, he didn't feel that way.
8thday has a very good point. What is totally missing from this survey is any criteria of living one's faith in the world outside of the church community (except for evangelism). What about seeking and serving Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself, and striving for justice and peace among all people, and respecting the dignity of every human being?
Where this evangelical bias shows up in the results is Iowa - (and anyone from Iowa, please correct me if I am wrong) a very "Christian" state, but where, unlike the Bible belt, evangelicals are not particularly strong.
Does saying "Jesus was without sin" mean "Jesus was perfect"?
Depends what you mean by "perfect"! [Ah, the essence of seminary: endless conversations, defining---and re-defining---one's God-Talk terms! ;-p]
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