The Pew Forum just released their survey of the U.S. Religious Landscape today. It is a huge survey with over 35,000 Americans participating in the survey. The results are quite interesting…

A majority of those who are affiliated with a religion, for instance, do not believe their religion is the only way to salvation. And almost the same number believes that there is more than one true way to interpret the teachings of their religion.

66% of Protestants, 79% of Catholics and 72% of Orthodox Christian believers in the U.S.A. believe the statement: “Many religions can lead to eternal life”. To drill down a little more, 57% of Evangelicals and 83% of Mainline Protestant churches agree to that statement. WOW!

Do you realize the significant of these numbers? A majority of people affiliated with the three major branches of Christianity do not agree with one of the foundational doctrines of the Church.

“Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

I understand that this is a hard saying. I mean, what happens to all the “good” folks down the street who do not believe in Jesus / God? Well, first off, I didn’t say it – Jesus did. So it’s He problem. Secondly, I do not think that being a following of Jesus Christ means being a “good Christian” according to the U.S. Bible belt view of “Christianity”. Shoot – I don’t even like the word “Christian” as it has a TON of baggage (but that’s another post).

[@more@]What I mean is that in order to come to the Father (have eternal life, salvation, or whatever you want to call it) you must do so through the grace given to us by Jesus’ death on the cross. That’s it. Now, you may receive this grace in different ways – maybe through a dream, a vision, in the desert while tripping out on drugs, in a church building or at a seminary somewhere.

Where and how isn’t important – what’s important is WHO you know. If you know Jesus Christ as Lord and King, then your part of the global church. Period. No other religion is going to protect your soul.

With that said, I guess I would have to agree with the second question asked by the Pew Forum “There is more than one true way to interpret the teachings of my religion.” Yeah – there are certain teachings or truths that are foundational (like John 14:6), but then there are a lot of other teachers that are open to interpretation. Like the drinking of alcohol, baptizing by immersion or sprinkling, church government, or whether or not women can be pastors. These things do not affect one’s relationship with the Father and, actually, can be used to help people enjoy the relationship better.

On this point, I find myself with the majority of the Church in America (“Church” referring to all followers of Jesus/God as stated in the Apostles Creed) – 77% of Catholics, 68% of Orthodox and 64% of Protestants.

However, it is interesting to not that only 53% of Evangelical Churches agree with the statement that “There is more than one true way to interpret the teachings of my religion.” This may reflex the growing trend of Dispensational Theology among Evangelicals as well as the “my church is better then your church” attitude of many Bible belt believers.

Tis a sad thing as I believe the different views or expressions of the Faith reflex different parts or views of the Father. I mean, come on – He's HUGE! He is not to be put into a small box and told He can only do certain things.. if you are upset about this view… well, get over it.

Speaking of interpreting the Bible literally:

Nearly two-thirds of the public (63%) takes the view that their faith’s sacred texts are the word of God. But those who believe Scripture represents the word of God are roughly evenly divided between those who say it should be interpreted literally, word for word (33%), and those who say it should not be taken literally (27%).

I would have to say that at this time, I fall into the 27% who say that it should not be taken literally. Now before you start branding me as a heretic, hear me out. There is a significant portion of the Bible that should be interpreted literally. However, I also think that there are parts that we have to sit back and say “what did this passage MEAN to it’s original audience”. God does not just make rules or does things with out meaning – as such, sometimes we need to look beyond the ‘black on the page’ and look for the ‘white on the page’.

Wow… this post turned out a lot different then when I started… and there’s so much more to share!!! Sigh

Maybe I will try to pick out some other tid bits from the survey and post them later on this week… we shall see what happens. Either way, I would encourage you all to take a look at the Pew Forum and check out the new U.S. Religious Landscape Survey