A recent headline on Charisma News said, “Stunning Proportion of Americans Believe Bible Accounts of Jesus’ Resurrection Accurate.” According to a recent Lifeway survey:
Two-thirds of U.S. adults (66%) say the biblical accounts of the physical resurrection of Jesus are completely accurate. They believe this event actually occurred, according to the 2022 State of Theology study. Fewer than a quarter (23%) disagree, and 11% say they’re not sure.
The percentage that affirms the bodily resurrection of Jesus as described in the Bible is unchanged since 2018 and within two percentage points of where it has been since the first State of Theology in 2014.
Jesus’ Easter resurrection is more accepted in the Midwest (70%) and South (70%). But majorities in both the West (62%) and Northeast (60%) also affirm it.
Younger Americans are the least likely age group to say they believe in a historical resurrection. Still, 58% of those 18-34 accept it as fact.
Self-identified evangelicals (90%) and Black Protestants (89%) are more likely to affirm Jesus’ resurrection than Catholics (79%) and mainline Protestants (74%).
Are these results “stunning,” as Charisma News alleges? Of course not. Sixty-three percent of Americans self-identify as Christian, whereas only thirty-one percent of the world does. Americans are twice as likely to be Christian as the rest of the world. In some parts of the United States — particularly rural and southern America — non-Christians are few and far in between. In fact, in some regions, it is social and economic suicide to not at least give the appearance that you worship the risen Jesus.
While the United States is a secular state, practically speaking we are a Christian nation. Almost ninety percent of congresspeople self-identify as Christians. I am sixty-six years old. Dwight Eisenhower was president when I was born, and Joe Biden is president today. Between the two, Republican and Democratic presidents have come and gone. Yet, all of them have one thing in common: they professed to be Christians.
Christian churches dot street corners and rural roads in America. I live in rural northwest Ohio. I have spent most of my life living in rural Ohio communities; communities dominated by Christianity. If I were inclined to attend church — and I am not — I have the choice of over three hundred Christian churches within thirty or so minutes from my home. Whatever your desired flavor of Christianity, there’s a church sure to meet your needs.
Thus, it is not “stunning” that Americans believe a crucified man named Jesus resurrected from the dead. As Charisma News — the master clickbaiters that they are — often does, they distorted Lifeway’s study to give a false impression of American beliefs. Desperate to counter the increasing secularizing of the United States and the rapid rise of the NONES, Charisma News is willing to lie to paint a false picture of American religious beliefs.
Sure, two-thirds of Americans believe the Biblical accounts of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead are completely accurate. What Charisma News fails to tell their overwhelmingly Evangelical readers is this:
Most Americans believe Jesus rose from the dead on the first Easter Sunday. They’re just not sure it matters much.
….
Despite accepting the biblical accounts of Jesus’ resurrection, many Americans have conflicting thoughts about the Bible and seem to see little connection between Jesus rising again and their daily lives.
In 2022, for the first time in the history of the State of Theology study, a majority of Americans (53%) say the Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths but is not literally true. And 40%, the highest percentage yet, say modern science disproves the Bible.
A growing percentage, up to a high of 32%, says God is unconcerned with their day-to-day decisions. And 3 in 5 (60%) say religious belief is a matter of personal opinion, not objective truth.
Lifeway’s study revealed that ninety percent of American Evangelicals believe Jesus resurrected from the dead, just as recorded in the Bible. However, previous studies have also shown that Evangelicals really don’t know their Bibles very well; that many Evangelicals are an inch deep and a mile wide when it comes to what the Bible actually teaches. Quiz Evangelicals on what the Bible actually says about the resurrection of Jesus and its theological implications, many Evangelicals will hem and haw before confidently saying, with a wave of their hands, “I know what I know, there’s no doubt about it, Jesus died for me on the cross of Calvary and resurrected from the dead three days later. Praise God!”
Here is what is stunning. The resurrection of Jesus is central to Christianity. Not the cross, the resurrection. Jesus’ execution was quite human. His resurrection, however, was a supernatural event. Over one hundred billion people have come and gone on planet Earth, and they all have one thing in common: they are all d-e-a-d. While the Bible records other resurrections, these raised from the dead people ultimately died a second time. Only Jesus, according to orthodox Christian beliefs, died, resurrected from the dead, and remains alive to this very day. Yet, how many Christians can defend the resurrection from challenges by atheists, agnostics, and other unbelievers?
Evangelicals, in particular, believe the Protestant Christian Bible is supernaturally inspired (written) by God and is inerrant and infallible. When challenging what Evangelicals believe about Jesus’ death and resurrection from the dead, I have found it effective to first challenge the notion that the Bible is without error. If you can get them to question — yea, hath God said — the supernatural nature of the Bible, this could cause them to question and doubt other sincerely held beliefs. Asking them to reconcile the numerous discrepancies and contradictions in the Bible’s resurrection accounts can and does force some believers to wrestle with what it is they really believe. Remember, most Evangelicals are not students of the Bible. Many Evangelicals are infrequent readers, and few of them read the Bible from cover to cover. According to a Pew Research study, forty percent of Evangelicals rarely, if ever, read the Bible. The idea that Evangelicals are walking-talking dispensers of Bible knowledge isn’t true. According to another Pew study, Jews, atheists, and agnostics know more about religion in general than Evangelicals. When asked specific questions about Christianity, Evangelicals and atheists were equal in the percentage of correct answers given. Think about all the sermons Evangelicals hear week after week, month after month, year after year. Think of all the affordable books and Bible study tools at their disposal. Yet, despite a wealth of Bible instruction and knowledge at the tip of their fingers, Evangelicals largely know very little about what the Bible actually teaches. If Jesus is all that Evangelicals say he is, and Christianity is the one true faith, and all others are false, why are they so dispassionate towards the Bible and its teachings? Why do Evangelicals, to put it bluntly, not give a shit about what the Bible teaches? Why are they content to simply believe what they are told to believe, without ever intellectually, rationally, and skeptically investigating their beliefs? If there is only one life that will soon be past, and only what’s done for Christ will last; if this life is preparation to meet the Christian God face to face; if Heaven and Hell are real, death is certain, and judgment awaits, why are Evangelicals so lackadaisical toward the Bible — a book that is supposedly God’s blueprint for life?
All of these things are stunning; but the fact that ninety percent of Evangelicals believe that Jesus (God) killed himself on a Roman cross, spent a couple of nights hanging out in the bowels of the earth, and then miraculously brought himself back to life? That’s just Evangelicalism 101. Such beliefs are irrational and nonsensical, but when faith is the foundation of your beliefs, anything is literally possible.
If you have Evangelical family and friends and want to help them see the light, I suggest you buy one or more of the books written by New Testament scholar Dr. Bart Ehrman. His books are deadly frontal assaults on Evangelical beliefs about the nature and history of the Bible. While one can maintain their Christian faith after reading Dr. Ehrman, it is impossible to hang on to the notion that the Bible is inerrant and infallible. Challenging Evangelical beliefs about the Bible is the first step in leading believers away from a form of Christianity that is psychologically, and, at times, physically, harmful.
If you are interested in challenges to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, my friend Gary’s blog, Escaping Christian Fundamentalism, is a good resource. Gary grew up in an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist home, and later became a conservative Lutheran.
Gary describes his deconversion this way:
I was very happy as a conservative (confessional) Lutheran. It is a beautiful liturgical Church. In this branch of Christianity, my eternal salvation is based on GOD’S act of justification in Holy Baptism, not on my good works, nor on my possession of adequate faith and repentance in an evangelical born again experience. The doctrines and teachings of the Lutheran Confessions seemed to me to correctly interpret the Bible.
Then one fateful day as I was surfing the internet, I came across the blog of an ex-fundamentalist Baptist pastor turned atheist [that would be Bruce Gerencser]. I was horrified to read his blasphemy against my Lord and Savior. I took it upon myself to bring this “back-slidden sinner” back to Jesus Christ. I believed that if I just exposed him to TRUE Christianity (confessional Lutheranism), he would see the light and return to Christianity. How wrong I was! Four months later it was I who had seen the “light”…
…I had become an agnostic.
What did this former pastor/turned atheist say that convinced me that my cherished, beloved Christian faith was false? Well, to put it simply, he told me to read the books of former evangelical Christian turned agnostic, New Testament scholar, Bart Ehrman, starting with “Misquoting Jesus”.
If you have questions regarding your Christian faith, I would encourage you to read Ehrman’s books. From there, read this blog and the blogs of other skeptics, atheists, and agnostics; interact with former Christians who have been through the same struggles that you are now experiencing.
And I will give you this piece of advice: If your faith is more important to you than knowing the truth, don’t read one more sentence of this blog or that of any other ex-Christian blog. But if the truth—the real truth no matter how cold, ugly, and painful it may be—matters more to you than the comfort and security of your faith, step out of the Christian “bubble” and explore the criticisms of your Christian belief system. Find out why there are so many ex-Christians, of all denominations, who believe that the Christian belief system is based primarily on assumptions, hearsay, superstitions, and wishful thinking. There is scant evidence to support the fantastical supernatural claims of this ancient religion.
Gary has written a good bit on Jesus’ resurrection, often detailing interactions he has had with Christian apologists. His blog is a good source for the various arguments Evangelicals use for the resurrection and how they can easily be rebutted.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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News flash: a lot of people in the US were indoctrinated as children with the story that a teacher was born to a teen virgin mom who had been impregnated by a deity; that this teacher performed a lot of miracles (turning water into wine, feeding thousands from a few fish and loaves of bread; walking on water; healing people and raising from the dead, etc); that he was crucified on a cross; that he was buried and rose from the dead and went “up” to heaven.
Run this survey in India, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Sweden, Bolivia, and Australia and let’s compare results among this broad sampling of nations. You’ll see how strongly people were indoctrinated with Christianity based on geography.
not “stunning” at all, just pathetic. And gee, lots of muslims believe that Mo rode to Jersualem on a magic pony too.
of course, each of these christians is sure a different Jesus resurrected, their very own one invented in their image.
Like the magic pony idea. My g/kids, 4 and 7yo go to Sunday school and just sang me 2 of the songs they sang there this Easter. 4yo sang, ‘We have a king who rides a doggy.’ and 7yo sang ‘So let’s celebrate the gift of rice’…..both of which seem to me, their atheist granny, to make as much sense as the original versions do!
Obstacle, Club and Matilda: It’s funny that I read this post after hearing Eileen Myles read some of their poetry. During the course of their reading, she said “paaahk” instead of “park.” Later, they said their Boston accent “slips out,” even though she hasn’t lived there since 1974. “That’s where my sound system was installed,” they quipped.
Being inculcated with a belief, however irrational, as a young child is a bit like Myles’ accent and just as difficult to dismantle. Of course, Myles’ accent doesn’t seem to have harmed them, or anyone else. (If anything, it’s part of Myles’ appeal, especially when reading a poem about the East Village.) The same, unfortunately, can’t be said for irrational beliefs.
(Yes, Myles goes by gender-neutral pronouns these days.)