New Study Shows Priority of Christians Differs Radically from that of General Population
"Despite what the media may want to project upon evangelicals, they understand that if we, as a nation, get the spiritual issues right and build strong marriages and families, most of the other problems will be solved in the process."
Evangelical Christians' priorities for change in government and society deviate from average Americans' priorities more than any other subgroup, according to a study released by the Christian research firm Barna Group.
The study reportedly asked respondents to rank the importance of 11 different issues, including overall care and resources devoted to children, the quality of public school education, national security, poverty, the state of marriage and families, the spiritual state of the country and the environment.
According to a Cybercast News Service report, among the general population, the issues receiving the most attention were overall care and resources devoted to children, but among evangelical Christians, the top three priorities were "enhancing the health of Christian churches, upgrading the state of marriage and families, and improving the spiritual condition of the U.S."
Also noted in the report was the fact that the biggest difference came in environmental issues, where evangelicals dissented by 25 percentage points: Sixty percent of all respondents said addressing environmental issues was "absolutely necessary," while only 35 percent of evangelicals said the same thing.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said: "Last on their list is the environment...Despite what the media may want to project upon evangelicals, they understand that if we, as a nation, get the spiritual issues right and build strong marriages and families, most of the other problems will be solved in the process."
"The challenge for today's leaders is to find the intersection of doing what is right and best with doing that which is popular and achievable," George Barna, founder of the Barna Group, said in a statement. "The lack of a common vision for the future is making the identification of such common ground increasingly difficult, if not impossible."
