Friday, September 05, 2008

Do Americans Really Know Who Evangelicals Are?

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080904/do-americans-really-know-who-evangelicals-are.htm

[The Christian Post] 5 Sep 2008--The word "evangelical" floats around in churches, the media and particularly this year's election but Americans often have no idea what an evangelical is, a new study shows.

As Christians themselves still have a hard time agreeing on what exactly defines an evangelical, Ellison Research asked the average adult American what they believe is an "evangelical Christian." Thirty-six percent of them said they had no idea.

"I'm not sure; all I can think of is Billy Graham," said one 40 year-old woman from Florida who does not attend worship services, in the survey.

"I am not sure, and I am a Christian," said a 55-year-old man from Indiana.

Although Americans who would call themselves evangelical were much more likely to have an actual definition for the word than others, the survey, released Wednesday, found that 14 percent of those self-described evangelicals couldn't guess what an evangelical is.

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