New survey reveals that most evangelical Christians don't know the central tenets of their own religion

According to a religious survey conducted by the Ligonier Ministries, a large swath of Christian evangelicals appear to not understand basic core beliefs of their religion no matter how much they profess to love Jesus.

As pointed out at the Friendly Atheist, the ministry commissioned a survey of 3,000 self-described evangelicals to gauge their knowledge of the Bible, and more than a few were described afterward as "deeply confused."

Posing the question, "What do Americans believe about God, salvation, ethics, and the Bible?" the responses show that, for many, their belief is deeper than their knowledge of the Bible.

According to the summary, "A majority of evangelicals said (1) that most people are basically good, (2) that God accepts the worship of all religions, and (3) that Jesus was the first and greatest being created by God the Father. However, all these beliefs are contrary to the historic Christian faith."

As State of Theology explains, the Bible specifically teaches that people are not universally good by pointing out, "This idea flatly contradicts the Bible, which teaches the radical corruption of every human being and declares that no one does good by nature (Rom. 3:10–12). This is why we need the gospel in the first place—because none of us is good."

Specifically, the cited passage states: "None is righteous, no, not one: no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Those who agreed that "God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam," seem to have forgotten the admonishment from God -- in the Ten Commandments, no less --  that "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me."

State of Theology adds, "The Bible is clear that the gospel is the only way of salvation, and God will not accept the worship of other faiths. It is only through Jesus Christ and by His Spirit that we are able to worship the Father in spirit and in truth (John 4:24)."

According to the survey, there is some dispute over how harshly God treats sins --even the smallest one -- by reporting, "An alarming 69% of people disagree that even the smallest sin deserves eternal damnation, with 58% strongly disagreeing."

As State of the Theology puckishly adds, "If God is not holy, then sin is not a big deal. It is because of our understanding of God’s holiness that we understand how significant sin is."

You can check your own theological knowledge about Christianity here.