The mission of Issues in Perspective is to provide thoughtful, historical and biblically-centered perspectives on current ethical and cultural issues.

Mark 12:30-31 declares that we are to love God with our heart, soul, mind and strength.  The challenge for the believer is what theologians call the noetic effect of sin:  2 Corinthians 4:4 affirms the depths of sin’s effect on our minds.  For that reason, one of the weighty commands of the New Testament is to “renew our minds” (e.g., Romans 12:1-2; Ephesians 4:23).  Colossians 3:2 commands: “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”  In 2 Corinthians 10:5 Paul speaks of taking “every thought captive to obey Christ.”

As 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 explains, God’s Word is the key to mind renewal.  The Holy Spirit, who searches the deep things of God, indwells us and enables us to renew our minds and hearts through God’s Word.  As this process ensues in the believer’s life, Paul declares, we have “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16).  We begin to see and understand things as Christ does.  For that reason, believers must exercise the stewardship responsibility of regulating what we let into our minds (see Philippians 4:8).  Mind renewal is a stewardship responsibility of the believer and is a critical element in the process of sanctification.

Given these important biblical propositions, it is important to ponder the question, how is the American church doing in facilitating mind renewal? George Barna has issued a recent report that indicates the church is not doing very well in this stewardship responsibility. Indeed, Barna warns that there is a “definitive failing” among churches and leaders in the United States to instill biblical beliefs in their followers: Most Americans and emerging Christians don’t hold beliefs that align with a biblical worldview.[Led by Barna, the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University released the second installment of its American Worldview Inventory 2026 at the end of March 2026. The research is based on responses collected from 2,000 adults interviewed both by telephone and online in January, with a sampling error of approximately plus-or-minus 2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.]

What are the results of Barna’s research? Ryan Foley of the Christian Post provides a helpful summary. Barna’s research examines the level of “biblical alignment across eight specific categories of beliefs and behavior that form the foundation of a person’s worldview.” The report revealed that most respondents had “little to no biblical alignment” across all eight categories:

• In the “purpose and calling” category, which “measures beliefs and behaviors related to life’s purpose, one’s calling, and what constitutes a successful life,” just 19% of respondents had a worldview reflecting full biblical alignment, while 13% had some biblical alignment. The remaining 68% had little to no biblical alignment.
• Similarly, 68% of those surveyed had little to no biblical alignment when it comes to their “faith practices,” which include “prayer, Bible engagement, and sharing faith with others.” Sixteen percent of those surveyed had full biblical alignment with their faith practices, while the same percentage of respondents had some biblical alignment.
• Seventy-four percent of respondents had little to no biblical alignment when it comes to “Lifestyle, Behavior, and Relationships,” which deals with “sexuality, wealth, and religious identity.” The exact same percentage of those surveyed had little to no biblical alignment regarding their views on “Sin, Salvation, and God Relationships,” specifically “whether a right relationship with God is earned through good works or received through Jesus Christ.”
• Based on their responses to questions dealing with “God, Creation, and History,” which examine respondents’ views about “the nature of God, the origins of humanity, and the divine role in human history,” 79% have little to no biblical alignment, 14% have some biblical alignment and only 7% have full biblical alignment.
• The overwhelming majority of those surveyed (79%) have little to no biblical alignment on questions of “Family and the Value of Life,” which include views about “marriage, the sanctity of human life and abortion, and personal ethics.” Much smaller percentages of adults had some biblical alignment (16%) and full biblical alignment (5%) regarding their views on “Family and the Value of Life.” Eighty-two percent of respondents had little to no biblical alignment on matters of “Human Character and Human Nature,” specifically “the moral condition of humanity, including beliefs about sin, innate goodness, and the need for redemption.” Eight percent had some biblical alignment, while 10% had full biblical alignment.

Barna researchers grouped respondents into one of three categories, depending on levels
of biblical alignment.

• “Integrated Disciples” demonstrate overall biblical alignment in their beliefs and behaviors and possess a “cohesive biblical worldview.”
• “Emergent Followers” possess some biblical beliefs and behaviors but not a full biblical worldview.” Researchers found that the “Emergent Followers” segment is about “25 million people strong,” and Barna wonders how society would be impacted if that segment “realized its spiritual potential by rising to Integrated Disciple status!”
• “World Citizens,” are adults whose beliefs and behaviors are shaped primarily by the surrounding culture rather than by Scripture.

“The research provides us with a roadmap of how to raise the discipleship potential of American adults. Very few adults presently own a biblical worldview. But the survey also shows that with some commitment and very focused mentoring, millions of Americans could certainly develop a biblical worldview,” Barna stressed. “While it would be advantageous to continue to deepen and refine the worldview of Integrated Disciples, the most strategic focus should be upon upgrading the worldview of Emergent Followers,” he added. “Their weaknesses are most observable in the areas of Family and the Value of Life and also God, Creation, and History. This highlights a definitive failing in the way spiritual leaders — particularly pastors, seminary professors, parents, and parachurch ministers— are addressing information and applications in these two areas.”

I have given my life to cultivating the Christian mind—first in academic institutions in Pennsylvania, Texas and Nebraska and now in a local church. Thus, a report such as this is disheartening. What has happened? Why is there this “definitive failing” of which Barna speaks?

In 1966 Philip Rieff published a book entitled The Triumph of the Therapeutic, in which he argued that “Religious man was born to be saved; psychological man is born to be pleased.”  This pursuit of the therapeutic has distorted the Christian view of God, and an understanding of this distortion comes from sociologist Christian Smith, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame. In his 2005 book, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, Smith summarized the worldview of America’s teen culture, but, in my view, the results of this study also summarize the larger worldview of the broader American culture as well.

Smith’s general thesis is that the de facto dominant religion among contemporary US teenagers is Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD).  He offers that thesis after extensive research interviews and surveys among America’s teens.  The research focused on how they view God, their religious habits and practices, how they interact with those who are a part of their own faith tradition, and how they view prayer, church attendance, discipleship, youth group and other religious/spiritual exercises. [This de facto creed is particularly evident among mainline Protestant and Catholic youth, but is also visible among black and conservative Protestants, Jewish teens and other religious types of teenagers.]  MTD has five key elements:

1. A God exists who created and orders the world and watches over life on earth.
2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
3. The central goal in life is to be happy and to feel good about yourself.
4. God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
5. Good people go to heaven when they die.

Central to MTD is the moralistic approach to life—i.e., that living a good and happy life is being a good, moral person.  That means being nice, kind, pleasant, respectful, and responsible, at work on self-improvement, taking care of one’s health, and doing one’s best to be successful. MTD is not a religion of repentance from sin, of keeping the Sabbath, of living as a servant of Jesus Christ, of steadfastly praying one’s prayers, of faithfully observing holy days, of building character through suffering, of depending on God’s love and grace, or of committing to a life of gratitude and the pursuit of social justice.  Instead, MTD is about feeling good, happy, secure and at peace.  Smith writes:  “It is about attaining subjective well-being, being able to resolve problems, and getting along amiably with other people.”

Finally, MTD posits a God who exists, created the world, and defines our general moral order, but not one who is particularly involved in one’s affairs—especially “affairs in which one would prefer not to have God involved.”   The God of this faith is one who keeps a safe distance:  He is often described as “watching over everything from above” and “the creator of everything and . . . just up there now controlling everything.”  For many teens, as with adults, God sometimes does get involved in people’s lives, but usually only when they call on him, mostly when they have some trouble or problem or bad feeling that they want resolved.  Smith comments:  “In this sense, the Deism here is revised from its classical eighteenth-century version by the therapeutic qualifier, making the distant God selectively available for taking care of needs.”  He goes on to argue that in MTD, God designed the universe and established moral law, but He is not trinity, “did not speak through the Torah or the prophets of Israel, was never resurrected from the dead, and does not transform through His Spirit.  This God is not demanding.  He actually can’t be, because his job is to solve our problems and make people feel good.  In short, God is something like a combination Divine Butler and Cosmic Therapist: he is always on call, takes care of any problems that arise, professionally helps his people feel good about themselves, and does not become too personally involved in their lives.”

Smith makes clear that MTD is not an official religion or formal religious structure in America.  Rather, MTD’s “typical embrace and practice is de facto, functional, practical and tacit, not formal or acknowledged as a distinctive religion.  .  . it seems it is also a widespread, popular faith among very many US adults. Our religiously conventional adolescents seem to be merely absorbing and reflecting religiously what the adult world is routinely modeling for and inculcating in its youth.”  MTD is a parasitic worldview that attaches itself to mainline and Catholic faith traditions, “feeding on their doctrines and sensibilities, and expanding by mutating their theological substance to resemble its own distinctive image.”  Teens and adults can enjoy the specific, unique aspects of their own traditions but also reap the benefits of a shared, harmonizing, interfaith religion.  For these reasons, teens and adults who embrace MTD in its broad aspects do not argue or have much conflict about religion.

MTD is having a decidedly important influence on all levels of American religious life. A more inclusive, diverse and syncretistic religious dynamic is emerging in America.  The important and central doctrines of historic, biblical Christianity are being supplanted by the language of happiness, niceness and an earned heavenly reward: “Christianity is actively being colonized and displaced by a quite different religious faith.”

Therefore, those of us who believe in the authority of God’s Word and in the centrality of sound doctrine must recommit ourselves to strong expository preaching, the proclamation of sound doctrinal truth, the defense of the trustworthiness of the Bible, and to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered” (Jude 3).

See Ryan Foley in the Christian Post (26 March 2026) and Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton, Soul Searching:  The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, pp. 118-171.