American Worldview Inventory 2021-22: The Annual Report on the State of Worldview in the United States

INTRODUCTION

Your worldview is a big deal. It defines who you are. It determines the choices you make. And yet, if you are like most Americans, you do not spend much time thinking about worldview. In fact, millions of people do not know that they have a worldview and are unable to identify what that term means.

Arizona Christian University initiated the Cultural Research Center, the institute responsible for the research and analysis contained in this book, to help rectify that situation. One of the primary thrusts of our efforts is to measure worldview and to expand and inform the national conversation about it. We developed a worldview measurement system—the Arizona Christian University Student Worldview Inventory—and use that instrument to conduct an annual census among our school’s student body. We also conduct an annual, nationwide survey of a representative sample of American adults to track the worldview of people throughout the United States. And we have created a similar online tool—the ACU Worldview Assessment—that individuals, churches, and other organizations can use to identify and measure their worldview.

We are serious about worldview because it is a central component in determining the health and well-being of our nation and its people.

In the initial edition of the American Worldview Inventory series, we reported the findings from a major nationwide study we conducted in 2020 to determine how many Americans had a biblical worldview. That study substantially expanded the worldview research I have been conducting for several decades. We spent many months developing, testing, refining, and then re-testing a sophisticated data collection instrument before deploying that 68-question survey among a nationally representative sample of 2,000 adults. The results were eye-opening and provocative—and even somewhat controversial.

Because so much of this edition’s research and analysis builds on the 2020 study, it may be helpful to review some of those foundational findings:

A worldview is the filter through which you experience, interpret and respond to the world. It is, in essence, your decision-making filter.

Everyone has a worldview. But not everyone has the same worldview.

A person’s worldview begins developing at the age of 15 to 18 months and is generally fully developed by the age of 13. During the teens and 20s, a person’s worldview is tested, refined, reshaped, and articulated. After that stage the individual relies upon the resulting worldview without changing it much—unless there is a major life event or some type of supernatural intervention that instigates significant worldview transformation.

Currently in the United States, an individual’s worldview is developed largely by default, rather than intentionally and systematically.

Major influences on worldview development include: messages from media, public policy, family and friends, and schools. Churches have less worldview influence than is widely assumed.

Worldview is a combination of beliefs and behavior. You do what you believe. Therefore, you must think like Jesus if you want to live like Jesus.

Once it has been formed, a person’s worldview can be changed. But it is hard work, takes a lot of time and effort, and must be done strategically and intentionally to be effective. Most people do not experience significant worldview change during the course of their adult years.

Only 6 percent of American adults possess a biblical worldview. The incidence was higher in certain portions of the population, such as theologically defined born-again Christians (19% had a biblical worldview), people who regularly attend an evangelical Christian church (21%), and SAGE Cons (44% among those who are Spiritually Active Governance Engaged Conservative Christians).

We described people with a biblical worldview as Integrated Disciples because they have integrated their faith into every dimension of their life and live as disciples of Jesus Christ.

An additional 19% of adults fit in the Emergent Follower category—individuals who do not qualify as having a biblical worldview, but whose worldview is greatly influenced by biblical truth and who could conceivably become Integrated Disciples given changes in their beliefs and behaviors.

Like the first volume of the American Worldview Inventory Report (2020-21), this book is a modified compilation of a series of reports released during 2021 based upon the American Worldview Inventory (AWVI) conducted that year. This volume reports the findings of research that built on the earlier edition. Having discovered that just 6 percent of adults have a biblical worldview, we decided to address the natural follow-up question: What worldview(s) do the other 94 percent possess?

This year’s version of the AWVI is the first large-scale, national exploration of the prevalence of competing worldviews in our country.

We tracked the incidence of seven major worldviews: Biblical Theism (i.e., the biblical worldview), Postmodernism, Secular Humanism, Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, Marxism, Eastern Mysticism, and Nihilism. In the pages that follow, you will discover what we learned—including information about the emergence of a worldview we did not anticipate: Syncretism.

The original news releases and other reports describing the research results have been edited and adapted for this volume. But the data have not changed. In some instances, additional data are included to clarify or amplify the analysis contained in the original documents.

I hope you find this book to be intellectually and spiritually interesting and challenging. If you would like to see our other recent worldview reports, visit our website at www.CulturalResearchCenter.com. The reports are accessible, free of charge, and can be shared with people you know. If you sign up on the website, we will send you alerts when new reports are available. On the website you will also learn about other worldview-related resources we offer.

George Barna

Glendale, Arizona

December 2021

CHAPTER 1

SYNCRETISM IS THE MOST COMMON WORLDVIEW AMONG U.S. ADULTS

Is there anything left in American society that’s predictable?

Having researched trends in faith and culture for the past four decades, it seems that the only safe bet is that there is no safe bet! The choices that Americans have made during the past decade alone demonstrate how challenging it is to foresee the future.

America has welcomed new forms of technology with open arms, radically changing the ways we live. The ubiquity of smart phones, social media, and the Internet has changed everything imaginable, including how we gather news and cultural information, how we conduct business, ways we make and maintain relationships, and the manner in which we arrange our schedules.

Once a fiercely independent people, in recent years Americans have become more passive and compliant toward government authority. The nation’s acquiescence to far-reaching government commands related to the Coronavirus pandemic is unprecedented.

Identifying as a homosexual used to be done at great personal risk. But an estimated 2 percent of the population who lived as homosexual men or women successfully spearheaded a major sexual orientation revolution. Today, a large majority of Americans believe that any sexual orientation is legitimate and deserves government protection. In fact, a study the Cultural Research Center conducted among Millennials, our youngest adult generation, revealed that three out of 10 members of that generation identify as LGBTQ.¹

Americans love their entertainment, but the substance of what they enjoy and how they receive it has changed drastically in just the last decade. Consider some of those shifts. We have gone from getting our music from CDs and radio, to streaming via services such as Apple Music, Pandora, and Spotify. We love movies but are less likely to journey to theaters or acquire DVDs to watch major-studio blockbusters. There has been a huge jump in viewership of movies created by independent studios and provided by streaming services. Broadcast and cable networks have lost market share to streaming services. Video products are increasing likely to be viewed on personal mobile devices rather than the family room television.

Political activism was drastically declining until recently. Now, Millennials and political progressives have rejuvenated activism in the streets, turning the social media universe into a hotbed of activist rhetoric and calls to action.

The national economy has been turned upside down by technological innovations. Amazon Prime is the new UPS. The gig economy has replaced traditional forms of employment. An enormous share of consumer activity now takes place digitally. Millions of employees work from home, using tech tools to alleviate the need for centralized office space and in-person meetings.

The hot social issues have transitioned to matters that were not even on the radar 20 years ago. Racial discrimination and reparations. Climate change initiatives, including the elimination of fossil fuels. The prosecution of hate crimes. Support for extensive censorship of controversial ideas and perspectives. Sexual orientation rights and protection. The days of political campaigns succeeding based