A recent survey conducted by Arizona Christian University found that despite the recent boost of interest in Christianity, many Americans still lack a biblical worldview.
The university’s survey, the American Worldview Inventory 2026, explained that 12% of U.S. adults maintained a biblical worldview in 1994. The number dropped to 6% in 2020, and dropped again in 2023 to 4%. As of 2026, the number of American adults holding a biblical worldview remains at 6%.
Instead of living from a biblical worldview, the survey found that 85% of Americans are considered “World Citizens,” which is described as “people who may embrace some biblical principles, but generally believe and behave in ways that conflict with biblical teaching.” This group has drastically increased, up 16 points from the 69% recorded in 2020.
According to the report, one out of every nine U.S. adults attending evangelical Protestant churches (11%) hold to a biblical worldview. Nine percent of U.S. adults attending a Pentecostal or charismatic church hold to the same. “In contrast, smaller proportions of people associated with mainline Protestant (6%) or Catholic (2%) churches—segments that typically place less trust in the reliability of the Bible and upon Jesus Christ as the sole means to God’s forgiveness—have a biblical worldview,” the report notes.
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Interestingly, evangelical churches, once considered the “stronghold” of biblical preaching and belief, now see a “sharp decline in the proportion of adherents with a biblical worldview.” In 2020, 21% of evangelical church adherents held a biblical worldview, but that number has now dropped to 11%.
Those considered “born-again Christians” are “three times more likely than the national average to have a biblical worldview (12%).”
Discussing U.S. generational divides, the report noted that the “younger the person’s age, the less likely they were to possess a biblical worldview.” While 7% Americans above the age of 50 hold a biblical worldview, only 1% of Gen Z adults hold the same.
George Barna, researcher and the study’s author, urged, “It is time to reclaim the culture for Christ, who died for each of us. With just 1% of Gen Z exhibiting a biblical worldview, the ways of Christ are facing extinction in America unless we act today.”
He added that the “fate of our nation hangs in the balance.”
“The national divide is an indication of the spiritual battle for the soul of America. Jesus commanded us to make disciples,” he said, noting that “you cannot become a genuine disciple of Jesus without having a biblical worldview, since that outlook on life is the outlook that Jesus had. And because you do what you believe, if you do not think like Jesus, you will not act like Jesus.” Barna went on to warn that “[i]f we lose another generation to secular humanism, postmodernism, Eastern Mysticism, Marxism, and all of the other unbiblical philosophies of life, we will lose America itself.”
A 2024 report from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University asserted that the “indisputable cultural decline” is directly linked to the “spiritual collapse of Christianity in the nation.” Another report from the organization examined the possibility that poor mental health is linked to maintaining an anti-biblical worldview.
Barna acknowledged at the time the report was published that while some people have chemical imbalances and genetic issues contributing to negative mental health outcomes, many people, however, fail to “recognize the consequences of harmful worldview beliefs and behaviors may result in costly, futile, and potentially debilitating misdiagnoses.”
This article originally appeared on American Faith and is reposted with permission.
