98% of Americans who prefer socialism over capitalism reject 'biblical worldview': survey
A full 98% of Americans who hold socialist beliefs reject a “biblical worldview” while a strong majority of those who subscribe to biblical beliefs support conservative policies, according to data released by a research group headed by noted evangelical pollster George Barna.
The Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University released new findings from their American Worldview Inventory 2020 on Aug. 19.
Data for the report drew from an annual survey of 2,000 U.S. adults performed in January, with an approximate margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
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Among the findings, the inventory noted that 98% of respondents who said they “prefer socialism over capitalism” did not subscribe to a biblical worldview.
By contrast, 83% of those who hold a biblical worldview responded that they preferred “capitalism over socialism.”
Meanwhile, respondents who said they hold a biblical worldview are more likely to be “consistently conservative,” with 91% supporting socially conservative policies and 89% opposing abortion based on “clear biblical teaching.”
Also, 83% of those who hold a biblical worldview say they support a “limited view of the size and scope of government.”
“Conversely, only 5% of those with a biblical worldview are likely to adopt liberal views on fiscal, social and governance issues,” a CRC analysis of the data explains.
The data suggests that those without a biblical worldview are more likely to support liberal fiscal (26%) and social (40%) policies.
About 38% of respondents who do not hold a biblical worldview don’t believe the Bible is “unambiguous in its views on abortion.” At 26%, they are also more likely to favor “a more liberal, expansive view of governance.”
“The 2020 election is not about personalities, parties, or even politics. It is an election to determine the dominant worldview in America,” Barna, the survey author who founded the influential evangelical polling organization The Barna Group, said in a statement.
“Come November 3 we will know which worldview has won the hearts of Americans and will then determine the foundation for the nation’s values, lifestyles, and public policy for the near future.”
Multiple surveys in recent years have shown a growing level of support for socialist ideas among American adults, especially those in the Millennial and Generation Z demographics.
For example, a Gallup poll from May 2019 found that 43% of Americans believed socialism would be a "good thing" for the United States, well above the 25% reported in 1942.
Matt Slick of the Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry believes that socialism is inherently at odds with Christianity.
Slick told The Christian Post in an interview in June that he believed Christians who lean socialist are "biblically uninformed."
"Christians who have studied this issue in light of Scripture, which is rare, soon discover that socialistic principles are not biblical. Therefore, the Christian ought not to affirm the basic tenets of socialism," said Slick.
However, pastor and theologian Timothy Keller recounted in his book The Prodigal Prophet an anecdote from a friend who knew a conservative Christian Republican from Mississippi.
Keller explained the Mississippi Republican visited a Presbyterian community in Scotland for a month and found them to be conservative on social issues and theology.
"However, one day he got into a discussion with several of his admired Scottish Christians and discovered, to his shock, that they were all (in his view) socialists,” wrote Keller. “That is, their understanding of tax structure and government economic policy was very left-wing."
"He realized that thoughtful Christians, all trying to obey God's call, can reasonably appear at a number of different places on the political spectrum, with loyalties to different political parties," he continued.
