A Majority of American Christians Believe the United States Has Been Blessed by God
A growing number of Christians believe that the United States was blessed by God and has been chosen by God to lead the world. In addition, many Christians do not believe that the United States has historically oppressed minorities.
The new data comes from a study conducted by Barna. They collected data on American’s opinions about American history and compared them based on religious and political affiliation for their 2019 Beyond Diversity report. However, after the events of the last eighteen months –the murder of George Floyd, the 2020 election, and the COVID-19 pandemic – they asked the same questions again to see how these events may have moved the needle on American’s opinions.
In 2021, 67 percent of self-identified Christians either somewhat or strongly agreed that “historically, the United States has been a Christian country.” Only 10 percent of Christians either somewhat or strongly disagreed. This changed from 63 percent who agreed in 2019 and 11 percent who disagreed. Among all American adults, only 56 percent someone or strongly agreed, and 15 percent somewhat or strongly disagreed.
Sixty-six percent of Christians agree that America has been blessed by God historically, and only 8 percent disagreed. This was compared with 61 percent of American adults who agreed and 19 percent who disagreed.
The numbers differ when asked if the United States has been chosen by God. Twenty-four percent of Christians strongly agreed, and 18 percent somewhat agreed, for a total of 42 percent, with a total of 18 percent of Christians disagreeing. Comparatively, 28 percent of all American adults disagree that America has been chosen by God, with 19 percent strongly disagreeing. Interestingly, 40 percent of Christians, as well as 40 percent of all American adults, have a neutral position on the question.
The difference of opinion on the question becomes even more stark when broken down by political affiliation. Forty-three percent of Republicans believe the United States has been chosen by God, and 19 percent disagree. However, only 29 percent of Democrats God chose the United States, and 32 percent disagree, with 23 percent of those strongly disagreeing.
Christians are less likely than other Americans to see the United States as being oppressive to minorities. A total of 44 percent of Christians believe America has oppressed minorities, but that number is down from 48 percent in 2019. Twenty-five percent of Christians do not agree that the United States has historically oppressed minorities. That number has grown since 2019.
In 2019, Barna interviewed 1,525 Americans over two weeks in July and August. The 2021 data is based on surveys of 2,007 American adults who were interviewed in January and February. Barna assigned a confidence level of ninety-five percent to both studies with a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points in 2021.
You can read the full report on Barna’s website.
Photo courtesy: Unsplash/Aaron Burden
Scott Slayton writes at “One Degree to Another.”
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