Statistician George Gallup compiled some numbers for Christianity Today to indicate how religion in America has changed in the last 50 years. Two remarkable findings stand out to me:

1. The persistence of ignorant religious beliefs, and

2. The general decline of the importance of religion, the Bible and the Church.

Let’s first talk about ignorance. It isn’t only Bible knowledge that eludes Americans. We are ignorant of many things today. We no longer teach Latin in our schools. We no longer require the canon of literature necessary for reading traditional texts without a myriad of footnotes explaining the allegorical pieces from the Bible and other works. Most glaring to anyone who travels the globe is the failure of Americans to speak any language besides English—and that not too well. Science and math scores show American students well behind Europeans and Asians.

Gallup finds a "glaring lack of knowledge about the Bible, basic doctrines, and the traditions of one's church." So why should we be alarmed that biblical ignorance is rampant? Because this leads to glaring inconsistencies (a polite way of saying hypocrisy) among self-proclaimed evangelical Christians who also may espouse New Age beliefs.

Again, that’s not surprising. This sort of cultural osmosis occurred in the Early Church, too. The New Testament letters refer to Greek philosophical incursions, Judaizing and immorality as major issues of the time.

What is shocking about modern-day Americans is how persistent they are in their religious beliefs. They may not know what they believe, but they know they believe it. That’s just weird. I’m not saying everything about Christianity must be understood before you can subscribe. Clearly, faith is at many points incomprehensible, yet believers must know enough to understand how to act according to their faith. They don’t.

That leads to the second remarkable finding, which illustrates the decline of religion in the United States. Again, that’s not that shocking. We’ve been hearing these nose-diving numbers for awhile. Fewer people find religion, the Bible or the Church important today.

So why does religion persist? Why don’t churches simply shut down or become beautiful tourist attractions? Why don’t more people subscribe to atheism? (Nine in 10 Americans still believe in God now, just as 9 in 10 Americans did during the 1950s.)

Quite the opposite has occurred. Gallup found "a surge of interest in spiritual matters over the last two decades." Yet there are reportedly fewer Protestants, Catholics and Jews, and more people claiming "other" and "none" as religious preferences.

What can church leaders take away from these findings? Again, two things:

1. Making disciples is as important as ever for the Church. Clearly, Bible teaching and religious education are failing to reach most Americans—even Christians.

2. The appeal of the spiritual for Americans may be leveraged by churches to draw people in, but the commitment required by an authentic Christian faith should not be dismissed. Churches should hold their members accountable to the teachings of Christ.

These are difficult charges for congregations and their leaders. Maybe that’s why churches have either failed or neglected them for too long. Blog here.