The year 1978 is likely to be another “year of the evangelical,” according to George Gallup, Jr., the poll-taking observer of the American scene. Gallup, who recently established the Princeton Religious Research Center to monitor the American religious scene, predicted a continued upsurge of evangelical strength in his just-published Religion in America 1977–78. Gallup’s survey, based on a sample of 3,000 individuals, reveals more facts about today’s evangelicals than any comparable source: Who are they? Where do they live? What is their socioeconomic and educational profile? What denomination do they prefer?

The typical U.S. evangelical is likely to be a white female Southerner age 50 or over, with a high-school education and a modest income, the survey indicates. Gallup says about three out of ten (28 per cent) Americans, or about 40 million adults, are evangelicals—confirming a figure that is often used. This figure may be low, he points out, since “some evangelicals may not be aware of the term.” Gallup defines an evangelical as one who “has had a born again conversion, accepts Jesus as his or her personal Savior, believes the Scriptures are the authority for all doctrine, and feels an urgent duty to spread the faith.” An evangelical also places a strong emphasis on a personal relationship with God, and adheres to a strict moral code.

More than six out of ten (63 per cent) evangelicals are women, according to the survey, while 23 per cent are non-white. This suggests that a solid evangelical majority exists among blacks since blacks comprise only 11 per cent of the population. Fully half of all evangelicals reside in the South and slightly over one-fourth (27 per cent) live in the Midwest. The East and West have relatively few evangelicals.

The socio-economic status of the evangelicals is quite modest. Six out of ten have a high school education compared to 25 per cent who have completed only grade school and 15 per cent who are college graduates. Fifty-seven per cent of evangelicals are over age 50, while only 15 per cent are under 30. The much heralded evangelical thrust among the young and college-educated has yet to show up significantly in the survey data.

Just over half (51 per cent) of evangelicals make under $10,000 a year compared to 28 per cent whose income exceeds $15,000. Almost half (45 per cent) are manual workers, while one-fifth are professional and business people. Thus evangelicals rank well below the typical Episcopalian, Jew, Presbyterian, or moderate-to-liberal Protestant in socioeconomic attainments.

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In addition, 60 percent of evangelicals live in rural or small-town (under 50,000 population) America. Only one in eleven lives in large cities. Somewhat surprisingly, the evangelical is a political independent rather than a Democrat or Republican. An almost unbelievable 86 per cent of evangelicals call themselves independents (only 8 per cent of those surveyed said they were Democrats, and 6 per cent reported they were Republicans). The evangelical is therefore a “floating voter” whose impact on future elections may be considerable.

Denominationally, 42 per cent of evangelicals are Baptists, 22 per cent prefer the smaller evangelical denominations, 15 per cent are Methodists, and 12 per cent are Catholics. Significantly, this Catholic evangelical contingent represents five million or more adult believers, a development that would have been considered unthinkable a decade or two ago.

Most evangelicals (87 per cent) are members of a church, but a rather high 13 per cent are disaffiliated. Although 60 per cent attend church regularly, 40 per cent do not. These two figures suggest, perhaps, that a number of evangelicals worship outside the structure of the institutional church.

Some other data in the study suggests that theological nomenclature may distort the attempt to locate with precision the evangelical. For example, 28 per cent of the respondents replied affirmatively to the question, “Do you consider yourself an evangelical?” A negative response came from 64 per cent, and 8 per cent had no opinion. Blacks, Southerners, and the poor were the most likely to respond affirmatively. Twenty-five per cent of Episcopalians said they were evangelicals, but very few agreed with the four-part Gallup definition in another part of the survey. Only 42 per cent of Baptists called themselves evangelicals, yet a large majority indicated they adhere to the definition of what an evangelical is. Twenty per cent of adult Catholics (eight million persons) called themselves evangelicals, a much larger number than those who embraced the fourfold definition.

The survey also shows that evangelicals are no longer the silent strangers on the American religious scene. Almost six in ten Americans know enough about evangelical beliefs and life-style to recognize an evangelical when they see one. And 22 per cent of all Americans—along with 39 per cent of the “aware” or informed ones—give evangelicals a “highly favorable” rating.

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It is likely that the evangelical impact will be felt more strongly in the nation’s churches during the coming years. To the question, “Would you like to see your own church become more evangelical or not?” 35 per cent said yes, while 49 per cent said no, and 16 per cent had no opinion. Evangelicals themselves, by 75 per cent to 18 per cent, affirmed that they want a more evangelical church. Nonevangelicals, by 64 per cent to 19 per cent, did not share that desire.

These figures present a mixed profile of the evangelical movement, with signs that are both encouraging and discouraging to evangelical leaders. They do represent the first full-scale portrait of the American evangelical today. Given the high rate of proven accuracy in other Gallup surveys, the findings are considered highly credible by students of the art of polling, and America’s church leaders are likely to study carefully the figures and their implications.

Most Admired

President Jimmy Carter came out on top in the Gallup Poll’s periodic survey to determine the “most admired man in the world.” Two religious leaders were among the top ten: evangelist Billy Graham (fourth) and Pope Paul VI (tied for ninth with former President Richard M. Nixon). Egyptian president Anwar Sadat placed second, and Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota, who is fighting terminal cancer, was third, followed by Graham, former President Gerald R. Ford, Henry Kissinger, Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel, and former California governor Ronald Reagan.

Graham got second place in the 1973 and 1974 polls. Gallup omitted the poll in 1975 and 1976.

Sister Churches

Episcopalians and Roman Catholics in the United States share such a “unity of faith” that they must give it “visible expression and testimony now.” That is the conclusion of the officially appointed Anglican-Roman Catholic Consultation after twelve years of study.

The nineteen-member body, composed mostly of theological professors but chaired by two bishops, issued its report last month. The seventeen-page document suggests specific joint activities for demonstration of unity. These include cooperative projects in evangelism, the war against world hunger, and the like.

The report cites six areas where there is wide agreement: baptism and the Eucharist; the Bible as the inspired Word of God; traditional central doctrines (the Trinity, Christ as true God and true man, the Church, and others); the role of bishops; ethics and Christian life-style; and personal life in Christ. Indeed, suggests the document, there is so much agreement that the two bodies can be considered “sister churches.”

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In the section on the Bible, the document states in part: “Episcopalians and Roman Catholics believe that in the Bible the inspired Word of God is expressed: through the Holy Scriptures the living God speaks to us still today.… To help comprehend the meaning of Scripture [both] churches endorse and utilize historical, critical methods of exegesis.”

The report identified four “problem areas”: papal authority, the role of women, the tension between “normative” tradition and individual conscience, and the degree of unity that must be reached before there can be “sacramental sharing.”

Confronting The Future

The meeting on the future is past, and whether it did anything that will be a part of the future remains to be seen. Reporters were barred from a “consultation on future evangelical concerns” held in Atlanta last month, and only a brief announcement of it was issued afterwards. Some of the eighty participants did not understand the ground rules as others did, and they came home and spoke and wrote to non-participants about their three-day gathering. Others would speak to no one, especially journalists.

The eighty were chosen by a steering committee which grew out of a meeting of about twenty-five evangelical leaders called together last March by Wheaton College president Hudson Armerding and evangelist Billy Graham (see December 17, 1976, issue, page 34). Included were lay leaders and pastors as well as executives of various denominations, institutions, and para-church groups. The meeting was directed by Donald Hoke, executive director of Wheaton’s Billy Graham Center. Graham himself was absent, and Hoke said a few others who were invited were unable to attend. Although a wide spectrum of evangelical leadership was included, some participants took note of the absence of any staff members of Fuller Seminary.

Three sentences from a statement adopted on the last day were released. One of them mentioned inerrancy, an issue over which some participants have been at odds with Fuller. The statement said, “Knowing that the Bible offers the only viable answer to the needs of a relativistic age, we will insist that the authority of the Bible, threatened by weak views of inspiration, can be preserved from erosive vacillation only by total fidelity to the inspiration, inerrancy, and authority of the Bible and by a costly incarnation of what it teaches.” The release did not mention the vote on the document, but participants engaged in vigorous debate before final adoption.

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Among topics discussed were science, energy, the crisis in values, and the state of the evangelical community. Among the non-participants on the program was Martin Marty, professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School and staff member of Christian Century magazine. His topic was, “The Shape of Religious Thought and Assumptions in America Today.”

Armerding, the chairman, said no continuing organization is anticipated.

Religion in Transit

The federal government, looking for ways to improve education and reduce school violence, has awarded a grant of $45,000 to minister Jesse Jackson’s PUSH for Excellence program. The money will be used to analyze PUSH’S methods and effectiveness and to explore motivation of disadvantaged youths. Much larger grants are expected later. PUSH is operating in high schools in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Kansas City.

More on Anita Bryant: Evangelists Larry Jones and Robert Wise of Oklahoma delivered a 100-foot-long telegram to NBC television this month. It listed 5,500 names of people protesting NBC’s decision to drop Miss Bryant as commentator on its telecast of the Orange Bowl parade. NBC replaced her with Rita Moreno, star of a current film, The Ritz, which is set in a bathhouse that caters to homosexuals. NBC insisted that its decisions regarding both women had nothing to do with the controversy over homosexuality. This month Miss Bryant embarked on a series of “Christian liberation crusades” in Canada.

Maybe it was all that newspaper publicity about the finances of evangelist Billy Graham’s organization. Whatever, President Carter wrote a letter requesting Graham’s help in raising $250,000 for the building fund of Maranatha Baptist Church, the congregation that broke away from Plains Baptist Church in Carter’s hometown. “We are overextended financially,” Graham was quoted as telling Carter, but the evangelist sent $10,000 anyway—the largest gift to the building fund so far.

Seven New York City police chaplains want a raise. They have received only a single $1,000 salary increase in the last twelve years, bringing their pay to $5,900 a year. They hold the rank of inspectors, and they are asking for the same pay other inspectors get: $30,000 a year. The chaplains try to help police officers cope with personal troubles, including marital, psychological, and other problems. They say that they handle “300 to 400 marriage situations” a year.

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A Louis Harris poll shows that American confidence in organized religion jumped sharply last year. In 1976, 24 per cent of those surveyed expressed “a great deal of confidence,” and in 1977 the figure was 34 per cent.

In 1977, a record 279 persons were appointed to the foreign missionary force of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Church World Service, the relief arm of the National Council of Churches, announced plans to ship 10,000 metric tons of donated wheat, valued at $2 million, to Viet Nam next month to help alleviate a severe shortage of grain there.

Personalia

Billboard magazine named Andrae Crouch and his Disciples music group as the top gospel singers of 1977. Crouch, who was featured in a story in Time this month, is scheduled to sing at rallies in Thailand next month, helping to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Christianity in that country.

Deaths

FREDERICK W. CROPP, 72, Presbyterian clergyman who served as general secretary of the American Bible Society from 1939 to 1951; at Santa Barbara, California.

ROY G. ROSS, 79, a minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and general secretary of the National Council of Churches from 1954 to 1963; at Lighthouse Point, Florida.

HENRY WINGBLADE, 94, Baptist clergyman who served as president of Bethel College and Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, from 1941 to 1954; at St. Paul, following a long illness.

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