State of Theology Survey

Ligonier Ministries · Lifeway Research

Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research have surveyed American adults on their theological beliefs every two years since 2014 — around 3,000 respondents per wave, broken out by religious tradition (Evangelical, Black Protestant, Mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic) alongside the general population. Some statements have run in every wave; others have been added, retired, or reworded over time.

Quiz

How evangelical are you?

Answer belief statements from the survey and see which tradition you answer most like, and how evangelical your answers are relative to the rest of the country.

Take the quiz

Social media posts

Instagram carousels made from this dataset, with their own editorial titles and a slightly different visual treatment from the graphics above.

How Ligonier Ministries describes it

The State of Theology is a nationwide survey revealing how people today view key doctrines of the Christian faith.
R.C. Sproul said that everyone is a theologian. The question is whether you're a good theologian or a poor one.
Do your beliefs align with what God has revealed? Are your values and priorities based in the truth? Or do you embrace confused ideas that can lead your whole life astray?
Every few years, this survey takes America's theological temperature, revealing what people actually believe — both outside and inside the church. Our goal is to diagnose prominent errors and to prescribe the cure: the clear teaching of sound doctrine. We hope these findings equip Christians with insights for discipleship.

thestateoftheology.com

Methodology

A demographically balanced online panel was used for interviewing American adults.
3,001 surveys were completed January 6–15, 2025.
The sample provides 95% confidence that the sampling error from the online panel does not exceed ±1.9%.
Margins of error are higher in sub-groups.
Slight weights were used to balance gender, age, ethnicity, income, region, and religion.

thestateoftheology.com/

State of Theology Survey

How evangelical are you?

Evangelicals vs. the country, 2016–2025

Comparing four traditions, 2025

Raw numbers, not percentages

Comparing four traditions, widescreen

Raw numbers, widescreen