Theological Awareness Benchmark Study

Abstract

The Theological Awareness Benchmark Study is a 2014 national survey commissioned by Ligonier Ministries to quantify the theological beliefs and understanding of American adults, with particular attention to comparisons between churchgoers and the unchurched, and between self-identified Evangelicals and non-Evangelicals. A demographically balanced online panel of 3,000 American adults was surveyed between February 25 and March 5, 2014, on statements covering God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, sin, and salvation. Respondents rated their level of agreement (strongly agree to strongly disagree) with a series of doctrinal statements, and results were broken out by region, age, gender, education, income, ethnicity, and religious affiliation/denomination.

Findings for Latter-day Saints

• 71% of American adults agreed (50% strongly, 21% somewhat) that there is one true God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
• 63% agreed (31% strongly, 32% somewhat) that the Holy Spirit is a force, not a personal being, indicating widespread confusion about a core Trinitarian doctrine even among those who affirm the Trinity in the abstract.
• 33% agreed (16% strongly, 17% somewhat) that God the Father is more divine than Jesus Christ, while 53% disagreed.
• 60% agreed (37% strongly, 23% somewhat) that Jesus is fully God with a divine nature and fully man with a human nature.
• 19% agreed (9% strongly, 10% somewhat) that Jesus is the first creature created by God, while 66% disagreed.
• 68% agreed (45% strongly, 23% somewhat) that the biblical accounts of Jesus's bodily resurrection are completely accurate and that the event actually occurred.
• 53% agreed (35% strongly, 18% somewhat) that salvation is found through Jesus Christ alone, while 30% disagreed.
• 44% agreed (21% strongly, 23% somewhat) that there are many ways to get to heaven.
• 43% agreed (27% strongly, 16% somewhat) that the Bible is 100% accurate in all that it teaches, while 37% disagreed.
• 48% agreed (30% strongly, 18% somewhat) that the Bible alone is the written word of God.
• 41% agreed (17% strongly, 24% somewhat) that the Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths but is not literally true.
• 67% agreed (21% strongly, 46% somewhat) that everyone sins at least a little, but most people are by nature good.
• Only 18% agreed (10% strongly, 8% somewhat) that even the smallest sin deserves damnation, while 75% disagreed.
• 67% agreed (47% strongly, 20% somewhat) that heaven is a real place, not just a concept, and 61% agreed (41% strongly, 20% somewhat) that hell is a real place, not just a concept.
• Only 10% agreed (3% strongly, 7% somewhat) that the Book of Mormon is a revelation from God, with 78% disagreeing (42% strongly).
• 48% agreed (31% strongly, 17% somewhat) that sex outside of marriage is a sin.
• Self-identified Evangelicals who attend church at least monthly consistently gave the most doctrinally traditional/"biblical" responses, followed by Black Protestants, then Mainline Protestants and Catholics, with non-Christians giving the least traditional responses; Americans in the South were generally more likely to give biblical responses than those in the Northeast.

Limitations in methodology

The survey relied on a demographically balanced online opt-in panel rather than a full probability sample, with a stated margin of error of about ±1.8% overall but substantially higher for demographic subgroups; slight weighting was applied to balance religion and gender and to remove constant/straight-line raters. Findings depend on respondents' self-reported agreement with researcher-authored doctrinal statements, which can be sensitive to question wording, theological jargon, and social-desirability effects rather than reflecting deep theological reasoning. Denomination/tradition groupings (e.g., Evangelical, Mainline, Catholic, Black Protestant) follow RELTRAD-style categories and self-identification, which can blur meaningful doctrinal distinctions within and across those labels. As a benchmark/pilot study preceding the branded annual "State of Theology" series, its methodology and question set differ somewhat from later waves, limiting direct year-over-year comparability.

Related studies

• 2022TheologyTrinity

  The State of Theology 2022

  Ligonier Ministries, Lifeway Research

• 2016TheologyEvangelicalism

  The State of American Theology Study 2016

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• 2020

Cite this study

Ministries, L. (2014). Theological Awareness Benchmark Study. Commissioned by Ligonier Ministries (predecessor to the annual "State of Theology" survey, TheStateOfTheology.com). https://lwresearch21.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Ligonier-Theological-Awareness-Final-Online-Report.pdf

Ligonier Ministries. "Theological Awareness Benchmark Study." Commissioned by Ligonier Ministries (predecessor to the annual "State of Theology" survey, TheStateOfTheology.com), 2014. https://lwresearch21.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Ligonier-Theological-Awareness-Final-Online-Report.pdf.

@article{ligonier_theological_awareness_2014,
  title = {Theological Awareness Benchmark Study},
  author = {Ligonier Ministries},
  year = {2014},
  journal = {Commissioned by Ligonier Ministries (predecessor to the annual "State of Theology" survey, TheStateOfTheology.com)},
  url = {https://lwresearch21.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Ligonier-Theological-Awareness-Final-Online-Report.pdf},
}