Born-Again Christians

In Barna Research Group studies, born again Christians are not defined on the basis of characterizing themselves as "born again" but based upon their answers to two questions. The first is "have you ever made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in your life today?" If the respondent says "yes," then they are asked a follow-up question about life after death. One of the seven perspectives a respondent may choose is "when I die, I will go to Heaven because I have confessed my sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as my savior." Individuals who answer "yes" to the first question and select this statement as their belief about their own salvation are then categorized as "born again."

Beliefs

Compared to 72% of all adults, 92% of born again Christians believe "the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches." (2007)
Three-quarters of born again Christians (74%) believe they "personally have a responsibility to tell other people their religious beliefs" compared to 52% of all adults. (2007)
Nearly all born again Christians (99%) say their religious faith is very important in their life, compared to 87% of all adults. (2007)
Half of born again Christians (46%) agree that Satan is "not a living being but is a symbol of evil." (2007)
37% of born agains believe that if a person is good enough they can earn a place in Heaven. (2007)
26% of born agains agree that "while he lived on earth, Jesus committed sins, like other people," compared to 41% of all adults. (2007)
Born again Christians are more likely than non-born again individuals to accept moral absolutes. Specifically, 36% of born agains said they believe in moral absolutes, compared to just 16% among non-born agains. (2006)
How Many

Looking across the past decade we find the following percentages of born again Christians:
2007 - 42% 2006 - 45% 2005- 40% 2004-38% 2002-40% 2001- 41% 2000- 41% 1999- 40% 1998- 39% 1997- 43% 1996-39% 1995-35% 1994- 36% 1993-36% 1992- 40% 1991- 35%

There are approximately 101 million born again Christians. (2006)

Who

Residents of the South are more likely than average to be classified as born again Christians. More than half of those living in the South (53%) are classified as born agains, compared to 45% of individuals who live in the Midwest, 34% of those living in the West, and 29% of individuals who live in the Northeast. (2007)
Half of all born again adults (50%) are married. (2007)
Protestant church attenders are more than twice as likely than are Catholic church attenders to be born again Christians (61% to 26%, respectively). (2007)
Religious Activities

More than three out of five born agains (62%) have read from the Bible in the past week compared with 42% of all adults. (2007)
59% of born agains attended church in the last week, compared to 43% of all adults. (2007)
Born agains are more likely than the average adult to have volunteered their time to help their church in the past week (32% to 22%, respectively). (2007)
Non-evangelical Born Agains

35% of the adult population is born again, but not evangelical. (2007)
86% are registered to vote. (2007)
65% likelihood of voting, compared to the national average of 67% among registered voters. (2004)
36% are politically conservative. (2007)
35% is associated with the Republican Party, while an even greater percentage is aligned with the Democratic Party 42%. (2007)