We released some new research yesterday at LifeWay Research showing 84% of Protestant pastors disagree that eternal life can be obtained through religions other than Christianity. That view is generally called “universalism” or “pluralism” (though technically not the same thing, they are often used interchangeably and relate to one another). So, based on this data, Protestant pastors are overwhelmingly not pluralist/universalist.
However, the same cannot be said of their church members. When presented with the same statement, just 48 percent of adults who attend a Protestant church once a month or more disagree strongly and 9 percent disagree somewhat.
One of the most poorly worded survey statements I have ever read. One suspects that Stetzer found what he wanted to find.
[blockquote] “Pastors with a graduate degree are more likely to strongly agree (7 percent to 3 percent) and less likely to strongly disagree (70 percent to 90 percent) than pastors with a bachelor’s degree at most.” [/blockquote]
This is probably testimony to the way liberals have dominated higher academia over many decades – its a lot easier to get a higher degree if you are avowedly liberal.
But its still encouraging to see that a very healthy majority of those with higher degrees strongly disagree that “eternal life can be obtained through religions other than Christianity”!
Eternal life through religion? I thought eternal life was through Christ?