Many thanks to Russell St. John at World Magazine for some skilled reporting. He exposes a tendency behind Barna researchers in the way they frame their questions.
In Questioning the Survey, St. John asks us how we might answer the question: “Do you usually attend church because you enjoy doing it, because you feel you have to do it, or do you do it out of habit?” How are you supposed to answer if your reason for church attendance is … worship?
The questions reveal more about the slant of Barna than the position of the respondents. And yet, as St. John notes, this doesn’t stop Barna researchers from drawing significant conclusions, conclusions that will inevitably display that same slant.
As St. John says, “Worship is for the Lord, and maybe American Christians know it. But Barna couldn’t tell you because Barna didn’t ask.”
