(GLENDALE, AZ) – The worldview known as Syncretism—the blending of elements from multiple worldviews into a customized individual philosophy of life—has dominated the worldview landscape of the United States for several decades. Its 92% incidence among American adults dwarfs the runner-up worldview, Biblical Theism (or the biblical worldview), which claims only a 4% share of the nation’s worldview pie.
Two out of three American adults describe themselves as Christians and the most common houses of worship are Christian churches. So how did such an assortment of diverse and sometimes conflicting ideas become the dominant philosophy of life in a nation whose most common religious faith is described as “Christianity”?
Much of this worldview confusion flows from American adults redefining the nature and existence of God, according to the initial report from the American Worldview Inventory 2025, the sixth annual worldview study of American adults conducted by Dr. George Barna and the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University (CRC).
In the first of a dozen worldview-related research reports that will be released by CRC this year, Barna identifies dramatic transformations in how people view supernatural deities and powers, including a decided shift away from traditional views of God. These worldview trends are leading increasing numbers of American adults to embrace a more eclectic bundle of ideas about deity and divinity.
Because understanding God (often referred to as “prime reality”) is the cornerstone of worldview development, shifting beliefs about supernatural deities and powers can have dramatic repercussions for a person’s—and a nation’s—overall worldview. As Barna explains, without a biblical understanding of God, it is difficult to develop a coherent biblical worldview built on His truth.
The American Worldview Inventory 2025: A National Study for Strengthening the Worldview of Americans is designed to examine concerning trends in American beliefs about God, truth, sin, and salvation. It seeks to understand why these key aspects of American faith are weak and to provide practical insights for rebuilding a strong biblical worldview in our nation.
A Continuing Trend
The movement away from belief in the God of the Bible—known by Americans by names such as God, Yahweh, and Jehovah—began several decades ago. Pointing to data from his research 30 years ago, Barna identified the 1990s as the decade marked by an accelerated shift away from traditional views about God. “Belief in some type of powerful supernatural presence has been prolific, probably since the start of the United States,” explained the Arizona Christian University professor. “In the early 1990s, more than nine out of 10 American adults believed that a supernatural deity or spiritual authority existed, usually referred to as ‘God.’ Today, that number has dropped to just seven out of 10 Americans.”
But that is not the only significant change the veteran researcher has observed.
“Among those who believed that one or more gods, spiritual deities, supreme beings, higher powers, or supernatural authorities existed, three out of four identified the God of the Bible as one of those entities,” Barna recalls.
“Now, just 30 years later,” he explains, “that has plummeted from 73% to a mere 40%. Not only is that a 45 percent drop in the percentage of adults who believe in the existence of the God of the Bible, but it now represents a minority of adults living in America.”
Views About Higher Powers
The American Worldview Inventory 2025 research reveals there are four distinct perspectives Americans possess about the gods, spiritual deities, supreme beings, higher powers, and supernatural authorities they perceive to exist.
1. A Singular Deity
The United States owes its existence to the commitment of its forefathers to the belief that the God described in the Bible is real, unique, authoritative, and worthy of everyone’s acknowledgement and worship. Yet, a quarter of a millennium after the settling and emancipation of the nation from Britain’s rule, that outlook has morphed into something unrecognizable.The AWVI 2025 study discovered that when adults were asked to choose one of six statements that best describe what they believe about gods, spiritual deities, supreme beings, higher powers, and supernatural authorities, just 46%—less than half of the population—selected the statement, “There is only one supreme spiritual being; He created and rules everything in existence.” That description could encompass several popular ideas of a deity, including the God of the Bible, Allah, Yahweh, and Jehovah, among others.
2. Humanity as Divine
One out of every six adults (17%) view humans as divine beings or supernatural authorities. Most of those people (14% of all adults) indicated they believe that “‘god’ refers to the total realization of personal, human potential, or a state of higher consciousness that a person may reach.” The other 3% claim that “everyone is god.”
3. Multiple Gods
About one out of 12 adults (8%) contend that “There are many gods or supernatural entities, each with different purposes and authority.”
4. Rejection of Supernatural Authorities
Three out of 10 adults (29%) embrace positions commonly thought of as agnostic (i.e., do not know if a god, spiritual deity, supreme being, higher power, or supernatural authority exists) or atheistic (there are no such entities in existence). This group—labeled by Barna as the “don’ts” because it includes those who don’t know if a supernatural power exists, don’t care if one exists, or don’t believe that such an entity exists—is the fastest growing segment among American adults, having jumped from 8% of the population three decades ago to the current level.
Barna pointed out several shocking revelations from the data:
- Only 60% of the people who describe themselves as Christians believe that “there is only one supreme spiritual being, He created and rules everything in existence.” Although that perspective would be an indisputable belief of Bible-believing Christians, a stunningly large minority of the self-described “Christian” population (40%) believes otherwise.
- A segment often considered the backbone of the Christian Church are people whose belief about their eternal destiny classifies them as born-again Christians. Barna’s research labels this group “theologicallydefined born-again Christians”—people who say they are certain that when they die they will go to Heaven for eternity, but only because they have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. Yet, the research found that one out of every four of these people (23%) possess contrary views of God, seeing Him other than being the unique, singular spiritual power who created and rules everything in existence.
- More than one-third of the individuals typically categorized as atheists or agnostics (36%) embrace the existence of one or more spiritual authorities.
- Only one-half of America’s self-identified Christians (53%) listed the God of the Bible as an existing and influential spiritual authority.
- Almost three out of 10 adults who claimed to align with a non-Christian faith (28%) chose responses that identified them as agnostic or atheistic.
Which Higher Powers Exist?
The American Worldview Inventory probed further on views about gods, spiritual deities, supreme beings, higher powers, and supernatural authorities. For adults who indicated that some type of spiritual authorities do or may exist, the follow-up question examined which gods or spiritual powers they believe exist and affect lives. Faced with a list of the 16 spiritual forces that prior CRC research identified as the most widely believed-in spiritual entities, each survey respondent was allowed to identify all the spiritual powers they believe exist today.
Overall, Americans are most likely to believe that Jesus Christ exists and affects lives today. Six out of 10 adults (59%) named Jesus Christ as a living spiritual authority that influences human lives today. He was followed by the God of the Bible, listed by four out of 10 adults (40%) as living and influential. Third most listed was Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, selected by one-fifth of adults (21%) as existing today and actively influencing people’s lives.
Other spiritual authorities perceived to exist and have influence on humanity today included Satan (18%); the Universe (14%); Yahweh (13%); Jehovah (12%); Mother Earth (12%); and the prophets (11%). Allah was selected by 7%.
One out of every six adults (16%) said they do not believe there are any gods, spiritual deities, supreme beings, higher powers, and supernatural authorities that exist and affect lives.
Barna pointed out other interesting—and somewhat unexpected—outcomes:
- Only one-half of America’s self-identified Christians (53%) listed the God of the Bible as an existing and influential spiritual authority.
- A large share of the self-identified Christians—nearly one-fourth (22%)—did not include Jesus Christ among the living, effectual spiritual authorities.
- Although the presence and power of Satan plays an important role in Christian theology, a mere onefifth of self-identified Christians (21%) and one-quarter of theologically-identified born-again Christians listed Satan or Lucifer as living and impactful.
- Among adults who believe that Allah exists and affects lives, 60% of those are self-identified Christians. This likely relates to the prior finding that many Christians believe the names “God” and “Allah” refer to the same spiritual being.
- Among adults who listed Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, as a living and influential spiritual being, less than four out of 10 (37%) were Catholic. A plurality of those identifying Mary were adults aligned with other Christian churches. In fact, one out of every four adults attending an evangelical church (23%) and one out of four associated with a Christian, non-denominational or independent church (24%) also listed Mary as an existing and influential spiritual being.
- Self-identified Christians represent almost nine out of 10 adults in America (88%) who believe that the God of the Bible exists and affects lives today. Surprisingly few other adults accept the existence and influence of the God of the Bible.
- Spiritual diversity is alive and well among the growing population of Americans who identify with a faith other than Christianity. Among that segment of the population, which represents 11% of all adults, there were 11 spiritual authorities listed by 10% or more.
Which Supernatural Entities Do Americans Worship?
The American Worldview Inventory then asked which, if any, god, spiritual deity, supreme being, higher power, or supernatural authority that exists are entities they worship or follow as a guide for their life. The response patterns provide insight into the true faith of the American people.
Although two-thirds of the American people (66%) call themselves Christian, only half of all adults (54%) claim that they believe Jesus Christ exists, affects lives, and is a deity they worship or follow; and just onethird of American adults (34%) contend that the God described in the Bible is alive, influences people’s lives, and is a spiritual authority that they personally worship or follow.
Jesus Christ and the God of the Bible areA, by far, the most venerated spiritual beings of Americans. However, millions believe in the existence and influence of and also worship or follow other spiritual entities as well, ranging from an estimated five million who worship Satan and also Muhammad, up to more than 50 million who worship Mary the mother of Jesus.
Among the self-identified Christians of the nation, slightly less than three out of four (73%) say they worship Jesus Christ and slightly less than half of the segment (45%) claim to worship the God of the Bible. The other spiritual entities worshiped by at least 10% of the group included Mary (13%), Yahweh (11%), and Jehovah (10%).
The roughly 30 million adults who embrace faiths other than Christianity have diverse worship preferences. Besides those who worship Jesus (25% of those aligned with non-Christian faiths) or God (23%), popular deities included Allah (15%), the Universe (15%), Mother Earth (12%), Yahweh (11%), and Mohammed (10%).
Unexpectedly, one-quarter of the adults who have no association with a particular faith admitted to worshipping one or more spiritual authorities. Topping the list for that group were Jesus Christ (named by 11% of the Nones), the Universe (8%), God of the Bible (8%), and Mother Earth (6%).
Belief Versus Worship
The research indicated that believing in a supernatural power and its ability to affect human lives does not always lead to worship of that entity.
The closest connection between belief and worship related to Jesus Christ. Among those who believe that Jesus exists and affects lives, about nine out of 10 (89%) also worship or follow Him. That connection was not quite as strong regarding God of the Bible, as about eight out 10 (79%) who believe He exists and affects lives also worship Him.
The statistics were lower for other deities that people assert the existence of. For instance, 69% who believe in the existence and influence of Mary also worship her. A similar percentage (68%) both believe in the existence and impact of Allah and worship him.
An oddity was people’s relationship with Yahweh. On the one hand, 88% of those who said they believe in the existence and influence of Yahweh also said they believe that “Yahweh” is simply a different name for the God of the Bible. However, while 79% of those who believe in the existence of God of the Bible also worship Him, just 64% of those who believe in Yahweh also worship Him.
Biblical Christians will be alarmed to discover that among adults who believe in the existence and impact of Satan—which the Bible teaches to be true—more than one-third of those people (37%) also say they worship the devil. The spiritual confusion among adults is evident in the fact that among the people who believe in and worship Jesus Christ, one out of every four (25%) also worship Satan.
Mix-and-Match Faith
An indisputable sign of the grip of Syncretism on the minds and hearts of Americans is the mix of deities that people embrace. The AWVI surveys have consistently found that Syncretism is not only the most popular worldview in America, but it is also the sole worldview embraced by at least 5% of the population.
The practical application of Syncretism is evident in the research showing that there is little purity or consistency in the deities that we worship. Among all adults, four out of 10 believe in the existence and impact of a mixture of deities that are aligned with competing faith systems. One out of six adults (17%) worship two or more deities that are drawn from competing faith systems (e.g., Christianity and Wicca).
The most disturbing outcomes, however, relate to the beliefs and worship practices of one the most crucial segments of the Christian community—individuals who constitute the one-third of adults who qualify as theologically-defined born-again Christians. The inconsistent and biblically untenable commitments within that segment are shocking.
- Barely half of the born-again group (55%) says that they worship the God of the Bible.
- Overall, even though they claim their eternal destiny has been sealed by their confession to and acceptance of Jesus Christ, 25% of the born-again segment admits to not worshipping Jesus.
- One out of every nine (11%) worships God but not Jesus
- One-third (31%) worships Jesus but not God.
- Just one-third (36%) worships both God and Jesus but no other spiritual beings
- One out of 12 (8%) worships not only God and/or Jesus, but also Mary and/or the prophets.
- One out of 14 (7%) worships God and/or Jesus in addition to one or more deities from non-Christian faiths or philosophies.
- All told, one out of five (21%) either worships spiritual entities other than God or Jesus, or does not worship any spiritual authorities at all.
While the Cultural Research Center will soon release a report detailing patterns of generational beliefs,
Barna noted that despite widespread optimism shared by Christians about the faith of members of Gen Z, that cohort emerged as the generation most likely to merge Christan deities and non-Christian spiritual authorities within the pantheon of gods they worship.
Clues to a Better Worldview
Spiritual beliefs have become a challenging ocean of insights and beliefs for millions of Americans to wade through. The increasing comfort of Americans with a pluralistic culture has rendered spiritual boundaries a complicated minefield to navigate.
Dr. George Barna, the Director of Research with the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, explained that the current research provides a nudge for Christians as well as biblical influencers to reconsider what that spiritual minefield looks like to the average adult.
“Parents, pastors, teachers, and other spiritual influencers sometimes resist believing that just one out of 10 theologically-identified born-again Christians possess a biblical worldview, and that the incidence is even smaller among other, more common segments of the Christian community and of church congregations,” he commented.
“This research may help us to understand that someone simply saying they are Christian or believe in God may not mean the same thing to each party in that conversation. As disappointing as it may be, there really is a need to clarify terms and to return to basics to ensure that there is great clarity and mutuality in the beliefs among those who are thought of as the Church,” he said.
Barna noted that the best time to have such clarifying conversations and fundamental teaching is with people before they reach their teenage years, since most people’s worldview is fully formed by that age.
“Arts and entertainment media frequently challenge or obfuscate our spiritual views,” he noted. “For clearthinking, biblically solid individuals to have conversations with young people identifying errant points of view regarding the existence, influence, and relationship with God, Jesus Christ, Satan, and other spiritual entities provides invaluable wisdom to the young person’s life. Those conversations often serve a valuable purpose in adult conversations, as well.”
As Barna explained, “Given that lifelong faith perspectives are largely formed in hearts and minds before the age of 13, the more often young people can be engaged regarding their perspectives of deity and supernatural authorities, the better.”
He continued, “The research clearly highlights the desperate need for greater biblical clarity concerning the ‘big picture’ beliefs such as the existence, nature, power, and purposes of God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and Satan.”
About the American Worldview Inventory
The American Worldview Inventory 2025: A National Study for Strengthening the Worldview of Americans from Dr. George Barna is designed to examine concerning trends in American beliefs about God, truth, sin, and salvation. It seeks to understand why these key aspects of American faith are weak and to provide practical insights for rebuilding a strong biblical worldview in our nation. This major research from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University is essential for understanding the nation’s current worldview landscape and for guiding future improvements, with approximately 12 reports planned for release in 2025.
The data in this report are part of the American Worldview Inventory (AWVI), an annual nationwide survey that examines a wide variety of aspects of the worldview of U.S. adults. The current worldview research was generated in two waves of surveys fielded during the first quarter of 2025. American Worldview Inventory 2025 is the sixth of the annual surveys.
The data reported in this report were collected via the first of those two waves, conducted in January 1420, 2025, among a national, demographically-representative sample of 2,100 adults (age 18 or older). The survey contained 82 questions and the average duration of the survey experience for respondents was 18 minutes. The sample was constructed from among the members of a national research panel managed by Braun Research and Fulcrum as part of the Lucid national panel of survey respondents. A probability sample of this size would have an estimated maximum sampling error of approximately plus or minus 2 percentage points, based on the 95% confidence interval. Additional levels of indeterminable error may occur in surveys based upon both sampling and non-sampling activity.
Begun as an annual tracking study in 2020, the American Worldview Inventory (AWVI) is based on several dozen worldview-related questions that fall within eight categories of worldview application, measuring both beliefs and behavior. The same questions are asked in each of the worldview incidence studies conducted by the Cultural Research Center (CRC), facilitating reliable tracking data from year to year. Additional worldview-related research is part of the AWVI project, allowing researchers at CRC to look beyond incidence data, digging deeper into an array of worldview components toward understanding the genesis of existing worldview and how to more effectively move people toward a biblical worldview.
The American Worldview Inventory is the first-ever national survey conducted in the United States measuring the incidence of both biblical and competing worldviews. Each year’s reports, released to the public at no cost via CRC’s website (www.CulturalResearchCenter.com) are also compiled in book form and produced at the beginning of each subsequent year, published by Arizona Christian University Press. Those books are available at CRC’s Publications page or on Amazon.
About the Cultural Research Center
The Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University in Glendale, Arizona, conducts the annual American Worldview Inventory as well as other nationwide surveys regarding worldview and cultural transformation. National studies completed by the Cultural Research Center (CRC) have investigated topics related to family, values, lifestyle, spiritual practices, and recent election-related activity and political views.
One of the groundbreaking efforts by CRC has been the worldview-related surveys conducted among the ACU student population. The first-of-its-kind ACU Student Worldview Inventory is administered to every ACU student at the start of each academic year, and a final time just prior to graduation. The results of that student census enable the University to track and address the worldview development of its students from a longitudinal perspective.
Research studies conducted by CRC are led by Dr. George Barna. Barna is a veteran of more than 40 years of national public opinion research, having previously guided the Barna Group (which he sold in 2009), and the American Culture and Faith Institute. His research findings have been the subject of more than 60 books he has authored or co-authored, many of which have become national bestsellers. His most recent bestseller is Raising Spiritual Champions: Nurturing Your Child’s Heart, Mind and Soul (Arizona Christian University Press, 2023).
Like ACU, CRC embraces biblical Christianity. The Center works in cooperation with a variety of Bible-centric, theologically conservative Christian ministries and remains politically non-partisan. Further information about Arizona Christian University is available at www.ArizonaChristian.edu.