RELIGION / JOHN DART : The ‘Biblically Illiterate Generation’ : Poll: Findings show that although 85% of Americans call themselves Christians, most adults can’t define ‘the Gospel’ or ‘evangelical.’

Zealous believers strategically seated at sports events have held up signs reading “John 3:16” when television cameras pointed their way.

Some viewers may have recognized that as a Bible verse and not, for instance, a plea to bring in a reliever named John with an earned run average of 3.16.

Then again, the message was probably a mystery to most viewers.

A recent survey found that 65% of Americans did not know what “John 3:16” signifies--prompting one San Fernando Valley clergyman to comment that many modern Christians belong to a “biblically illiterate generation.”

In that survey, Glendale-based pollster George Barna found that most adults also cannot define “the Gospel,” “evangelical” or “the Great Commission.”

Barna’s findings, in a survey of 605 representative American adults in January, are consistent with the experiences of many clergy members who say that most people today are not conversant with church language, although polls show nearly 85% of Americans identify themselves as Christians.

What may be surprising is that three of the terms also stumped at least half of the 36% of respondents defined by Barna as “born-again” Christians--people expected to be knowledgeable in the Bible.

“The Gospel”--the tenet that sins are forgiven by Jesus Christ’s atoning death and resurrection and by believing in him as the savior--was described adequately by 37% of the adults surveyed, according to Barna. Only 16% of the born-again Christians did not offer an explanation.

However, half of the born-again Christians could not describe John 3:16, a passage in the Gospel of John which reads, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

Although the word evangelical is defined variously even by conservative Christians, 57% of the born-again adults in the survey offered no guess as to its meaning.

The most obscure term was the Great Commission, a favorite term with earlier generations of preachers, which refers to Matthew 28:19 in which the resurrected Jesus commands his followers “to make disciples of all nations.” About 86% of all adults did not hazard a guess on its meaning; nor did three out of four of the born-again Christians, Barna said.

“(Christian) leaders who rely upon a shorthand language which is comprehensible to a relative handful of insiders are severely limiting their ability to instruct, influence and motivate people to respond to the teachings and goals of the Christian faith,” said Barna, president of the Barna Research Group and author of several books aimed at conservative Christian readers.

The fact that many born-again Christians “had no clue what these foundational expressions mean says a lot about the depth of insight that people have into their faith,” Barna said.

A survey by the Gallup Organization 12 years ago found that 46% could name all four Gospels in the New Testament while another 46% could name none or said they didn’t know. Asked in the same poll who gave the Sermon on the Mount, 42% correctly named Jesus, 24% cited a wrong person and 34% said they didn’t know.

Some San Fernando Valley pastors said in interviews that the low level of biblical knowledge among churchgoers was no surprise.

“We live in a biblically illiterate generation,” said the Rev. David Miller, pastor of the nondenominational Church at Rocky Peak in Chatsworth. “I tell my staff: ‘Be careful about using Christianese.’ ”

Miller said he avoids using the words grace, love and saints without giving full explanation of their meaning in the Christian context.

“I don’t use the word saved because of all the spiritual baggage attached to it,” he said. “And I never use the words evangelical and fundamentalist because they mean so many things to different people.”

Darrell Rotz, newly installed pastor of Northridge Community Church of the Nazarene, said, “We are very much a secular nation, and people get a constant diet of news and media that leave out almost all references to God, church and the Bible.”

To appeal to society at large, “we’ve got to use terms that are familiar,” Rotz said.

The Rev. Anne Tiemeyer, pastor of Christ the King Lutheran Church in Van Nuys, said she was reminded during her seminary training to avoid shorthand terms by a teacher who asked students what they meant by “salvation” or “grace” whenever they used those words.

“We should make people aware of traditional (church) language, but we should also make it relevant to their lives,” she said.