Keeping a Finger on the Nation’s Moral Pulse

There is something immensely pleasing, George Barna says, in knowing the subtleties of moral beliefs in the country, how religious views are stratified along generational lines and in what direction the nation’s spiritual compass is pointing.

But for Barna, it’s more than pleasing--it’s part of the job.

As head of the Oxnard-based Barna Research group, Barna and his staff of more than 60 full- and part-time employees make it their business to have their fingers on the pulse of American spirituality.

Contracting to organizations like the Ford Motor Co., the Billy Graham Assn. and hundreds of ministries across the world, the group provides tailored research on where people stand on issues of religion and morality.

The information is used by the organizations to do everything from developing advertising campaigns to crafting religious platforms that better reflect the beliefs of people.

“The clients we serve are often so wrapped up in what they are doing that they often lose touch with the people they serve,” Barna said. “Our job is to come in and challenge their assumptions.”

That’s what they did with Ventura-based Gospel Light Publications, which used Barna’s group last August to paint a clearer picture of its target market--churches with Sunday school programs.

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As a publisher of Sunday school books, Gospel Light President Bill Greig III thought his market of church pastors who were actively involved in the Sunday school curriculum was evaporating. The ministers were focusing more of their time and energy on other church programs, he figured, and were not worried about updating Sunday school curricula.

But as Barna’s results showed, that assumption could not have been further from the truth.

In fact, pastors had become more involved in their Sunday school programs and regarded them as a critical component in their churches’ mission to communities.

“Their attitudes were surprising,” Greig said. “If we hadn’t gotten this research, we would have continued thinking there was a falling off in the importance of Sunday school.”

Founded in 1981 in Los Angeles, the Barna Research Group operates much the same as polling agencies such as Gallup. Using traditional methods such as phone and mail surveys, focus groups and detailed interviews, Barna researchers are able to supply clients with qualitative and quantitative results.

After relocating several times throughout the Los Angeles area, Barna moved his company to Oxnard in 1996. The decision, he said, was motivated by purely personal concerns.

“I’ve got two daughters, and I wanted them to grow up in a quieter and better environment,” the 43-year-old Barna said. “And besides, I got sick of all the traffic.”

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According to him, the research industry is either feast or famine, depending on the time of the year. Right now, the group’s plate is full, with more than a dozen projects underway.

Barna, who considers himself a man of deep faith, got into the business when he began doing similar research for a number of secular firms.

More often than not, he said, his work revolved around gauging opinions to be used in advertising and marketing campaigns.

But he eventually found the tasks upsetting.

“I woke up one morning and told my wife I couldn’t go to work any more,” he said. “I just couldn’t try and get people to buy Crest or Colgate any more.”

Now, after 17 years with his present company, Barna has an informed perspective on just where the nation’s soul is headed. And it is a topic that never ceases to amaze him.

Nationwide, religion and spirituality are at a high, with many more people regarding spiritual belief and health integral to their overall well-being. Yet the manifestation of that spiritualism is divided very clearly along generational lines.

When it comes to baby boomers and spirituality, Barna said, they are still the “Me” generation.

Boomers are less likely to join any particular faith but will instead take mix-and-match beliefs from such religions as Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity into an individually tailored moral idealism.

Barna said religion and belief are deeply personal convictions to baby boomers, who wish to develop a better understanding of themselves.

Generation-Xers, however, are more likely to commit themselves to particular denominations. For them, Barna said, relationships and inclusion into a community are the most powerful forces pushing these twenty- to thirtysomethings toward spirituality.

“It’s an interesting time because we live in an era when there is no absolute moral truth,” Barna said. “The way we seem to determine our beliefs is whether it feels good.”

And it’s those insights that keep Barna’s phones ringing.

“That kind of information is very valuable to organizations,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to come and show them what is really going on and help them be more effective.”