About 2 out of 5 Protestants who call themselves evangelicals no longer qualify under a new definition of what true evangelicals believe. Meanwhile, 1 in 5 Protestants who don't self-identify as evangelicals actually have beliefs matching the new definition of evangelical.
That’s among the findings of a two-year collaboration between the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) and Nashville-based LifeWay Research to improve the contested ways researchers quantify evangelicals in surveys. Their conclusion, released today, defines evangelical by theology rather than by self-identity or denominational affiliation.
The NAE, one of several stewards of the term, hopes that the new belief-based research definition will replace older definitions based on race or politics that lead to incomplete results. For example, the report notes that "though the African American Protestant population is...
