A lot of debate has swirled around the similarity (or dissimilarity) of Christianity and Islam lately. What do people think?
Just a few months ago, in October, LifeWay Research published a good amount of data on how Americans, pastors, self-identified evangelicals, and religious service attendees see Christianity and Islam. Today, I wanted to share just a bit of data with you regarding how similar or dissimilar these groups of people see the two most popular monotheistic faiths in the world.
Do Muslims and Christians Worship the “Same God?”
In the last week or so, the debate about whether or not Christians and Muslims worship the “same god” has been stirred up due to a controversial situation at Wheaton College, about which I wrote last week. (Full disclosure, I’ve written on several occasions that Muslims and Christians do not pray to the same god and saying so is not helpful.)
Perhaps the reason for the controversy around such “same god” issues is that the country is split, though you would think that country overwhelmingly believes they do worship the same god based on the responses.
But, the nation is actually split down the middle.
Forty-six percent of Americans agree Christians and Muslims pray to the same God, 47% disagree, 8% are not sure.
Of course, we look for statistically different sub-groups of people who believe differently about this issue. Interestingly, they include:
- Northeasterners (56%) are more likely to Agree than Southerners (40%) and Westerners (44%)
- Those age 25-34 (56%) are more likely to Agree than those 35-44 (42%), 45-54 (40%), 55-64 (44%), and 65+ (41%)
- Those age 18-24 (52%) are more likely to Agree than those 45-54 (40%).
- Nonreligious (56%) are more likely to Agree than Christians (41%).
- Catholics (52%) are more likely to Agree than Protestants (38%).
- Self-identified evangelical Protestants are less likely to Agree (35% v 50%).
