"Major Christian Leaders Are Widely Unknown, Even Among Christians"

[More Than A Feeling]

Perhaps the best example of this phenomenon is Rick Warren. Pastor of a megachurch in southern California and author of the bestselling book, The Purpose Driven Life, he has appeared on countless radio and television programs and on the cover of numerous magazines in the past several years. His book, with sales exceeding 25 million copies, is reportedly the biggest selling non-fiction book in U.S. history (with the exception, ironically, of the Bible). Yet, despite such accomplishments, Mr. Warren remains unknown to most adults in this country. Three of out every four adults (72%) say they have never heard of him, including two out of every three born again Christians (63%).

http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdateNarrow&BarnaUpdateID=251

Dobson gets a 57% unknown rating, including 50% among born again Christians. For my money, that'd just wrong. I think America should be made aware of exactly who he is, and what he wants. Then we can make Republicans too embarassed to be tied to him, and alienate him and his fans even further.

[Mist]

1. Um, aren't humility and modesty supposed to be Christian virutes? Surely

these men of God can't be interested in mere fame? :sarcasm:

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. I bet more people dunno whoJim Wallis or Bishop Spong are.

[More Than A Feeling]

3. That's probably true.

Barna is Evangelical pollster, so his failure to mention any liberal Christian leaders, or even the pope, makes sense.

[charlie]

4. "...is reportedly the biggest selling non-fiction book in U.S. history"

Barna knows Spock's baby book sold at least twice that many. Or at least, they should.

[Az]

5. You have to keep in mind

Most people are not that concerned about this issue. We posting here have an emotional pull to this subject for various reasons. Some of us are fascinated by pondering the big questions while others believe that the love of Jesus really needs to be shared with as many as possible. But most people just want to get on with the living of life. And for those that are religious it is simply a matter of finding a church that best reflects their views and feels right to them and settling into the form that is to be their life.

So knowing the leaders that are out there is more than they really want to be bothered with.

[Evoman]

6. Meh...I don't know the leaders of Islam, Judaism, Buddhism or Scientology either.

And frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn. I'd rather concern myself with important things.

Lol..okay, that sounded a bit mean and angry, and I'm actually quite happy right now (almost done my thesis!) so yeah..sorry if I sounded like a grinch. heh

[bryant69]

7. You can make the case Dobson in particular

exerts a lot of power in America today. I mean in so far as these people are pontificating on matters completely within their religion, I suppose I'm not that interested myself. But if their theology mandates political actions that could affect all of us, than I think it is worthwhile to know who they are and how they think.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Evoman]

10. I'm not American...although I do know of the most powerful ones.

We have some homegrown christian dingbats where I live...I keep tabs on those ones. Close tabs.....

[Finder]

8. Christian is just a label mostly...n/t

[More Than A Feeling]

9. What do you mean? n/t

[Finder]

12. Let me put it this way...

Just because someone labels themself does not mean they know or care what is behind the label.

Many Catholics do not know the Pope's real name and some do not even remember his papal name. Nor do they know the 7 sacraments.

Many Democrats have no idea who Nancy Pelosi is.

Many Christians cannot name the 12 Apostles--some even name Luke and Mark as part of the 12.

Of course there is no requirement to know these things in order for the organization to count you among its ranks. Everything today is quantity over quality.lol

[Book Lover]

11. Then how "major" can they really be?

Also, I see the sample size was only just over 1,000 folks - pretty small. And to be frank, who the heck are Barna anyway? I would attribute these results to A) fragmentation of the book market into a gazillion niches and B) the lack of a unified Christain culture in this country (which is a good thing IMO).