How do you measure religious commitment?

[Pah]

The Barna Group has released an analysis of a survey that show there are varing degrees of commitment.

http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdateNarrow&BarnaUpdateID=203

Eight Measures of Commitment

The indicators of commitment that showed the broadest attachment were those that assessed people’s psychological commitment to their chosen faith. Those types of measures included the following:

# “Have you ever made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in your life today?” (72% said “yes”)

# “Your religious faith is very important in your life today.” (71% strongly agreed)

# “Would you describe yourself as deeply spiritual?” (60% said “yes”)

The research found that more demanding involvement in practical forms of Christianity generated lower scores. Those measures included the following:

# “The single, most important purpose of your life is to love God with all your heart, mind, strength and soul.” (62% strongly agreed)

# “Would you describe yourself as a full-time servant of God?” (53% said “yes”)

# “How committed are you to the Christian faith?” (42% said they are “absolutely committed”)

The lowest scores were recorded for the pair of indicators that required the most intense level of participation in the Christian faith.

# 29% had attended a church service, prayed to God and read from the Bible during the past week.

# 16% said the highest priority in their life was their faith.

The break down of the survey is continued in the article and generally follows along lines of gender, age, area of the country, race and specific faith.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

The easier the comitment the higher the score!
Any one surprised?

Terry______________________
Amen! Truly I say to you: Gather in my name. I am with you.

 

[michel]

"# 16% said the highest priority in their life was their faith." For better or worse, I would be in that minority.

My highest priority, before my faith, if need be, are my loved ones.

 

[Darkdale]

My life and my religion are inseparable. I live my life according to my religion, though it doesn't require "faith" in the religious (or metaphysical) sense of the word. My level of commitment can only be measured by my commitment to honor, courage, self-discipline and the rest of the virtues.

 

[wizenheimer69]

How do you measure religious commitment? Try to look in the mirror and convince yourself that you don't judge other people and are not a hypocrite. If you can't do that, how can you measure any religious commitment given that you can't even be honest with yourself.

It seems like this question is about making one feel better about themself.

Religious commitment shouldn't even be quantifiable given that the only person who can measure it is yourself. You're just pleasing everyone elses' ears and stroking your ego by talking about it.

 

[Katzpur]

Personally, I measure religious commitment by one's integrity. Are you what you claim to be? I once read a statement that pretty much sums up my beliefs in this regard:

Fundamental righteousness is based on adherence to what you know to be right.

If it turns out that my own beliefs are incorrect, I know that I will at least be able to stand before my Creator and say, in all sincerety, that I was lived by what I believed to be right. I was a person of integrity.