--66% of Americans believe that God is best described as the all-powerful, all-knowing perfect creator of the universe who rules the world today. This is the lowest proportion in more than 20 years of similar surveys.

--37% of Americans believe that Jesus did not sin.

--24% reject the idea that Satan is not a real spiritual being.

The last two percentages are among the lowest in 20 years.

Additionally, the study found that only 29% of Americans are strongly motivated "to explain their faith to other people"--that's 10 percentage points lower than last year--and only 27% "reject good works as a means to personal salvation."

The report went on to say that

Given these shifts, it is ironic that the only religious belief that was unchanged from previous years was the belief that the Bible is accurate in all the principles it teaches. Not quite half of Americans (45%) strongly assert this perspective.

Barna also surveyed 10 areas of religious engagement such as praying and church attendance. Eight of these held steady, but the study found that "Americans were less likely to volunteer at church and less likely to read the Bible."

Describing "an active faith" as one that entails praying, attending church, and reading the Bible, Barna found that only one-quarter of Americans fit that profile.

When it comes to what Barna calls spiritual identity,

83% of Americans identified as Christians, yet only 49% of these individuals described themselves as absolutely committed to Christianity. The remaining portion of the adult population (about 17% of Americans) was split almost equally between those who aligned with another faith and those who describe themselves as atheist or agnostic.

Based on responses to questions about beliefs (and not a respondent's self-identification), Barna identified 40% of Americans as "born again Christians" (down from 45% a year ago). Within that group of 90 million are 16 million "evangelicals"--7% of America's adult population.

The complete report can be found at