Faith Quiz

Curious, Professor George Herbert Betts, of Northwestern University, made out a questionnaire and sent it to 500 ministers in or near Chicago. Four hundred thirty six ministers answered his inquiries. All wrote "Yes" when they answered the question: "Do you believe God exists?" Their other replies were varied. Questions and answers in the order of assent (figures in percentages):

Do you believe that Jesus lived a life wholly blameless and .without sin or wrongdoing?-- Yes, 92. Uncertain, 4. No, 4.

That after Jesus was dead and buried he actually rose from the dead, leaving the tomb empty?--84, 4, 12.

That God is three distinct persons in one?-- 80, 7, 13.

That Jesus was born of a virgin without a human father?--71, 10, 19.

That prayer has the power to change conditions in nature, such as drought?--64, 11, 25.

That each person's status for eternity is forever fixed and determined by his spiritual status at the time of his death?--58, 12, 30.

That the creation of the world occurred in the manner and time recorded in Genesis?--47, 5, 48.

Sixty-one per cent, believed that the idea of evolution is consistent with belief in God. Six per cent, were uncertain.

"Based on the entire list of questions, the Lutherans are the most conservative and the Congregationalists the least conservative of the twenty denominations represented," the report states. "The Methodists come next after the Congregationalists in liberalism."