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PDFA Barna Survey out Wednesday underscored that Christian conservatives don't trust the news media.
In fact the only thing they trust less than politicians is the news media.
The survey also found that Christian conservatives were reminded by the presidential debate Monday, just how much they don't trust the news media.
Whom do Christian conservatives trust most---and least?
There are a lot of different polling and survey organizations define "Christian" and/or "conservative."
Barna, himself a Christian and highly respected polling company, has more accurately defined "Christian" than any of the other companies.
He has created an acronym to identify them---"SAGE Cons"---which means Spiritually Active, Governance Engaged Conservatives.
These "SAGE Cons" are further defined as "adults who are registered voters; conservative on political matters; have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior; are active in pursuing their Christian faith; and are actively involved in politics and government," meaning they typically vote and voice their beliefs to their sphere of influence.
They represent about 12% of the national adult population, which constitutes a segment of about 30 million individuals.
That's who we're talking about. Here's what they---we---think.
Here's the question that was posed: "During the course of the election, there has been discussion about the performance of the media. For each of the media listed, please indicate how much you trust that media source to provide truthful and accurate reporting about the election."
They were asked to rank that level of trust on a 5-point scale: Totally trust, trust a lot, trust some, not much trust, and no trust at all.
Only one of 12 media sources reached double digit figures as being totally trusted.
CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network) got 14%.
Only 2 media sources were trusted either "totally" or "a lot." Fox News at 56% and in that category CBN ranked 2nd at 49%.
A distant 3rd was the Christian Post, an online news publisher, at 25%.
Salem Communications, which includes the largest chain of Christian radio stations in the US , various web sites and publications were trusted by only about half that many---13%.
The Wall Street Journal also received 13%.
The other 7 media included in the survey were given very little trust levels.
NPR-6%.
Washington Post-3%.
CBS News-2%.
CNN-2%.
ABC News- 1%.
NBC News 1%.
The New York Times-1%.
The most distrusted news source was NBC--80% didn't trust them at all.
There is a great deal of information about Christian conservatives in this survey.
For example: Although more than 4 out of 5 SAGE Cons plan to vote for Trump. This group has even greater trust in CBN. Those who do not plan to vote for Trump expressed low level of trust in Fox News.
The survey results also show "that Christian conservatives are becoming a more discerning audience for information provided by the nation's leading media outlets."
George Barna writes in conclusion: "Years ago, people were unaware of the media bias and naively absorbed content from a variety of sources, assuming the media were all bound to tell the truth. Today , though, conservative Christians are more discerning about the agenda behind the news being provided. They are less likely to believe that reporting is objective. They may gather information from some mainstream media sources, but they also are more cautious about that content than they used to be."
And speaking of controlling the news.
President Obama seems obsessed with giving over control of the world wide web (www) to foreign oversight. It has been scheduled for September 30. Yes, that's today.
Wednesday of this week FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai told Sean Hannity on Fox, "This proposal is to essentially give up the US oversight role that its had for the last 20 years, basically the entire commercial life span of the Internet to a company called ICANN, which is an international organization, which includes a number of foreign countries. And it is an unprecedented move, and one that, as Mr. DeMint [head of the Heritage Foundation] pointed out, is irreversible. Once we give up this oversight role, we can't get it back."
President Obama is committed to ceding control of the world wide web---created here in the US---to, potentially, foreign governments who do not share our values, and will most likely use it to further undermine our freedoms.
My takeaway from this Barna Survey is that Christians are becoming more discerning. We have long encouraged our readers here to be "discerning."
Discernment is a gift of God.
For those of you who are part of Barna's 30 million SAGE Cons, let me leave you with something you already know.
For those who are not, think about this over the weekend:
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct[a] your paths.
Be Discerning. Be Informed. Be Vigilant. Be Prayerful. Be Blessed.