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People of the Numbers: Christian Smith on Evangelicals and Statistics

January 15th, 2007 | 2 min read

By Matthew Lee Anderson

Christian Smith, who has made a living correcting mistaken notions about the lives of evangelicals, recently reprimanded evangelicals for their inappropriate use of statistics.  Drawing from the extreme and bogus "only 4% of young Christians will remain Christian" stat, Smith laments the reactive and alarmist attitude that evangelicals--and their non-profit ministries--thrive on.

His challenge to use statistics responsibly is certainly appropriate.  Yet he descends into the sort of polarizing, alarmist rhetoric that he so eschews in those he criticizes. 

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Matthew Lee Anderson

Matthew Lee Anderson is an Associate Professor of Ethics and Theology in Baylor University's Honors College. He has a D.Phil. in Christian Ethics from Oxford University, and is a Perpetual Member of Biola University's Torrey Honors College. In 2005, he founded Mere Orthodoxy.