Survey: Most U.S. Protestant ministers believe salvation comes only through Jesus

PHOENIX (AP) A survey of U.S. Protestant pastors who actively lead congregations showed 88 percent agreed strongly that ''regardless of what other faiths believe, Jesus Christ is the only path to salvation,'' with another 5 percent agreeing somewhat.

Clergy in groups affiliated with the National Association of Evangelicals agreed strongly by 96 percent, compared with 65 percent for those from ''mainline'' denominations in the National Council of Churches.

On a related question, 82 percent agreed strongly and 10 percent agreed somewhat that Christians have a ''responsibility to try to lead people to belief in Christ, including active members of non-Christian faith groups.''

Some 37 percent agreed strongly and another 41 percent agreed somewhat that ''churches, temples and mosques from different faiths should cooperate to tackle societal problems.''

Ellison Research, which studies clergy attitudes, said the sample of 700 pastors from varied groups had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.

http://www.ellisonresearch.com/PastorStudy.htm