Seniors Bible Survey

On the morning of April 12^th, Westminster High School’s Senior Bible class took a survey in the Elgin area. Under Dr. Marsh, Mr. H, and Senora’s supervision, students formed groups of three and went to different parts of Elgin.

Dr. Marsh passed out the survey sheets to students that had nine questions:

Is there a God? Who is He/She/It?

Who was Jesus? What did he do?

Do you believe in an after life? How would you describe it?

Do you believe in the devil?

What is our purpose? Why are we here?

What is the Bible? What does the Bible mean to you?

Is there absolute truth?

Who/What defines morality?

What is sin? 

When students gathered again in Elgin center at 11:15 am, they shared their interesting experiences. Maureen Sleeting’s group surveyed the Statue of Liberty man who waves signs on the road. They talked to him for about 30 minutes. He shared his thoughts with them and even predicted their spiritual gifts. Claire Kuda’s group met a man who bought a basket of candies for them. Brain Pohlmeier’s group met an individual that said Mr. Obama defines morality. And Senora helped Kaitlyn Dahlman talk in Spanish to a Hispanic man taking the survey.

Most of groups completed only about three to four surveys. They said that a lot of people did not want to take survey. Some people who were willing to take survey refused to take it when they heard it was a religious survey. Many people said they believe in the devil and that there is an absolute truth. Some mentioned that Bible was sacred text while others said it is collection of fictional stories. Less than 50 percent of people seemed to believe in Christ according to the survey.

Students who went to Judson University and Elgin Community College had better circumstance. Both groups were able to survey eleven people. Surveys in Judson were completely different than surveys in the greater Elgin area. It was different because there were many Christians who were willing to take surveys. Most of them answer the questions quickly. They said that they have discussed about these questions before.

Most of seniors said that it was a unique experience to walk around and do survey. Dr. Marsh is reading each of the surveys to find out the overall result and said we will discuss about it during class at a later date.

By: Yoha Lee