Seven Faith Tribes by George Barna

 I highly recommend reading this book. It is well researched and enlightening in that research. It is a call to action and a vision on how to bring America back to greatness. America has gone through many National Identities including: Revolutionaries- rebelling against religious restrictions and heavy taxes, Pioneer- exploration and entrepreneurialism, Superpower- economic and military, Vast Consumers- everything from entertainment to food. Now our primary focus seems to be  Individualism and Entitlement.

Individualism may feel good in the moment but it detracts from the strength of society and is very divisive.

This book takes a look at the worldviews of those living in America and then divides us into seven faith groups including: Casual Christians(68%) Captive Christians(16%) Jews(2%) Mormons(1.3%) Panthiests(1.4%) Muslims(0.4%) Skeptics(11%)
He has chapters on each of the faith groups full of data that tells what by our own perceptions we believe and how we view the world, then he also includes by the data what we do and how we live(how those beliefs translate into action)

From this data he has pulled 20 values that we all share in varying degrees.
Those are:
represent the truth well
develop inner peace and purity
seek peace with others
demonstrate wisdom
be forgiving
practice self-restraint
get yourself together before criticizing
invest in young people
respect life
treat others how you want to be treated
be a good citizen
justify people's respect
avoid harmful behavior
honor the elderly
be generous
do not judge or condemn others
be mutually respectful of human rights
cultivate civility
belong to a caring community
facilitate basic skills

He asks the question "Who do we want to be?" (national identity)
and proposes: expand our experience as world leader in becoming a peacemaker, compassionate ambassadors of justice, sensitive to the basic needs of others around the world. Basically a global servant
We need to model: respect , love, generosity, & care for the less fortunate

There are other things from this book that I will address in additional blog posts such as:
different worldviews
12 commitments of great followers
7 components of unity
value of faith and responsibility of the faith tribe in achieving the national identity