Authors of a study that revealed what CBA President Bill Anderson called the "shocking reality" of how negatively others view Christians yesterday urged retailers to understand more clearly the poor opinion so many have about people of faith.

Only 3% of those surveyed who were aged 16 to 29 had a favorable view of evangelical Christians, said researcher David Kinnaman in a Super Session conversation with Gabe Lyons, his co-author of unChristian, released last year by Baker Books, an imprint of Baker Publishing Group.

In addition, 91% of those surveyed viewed Christians as being anti-homosexual, 87% thought that they were judgmental, and 85% considered them to be hypocritical, Kinnaman told the early morning audience. But with seven out of 10 Americans claiming to have made a personal commitment to Christ at some point, "the primary problem is a superficial Christianity," he said, adding that America was a Christian nation "in name only."

As a result, said Lyons, Christian retailers were in "the perfect position" to engage people who might not want to go inside a church because of the suspicions they had about Christians, but they might go into a Christian bookstore looking for resources. That meant getting past prejudices and viewing people "through the eyes that Jesus had, where you see a person made in the image of God."

The challenge presented "a huge opportunity" to retailers, said Anderson, "to partner with God Himself in a day when people need to hear the message of the love of Christ and forgiveness." It was important to think through the issues raised by research like that presented by unChristian, and for retailers to "understand the times in which we live," he added.

Anderson also told the crowd of research by publishing information company Bowker that had revealed that Christians who shopped in Christian retail stores spent more money when they were there than when they made purchases in big box, mass merchant or other stores.