The Pew Research Center’s study gave interesting answers on the question – Is it necessary to believe in God to be moral? The results showed that more Americans than ever before believe that you don’t need to believe in God to be moral and have good values. Actually, 56% of U.S. adults now say it is not necessary to believe in God to be moral and have good values. This is a significant increase compared to the 2011 results when about half (49%) of respondents expressed this view.
According to the Pew Research Center, this increase reflects the continued growth in the share of the population that has no religious affiliation, but it also is the result of changing attitudes among those who do identify with a religion, including white evangelical Protestants. Among religious “nones”, in 2017, 85% say belief in God is unnecessary for morality, up from 78% who said this in 2011.
“God is not a prerequisite for good values and morality,” Gregory Smith, Pew’s associate director of research, said in a post about the findings. ” … [T]he public’s increased rejection of the idea that belief in God is necessary for morality is due, in large part, to the spike in the share of Americans who are religious ‘nones.'”
The religious “nones” constituted 18% of the survey taken by the Pew Research Center in 2011, which included the question about god and morality. In the more recent 2017 study, the share of “nones” account for about one quarter (25%) — but that is only part of the story. Attitudes about the necessity of belief in God for morality have also changed among those who do identify with a religion. Among all religiously affiliated adults, the share who says belief in God is unnecessary for morality ticked up modestly, from 42% in 2011 to 45% in 2017, says PWC.
The good news is that, today, every single religious demographic is more likely to say you don’t need God to be good compared to six years ago. Even white evangelicals, who traditionally believe a relationship with God is crucial to morality, have budged. In 2011, one quarter of them (26 percent) said it was possible to be good without God, while now almost a third (32 percent) say so. Of course, most white evangelicals still say belief in God is necessary for morality, but the share who says belief in God is a necessary underpinning of being moral has declined from 72% to 65% in just six years, Smith writes.
Photo Credits: HalfStack Magazine
