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A Growing Share of Americans Say It’s Not Necessary to Believe in God to be Moral
Pew Research ^ | 10/16/17 | Gregory A. Smith

Posted on 11/06/2017 6:42:17 PM PST by marshmallow

Most U.S. adults now say it is not necessary to believe in God to be moral and have good values (56%), up from about half (49%) who expressed this view in 2011. 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.

Surveys have long shown that religious “nones” – those who describe themselves religiously as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” – are more likely than those who identify with a religion to say that belief in God is not a prerequisite for good values and morality. So the 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.”

Indeed, the growth in the share of Americans who say belief in God is unnecessary for morality tracks closely with the growth in the share of the population that is religiously unaffiliated. In the 2011 Pew Research Center survey that included the question about God and morality, religious “nones” constituted 18% of the sample. By 2017, the share of “nones” stood at 25%.

But the continued growth of the “nones” 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 say belief in God is unnecessary for morality ticked up modestly, from 42% in 2011 to 45% in 2017.

(Excerpt) Read more at pewresearch.org ...


TOPICS: Current Events; Religion & Culture
KEYWORDS: fakenews; fakeorganization; fakepoll; homosexualagenda
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To: marshmallow

This is going to work out well... /eyeroll


21 posted on 11/06/2017 7:26:45 PM PST by sauropod (I am His and He is Mine)
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To: marshmallow

F.U. Pew!

Oh, that wasn’t very, ‘Christian’ of me, was it? LOL!

Pew wouldn’t know a Christian if we whacked ‘em with our Well-read, Highlighted and Post-It marked Bible! ;)


22 posted on 11/06/2017 7:30:37 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set!)
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To: Bryan24

You nailed it with your list.

You can probably survive a generation or two w/o God. Forget about it after that. Once people are taught that they are nothing more than chemical reactions that achieved consciousness, the value of life will be less than it is now. They’d treat life in ways that would make Nazi medical researchers blush.


23 posted on 11/06/2017 7:31:58 PM PST by edh (I need a better tagline)
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To: marshmallow

Watch Ravi Zacharias tackle that question. Short and brilliant.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Ravi+Zacharias+morality&view=detail&mid=54E3C5FDF36014A3C8CE54E3C5FDF36014A3C8CE&FORM=VIRE


24 posted on 11/06/2017 7:39:55 PM PST by weston (SO HERE'S THE STORY: As far as I'm concerned, it's Christ or nothing!)
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To: marshmallow

IMO, if you don’t believe in a higher being, you have no moral compass.


25 posted on 11/06/2017 7:44:37 PM PST by deweyfrank (Nobody's Perfect)
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To: marshmallow

Don’t know.

I know I did a lot of immoral things when i didn’t believe in God.

They were cut down dramatically when I started believing

Can’t speak for others.


26 posted on 11/06/2017 7:48:07 PM PST by dp0622 (The Left should know that if Trump is kicked out of office, it is WAR!)
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To: marshmallow

Yeh it’s called spiritual ignorance due to the loss of Biblical education expunged from the modern era. Morality is based upon the Biblical laws and precepts. Those divorced from that absolute truth could falsely surmise that same sex marriage too is moral. Ignorant fools delusional to think they are morally wise and don’t need God. Morals don’t save us but the salvation through faith in Christ is what does.


27 posted on 11/06/2017 7:49:36 PM PST by tflabo
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To: marshmallow

Morality must be re-defined in order to consider a Godless man “moral”.


28 posted on 11/06/2017 7:52:20 PM PST by Safrguns
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To: marshmallow

Logical fallacy. Morals must come from an objective source (God through the Bible). Otherwise there will s no true morality.


29 posted on 11/06/2017 7:56:13 PM PST by reaganaut (For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.)
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To: faithhopecharity

It’s not harder , it is impossible.


30 posted on 11/06/2017 7:59:24 PM PST by reaganaut (For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.)
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To: marshmallow

Outward “morality” means nothing. Sorry to offend, but if Jesus is not your savior and lord you can spend eternity without God. No God in this life, no God in the next.


31 posted on 11/06/2017 8:29:23 PM PST by beethovenfan (I always try to maximize my carbon footprint.)
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To: reaganaut

17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?

18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.


32 posted on 11/06/2017 8:43:14 PM PST by Rodm
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To: marshmallow
Most U.S. adults now say it is not necessary to believe in God to be moral and have good values

I guess they don't think that believing in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit is necessary to get to Heaven either. Surface thinking on their part. Sad!

33 posted on 11/06/2017 9:21:52 PM PST by Maudeen (This world is not my home.)
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To: marshmallow

you know- they print these articles with glee- glee over people ‘losing their faith’ or ‘walking away from the faith’- and it pleases them to no end- they lust after a united states that is ‘free from the restraints of God’- and all the while society is becoming less and less civil, and more and more violent and immoral- hurting more and more people


34 posted on 11/06/2017 9:24:10 PM PST by Bob434
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To: marshmallow

Thus goes America


35 posted on 11/06/2017 9:59:36 PM PST by onedoug
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To: marshmallow

All people have and/or practice morality. It is based on what they themselves believe to be moral. There is no reward for being moral whether one believes in God or not. God doesn’t reward anyone for their actions. The only reward a person gets from God is thru faith in His Son Jesus Christ, and that reward is heaven.


36 posted on 11/06/2017 11:24:44 PM PST by taxesareforever (Islam is an ideology. It is NOT a religion.)
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To: reasonisfaith

Good acts = faking morality? While being a good person won’t get you to Heaven w/o accepting Christ as your Savior, it doesn’t mean that a person cannot be and behave every bit as morally as a Christian who boasts about his Christianity as if it’s a personal accomplishment instead of an incredible gift (truly faking it despite being saved...). I’ve known a few atheists who, on the whole, behaved every bit as good as, or even better than, a LOT of Christians...it grieves me that these good people will not gain the Kingdom of Heaven...


37 posted on 11/07/2017 3:41:45 AM PST by trebb (Where in the the hell has my country gone?)
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To: trebb

The actual tragedy of unbelief is just that, trying to be moral and a good person, without the hereafter of joy.


38 posted on 11/07/2017 3:44:48 AM PST by Ambrosia ( Independent Voter- Southern as grits...Not politically correct! Facts first!)
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To: marshmallow

What about those billion Muslims? They believe in god right? They must be moral then.


39 posted on 11/07/2017 4:00:20 AM PST by strider44
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To: Ambrosia

I agree - there are a lot of genuinely good people that refuse to believe and it is tragic to know that so many of us who are saved but can’t act as good as they do will reap the rewards they ignore.


40 posted on 11/07/2017 4:04:28 AM PST by trebb (Where in the the hell has my country gone?)
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