Barna Survey: Evangelicals Still Prudes

There is no question but that morality has changed in the United States over the past decades. For some, that change has been for the better; but for others, it has definitely been for the worse. According to a recent survey done by George Barna, a Christian researcher, a majority of Americans no longer consider traditional sins to be "sinful" - except among evangelical Christians.

According to Barna:

Of the ten moral behaviors evaluated, a majority of Americans believed that each of three activities were “morally acceptable.” Those included gambling (61%), co-habitation (60%), and sexual fantasies (59%). Nearly half of the adult population felt that two other behaviors were morally acceptable: having an abortion (45%) and having a sexual relationship with someone of the opposite sex other than their spouse (42%). About one-third of the population gave the stamp of approval to pornography (38%), profanity (36%), drunkenness (35%) and homosexual sex (30%). The activity that garnered the least support was using non-prescription drugs (17%).

The figures are broken down in a variety of ways, based upon beliefs and age for example, and you'll have to look at the full report to get a better idea for what they found. Agape Press (indignantly) reports:

While atheists and agnostics found nine of the ten behaviors morally legitimate, and half of people of other faiths had no problem with at least seven of them, out of the 10 behaviors evaluated, fewer than 10% of the evangelicals surveyed considered any of the activities legitimate. ... According to Barna's findings, "On average, born-again Christians who are not evangelical were more than three times as likely as evangelicals to describe any given behavior tested as morally acceptable."

To be quite honest, I find it interesting that so many atheists and agnostics found certain behaviors to be "morally unacceptable." According to Barna, 30% of them disapproved of looking at pornography, 22% disapproved of enjoying sexual fantasies, 32% disapproved of profanity, and 45% disapproved of homosexual activity. Where are these atheists and agnostics? Where did they acquire such views?

Read More:

• Guide to Ethics and Morality
• Bioethics