Most Americans agree: You don't need God to be good

65% of U.S. adults say it’s “not necessary” to believe in God to be moral

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Roughly two out of every three American adults recognizes what atheists have always known: You don’t need God to be good.

A new analysis from the Pew Research Center finds that 65% of U.S. adults say it’s “not necessary” to believe in God in order to be moral and have good values. It’s a sharp rise from the 54% of Americans who said the same thing just three years ago.

The number is even higher for people under 50 (over 70%), people with a college education (76%), people who identify as liberal (84%), and people with no religious affiliation (88%).

It’s the people more likely to be in a faith-based bubble—Black Protestants and white evangelicals—who think God and morality are intertwined. Maybe that’s not surprising. Atheism has struggled to gain a foothold in the Black community for a variety of reasons, and evangelical churches regularly tell members that non-Christians (and non-theists in particular) are demonic and eager to sin.

While the analysis doesn’t speculate as to the reasons for the discrepancies, I would argue that young people and those with a college degree have had more opportunities to personally interact with people who come from different religious backgrounds or have no religious faith at all. It’s easy to see the good in people who don’t share your faith background when you’re surrounded by them—and when you’re more likely to hear about religious cruelty and hypocrisy.

Case in point: The least religious nations in the world have no problem at all separating faith from morality. Sweden, Australia, and Canada—all countries where religious affiliation has plummeted in recent years—are overwhelmingly likely to say you don’t need to believe in God to have good values. The U.S., with its religious majority and politicians who regularly try to equate Christianity with goodness, doesn’t do nearly as well compared to those other nations.

There is one aspect of this survey that surprised me. 59% of Republicans say you can be good without God, which seems contrary to what their most vocal representatives argue. But when that number is placed in context, it makes more sense.

Among the nations analyzed for this report, the U.S. was second only to Poland when it comes to the gap between what those on the right and left belief about God-belief and morality. Even though most of our liberals and conservatives agree that you don’t need God to be good, the discrepancy between the two sides is further apart than just about every other country.

Meanwhile, Sweden’s conservatives score higher than U.S. liberals on the question. It just shows you just how much more work we need to do.

(Featured image via Shutterstock)

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