54% Of Americans: You Don’t Need God To Be Moral

The Christian Post reports:

A majority of Americans do not believe they need God to be moral or have good values, but most with politically conservative leanings still do, according to a global survey by the Pew Research Center.

The nonpartisan polling firm recently published a survey that measures the connection between people’s beliefs about God and morality. The survey, conducted between late June and early October 2019, is based on responses from 38,426 people in 34 countries.

While 70% of Americans still believe that religion is either “somewhat important” or “very important” in their lives, more than half (54%) of Americans said they believe God is “not necessary to be moral or have good values.”

Pew Research reports:

Of all 13 countries surveyed in the European Union, Greece has the largest share of residents who tie belief in God to morality (53%), followed closely by Bulgaria (50%) and Slovakia (45%). Still, in many countries on the European continent, relatively few people say it is necessary to believe in God to be moral, including just 9% in Sweden, 14% in the Czech Republic and 15% in France.

Less than half in both Canada and the U.S. say belief in God is necessary to be moral (26% and 44%, respectively). By contrast, nearly everyone surveyed in Indonesia and the Philippines (96% each) draws a connection between belief in God and having good values. And nearly eight-in-ten (79%) in India say the same. Israelis are split on this question, with 48% of the population on either side.