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 ...
That’s called faking it.
Only to know what moral means.
Only to have eternal life.
And they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil where they decide what is good and evil.....................
Three Questions:
1. Upon what foundational principles do you base all of your moral and ethical decisions?
2. Are these principles absolute?
3. Who can change them?
It’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for those who describe themselves religiously as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” to enter into the Kingdom of God.
Bad time to be making that argument when Devin Kelley, an avowed atheist, shot 48 people in their church. The fatalities ranged in age from 18 months to 77 years.
Signs of the Times...
ROMANS 1:18-31
God’s Anger at Sin
18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.
19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them.
20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.
22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.
23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies.
25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.
26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other.
27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.
28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done.
29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip.
30 They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents.
31 They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy.
32 They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.
+1
None of these fools thinks to ask why they have the present “morality” they do.
if they can be moral without faith, that’s better than being immoral without faith
but it is harder, I think, to be moral without faith. faith in the source, the giver of both your life and those morals for your life.....helps provide you light/wisdom, also the strength, even courage...to know what the right choices are and then to actually do, pursue, take those choices. sometimes, at least, doing the right thing (even when you recognize what it is) can be very difficult. Faith can help, imho.
It’s a crap poll results. Period. Atheists I know of are extremely rare and I have been around.
A growing number of Americans believe they can practice fire and forget sex. And damn the consequences.
This is all related. As morality becomes "outmoded" our society degrades proportionately.
Here is a great 5 minute animated video “The Moral Argument” I have found useful in Catechism that addresses the God vs. morality issue. Worth a look IMO.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxiAikEk2vU
Cheers!
I would posit that the acceptance of morals, or the human attempt to be moral is a proof of the existence of God.
Just like science, right? Let’s just vote on it. No matter the act, if it get’s a consensus, or even a clear majority, it must be moral. s/
Ask them for what their definition of being moral is, and for a for examples. I suspect many of us would be shocked at the replies.
cute little video, thanks!
possibly...
(although pagans would argue that the human interest in morality is just proof of ‘natural law’ (which does not necessitate the existence of a Creator)....and atheists would argue that human interest in morality is just proof that some people have sufficient ‘natural selection intelligence’ to seek out those behavioural strategies that work better than others)
i’m on your side, tho. thanks!
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