Americans are growing increasingly progressive in several areas of morality while also growing increasingly concerned about the current state of moral values and pessimistic about the future.
According to the latest Gallup survey on moral issues, U.S. adults are more likely than ever to see abortion, suicide, and polygamy as morally acceptable. In addition, married men and women having an affair, divorce, stem cell research using human embryos, having a child outside of marriage, and sex between teenagers are near their highest levels of public acceptability.
“The survey responses offer a clear indication that Americans — including far too many professing Christians — are increasingly having their values shaped by the culture rather than by biblical truth,” said Michael Duduit, dean of the College of Christian Studies and Clamp Divinity School at Anderson University.
“More and more people spend hours daily with their thoughts shaped by television and social media, in contrast to perhaps one or two hours a week in which they hear some type of Christian message in their church — and that is only if they attend,” Duduit said. “It is clear that we must put a greater emphasis on discipleship, emphasizing a Christian worldview that stands in sharp contrast to the unbiblical values the culture is throwing at us.”
ABORTION
The Gallup survey found 54 percent of Americans say abortion is morally acceptable, while 37 percent believe it is morally wrong. Since 2001, moral support for abortion had hovered around the upper 30s and low 40s but has grown in the past several years. In 2019, 42 percent said abortion was morally OK and 50 percent believed it was immoral. Since that time, however, the trends have been in favor of abortion.
SUICIDE
More than 1 in 5 U.S. adults (22 percent) believe suicide is morally acceptable, a high-water mark reached once before in 2022. The 71 percent who believe it is immoral is the lowest on record since Gallup began the survey in 2001, when 13 percent said suicide was moral and 78 percent thought it was morally wrong. More Americans see doctor-assisted suicide as a moral choice (53 percent).
POLYGAMY
Almost a quarter of Americans (23 percent) now find polygamy to be morally acceptable, while 74 percent disagree. The supportive percentage has been steady for the past three years, but those opposed to the practice are at their lowest percentage. The morally acceptable percentage has risen steadily since 2010 when just 7 percent felt polygamy was OK.
ADULTERY
Just 11 percent of U.S. adults say having an affair while married is OK. That is the second highest level of support, however, only behind 12 percent in 2023. Before 2016, adultery had never reached 10 percent who said it was morally acceptable. Recently, however, support has been in the double digits for three of the past four years.
IN ADDITION
Large numbers of adults also find use of birth control (90 percent), drinking alcohol (86 percent), in vitro fertilization (or IVF) (82 percent), divorce (78 percent), smoking marijuana (70 percent), sex between an unmarried man and woman (69 percent), having a baby outside of marriage (68 percent), gambling (66 percent), gay or lesbian relations (64 percent), and stem cell research using human embryos (63 percent) morally acceptable.
While U.S. adults have grown more liberal in their moral outlook, according to Gallup, they’ve also grown increasingly wary of the country’s morality.
MORAL VALUES
Currently, half of Americans (49 percent) say they would rate the overall state of moral values in the country as poor. A third (34 percent) say they’re fair, 14 percent rate them as good, and just 1 percent say they’re excellent. Overwhelmingly, Americans think the moral values of the country are worsening. Around 4 in 5 U.S. adults (81 percent) say the state of moral values is getting worse, and only 14 percent say it’s getting better.
“The fact that moral permissiveness and moral concern are rising together is evidence that our culture has confused enthusiastic approval with love and moral judgment with hate,” said Benjamin Phillips, dean of the College of Christian Studies at Charleston Southern University.
“Only the church living out the gospel of Jesus Christ can show love that is not morally permissive, and moral concern that is not hateful,” Phillips said. “Only the gospel confronts people simultaneously with the reality of their sin and the transforming love of God.”
Although the trends may be seen as a failure of the church in evangelism and discipleship, Phillips prefers to see an opportunity for the gospel. “It is in the darkness that the light of a gospel-transformed life shines brightest,” he noted.
And while Ryan Gimple, associate professor of Christian Studies at CSU, finds the rapid change in views on morality in American culture distressing, he also sees a reason to hope. “The hope comes in pointing to Christ’s righteousness and salvation,” he said.
“Despite the troubling increase in acceptance of abortion, unmarried sex and polygamy, there is also a clear realization in our culture that our morality is getting worse,” Gimple noted, pointing out that 81 percent of respondents viewed the values of Americans as getting worse. “This recognition of moral decay is a gospel opportunity, he said. “We need to show that Jesus’s righteousness is the only solution to our moral need.”
Gimple cautions Christians to “watch out for self-righteousness” when reading such polls, but instead be willing to repent ourselves and point wholly toward Christ’s righteousness and salvation. “Don’t be tempted to think we are above our culture, when our morality falls short as well,” he said.
— Aaron Earls is a writer for Lifeway Christian Resources. This article originally appeared at Lifeway Research, with additional reporting by The Baptist Courier.