Morality and Bellief in God
Jonathan Evans at Pew:
Nearly everyone in Indonesia (99%), as well as the vast majority of people in Kenya (94%), India (85%) and South Africa (80%), say it’s necessary to believe in God to be moral.
By contrast, in about a dozen countries, two-thirds of adults or more say it’s not necessary to believe in God to be moral. This includes the United States (68%), Poland (80%), Spain (84%) and Sweden (89%).
In some countries – including the U.S. – declining shares of people say it’s necessary to believe in God to be moral and have good values, according to the survey.
In the U.S., we’ve asked this question 18 times since 2002. That includes eight surveys conducted online using our American Trends Panel and 10 surveys conducted by telephone.
From 2002 through 2011, Americans were split fairly evenly or tilted toward the view that people need to believe in God to be moral and have good values.
Starting in 2014, however, Americans have been more likely to say the opposite – that belief in God is not necessary to be moral. Since 2020, about two-thirds of U.S. adults have taken this position.
