Survey: Most Americans Now Believe You Do Not Need God to be Good

Survey: Most Americans Now Believe You Do Not Need God to be Good
By Hemant Mehta, July 20, 2020

Do you need to believe in God to be good?

Atheists would obviously say no. (If you need God to be good… that probably means you’re not good.) But what about the United States in general, where it seems like there are churches on every corner?

To my surprise, a new survey out today from the Pew Research Center finds that the majority of Americans — 54% — say you do not need God to be moral. Only 44% of people in the U.S. believe God is a prerequisite for morality, a sharp decline from when this question was last asked in 2002, when that same number was 58%.

All of this comes from a massive survey of nearly 40,000 people across 34 countries focusing on the role of God and prayer in public life.

In general, more prosperous nations were less likely to say you need God to be good. The U.S., as usual, is an anomaly in that regard. We’re the richest nation (by GDP per capita) but also one of the more religious ones.

While it won’t surprise you to find out people who earn less money are more likely to link God and morality, in the U.S., the different is starker than in any other nation. 56% of people below the median income say you need God to be good, compared to 32% of those earning above the median. By contrast, the different in (the far more secular) France is 19% and 10%, respectively.