For Americans, faith and freedom go together

Per a new report from Gallup, the percentage of Americans now saying they believe in God is the lowest since they first started doing the survey.

In 2022, 81% of Americans say they believe in God.

When Gallup first asked this question in 1944, 96% said they believed, and in the 1950s, it was up to 98%. It remained over 90% until 2013, when it dipped down to 87%.

The current 81% is a 6-point drop from the last time Gallup asked the question in 2017. Digging down into the data, we get a mixed message about what it tells us about the future.

On the one hand, the age group with the lowest percentage saying they believe in God is the youngest — 18 to 29. Only 68% say they believe. Given that these young people reflect our future, we must assume that, with no change in their views, the U.S. will continue its purge of religion from our lives.

On the other hand, the ethnic cross section with the highest percentage saying they believe is what Gallup defines as “people of color.” I assume this means Blacks and Hispanics.

This group registers 88% belief, 9 points higher than “white,” who register 79%.

Given that that the demographic “people of color” is growing faster than “white,” and becoming each year a larger percentage of our population, this could point to a strengthening of faith, on average, in our population as we move into the future.

Why should we care about this? From a practical point of view, faith translates into behavior, and as faith diminishes, the incidence of behaviors that once were viewed as morally unacceptable increases.

In 2001, the percentage of people saying the following behaviors are morally acceptable was as follows: birth to unwed mother 45%; gay/lesbian relations 40%; abortion 42%. In 2003, polygamy was deemed morally acceptable by 7%; in 2011, pornography was deemed morally acceptable by 30%; and in 2013, teenage sex was deemed morally acceptable by 32%.

Here are the percentages of Americans saying in 2022 these same behaviors are morally acceptable: birth to unwed mother

70%; gay/lesbian relations 71%; pornography 41%; abortion 52%; teenage sex 45%; polygamy 23%. Again, we can ask, “So, what?”

The vision of the founders was freedom. The point was to keep government intrusion at a minimum and permit individual freedom at a maximum.

The Constitution’s preamble notes it was put forth “to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” It was designed to limit government power to very specific defined areas that were deemed essential and appropriate for government.

For this to work, we must assume we have a population of free individuals who manage their own personal affairs in a responsible way. George Washington’s famous observation in his farewell address:

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable support ... reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”

Clearly, we have departed in a major way from this. Supreme Court decisions over the years have reinterpreted the Constitution to grant more authority to the government than the founders had in mind.

And along with this, we see major deterioration in faith and significantly higher acceptance of many behaviors that were once deemed morally unacceptable.

Hence, we find where we stand today. Is there a way out without restoration of religious principle and personal responsibility, as George Washington warned?

I think not.