Parshall Partners

More Religiosity?

         C.S. Lewis once wrote, “Atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning...” If atheism isn’t the answer, do Americans want more religion in their lives?

         Gallup, the famous polling organization, did a survey on beliefs and values in America.  The survey took a random sample of over 1000 adults in all 50 states and that found that 65%, well over half, of the respondents said that a more religious America would be a positive for society.  While that figure is encouraging, it is down from 75% in 2013 yet up from 17% a decade earlier. 22% said that more religion would be negative for society.

         The poll also found that 39% of U.S. adults say religion is having more of an influence on American life. 40% said the same thing in 2006 and 41% agreed in 2025. There is an interesting difference between how men and women think about this.  While the share of men who said religion benefits society declined modestly from 73% to 70%, the share of women expressing that view fell from 77% to 61%.

         Because part of the survey was trying to figure out where Americans stood on values and beliefs, Gallup wanted to know about the intersection of government with values.  Asked about the extent to which government policies influence moral values, 69% of U.S. adults, up from 59% in 2006 and 58% in 1996, believe that government policies have a significant effect.   27% percent disagree.

         An interesting finding dealt with whether or not government should promote values.  Gallup found that “Americans remain largely divided over whether the federal government should be involved in promoting moral values: 45% say it should, and 50% say it should not. These figures are essentially the same as in 2006 (48% should, 48% should not), but in 1996, Americans preferred that the government promote moral values — by 60% to 38%.”

         Ye, whether we like it or not, the government does promote values.  In fact, that is one of the biblical directives to government.  The government makes it a crime to commit murder; the government will punish if you steal; the government won’t let you beat your wife; the government can punish you  if you lie under oath; the government makes it illegal if you discriminate against someone on the basis of their skin color; the government protects freedom of religion – so that Americans are at liberty to worship (or not) as they seem fit.

         Even the preamble of the Constitution requires that the federal government preserve multiple national values like the establishment of justice, ensuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense and promoting the general welfare.

         Seeing the linkage between religion, values and government, we better understand why John Adams said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

         Those are my thoughts.  I’m Janet Parshall.