RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OF AMERICANS

DOES ABSOLUTE TRUTH EXIST?

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What does the public think about absolute truth?

Barna Research Group periodically conducts phone surveys of American adults. The found:

Such a rapid change -- from 38% to 22% within 23 months -- is almost unheard of in the field of morality and religion. The terrorist attack on New York City and Washington occurred during that interval; one might speculate that that was the only event that could have caused such a massive shift, in less than two years, in basic beliefs about the nature of truth. Barna Research suggested that because of the attack: "one might have expected Americans to become more convinced of the presence of good and evil, and that there are absolute moral principles that exist regardless of cultural realities and personal preferences." But the shift is in the other direction -- towards a lessening in belief in absolute truth.

Another explanation for the decrease in belief about absolute truth is that Americans were shocked into realizing that to the very small minority of devout, dedicated Muslims who represent the extreme, radical, violent and Fundamentalist element of Islam, killing Christian non-combatants is a very moral act; they believe that it carries out the will of Allah. Thus, assassination of innocent members of the public is seen as a noble, honorable undertaking by one group which carries out the will of God. Simultaneously, it is viewed as the ultimate sin by another group. This small minority of terrorists is living proof that diametrically opposed concepts of moral truth can exist side-by-side in the world.

A report in the Los Angeles Times on Barna Research on 2002-SEP-17 quoted Barna as determining that:

In 2005-AUG, Barna reported an updated survey. They found:

Among American adults of various religious worldviews, the following percentages believe that moral truth is absolute:

Sample size was 1,002 adults. The Margin of Error is approximately ±3.5 percentage points.

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References:

1. The Barna Research Group has a web page at http://www.barna.org
2. "How America's Faith Has Changed since 9-11," Barna Research Online, 2001-NOV-6, at: http://www.barna.org/cgi-bin/
3. William Lobdell, "Pollster Prods Christian Conservatives," LA Times, 2002-SEP-14, at: http://www.latimes.com/features/religion/
4. "Most adults feel accepted by God, but lack a biblical worldview," The Barna Group, 2005-AUG-09. at: http://www.barna.org/.