(RNS) — Out of 25 countries, the United States was the only one where most people said their fellow citizens’ morality was generally bad, new research has found.
A Pew Research Center report examining morality and ethics, released on Thursday (March 5), also found self-identified Christians are more likely to view abortion, using marijuana, homosexuality, having extramarital affairs and other behaviors as “morally unacceptable” than other religious groups. The report marks the first time Pew researchers asked respondents about their views on the morality of their fellow citizens.
In total, more than half of American adults – 53% – said the morality and ethics of people in their country were somewhat bad or very bad, while 47% rated their morality as good or very good, according to the study.
Still, the findings “don’t support that Americans are overarchingly more judgmental or moralistic than in other countries” based on responses to other questions, Jonathan Evans, senior researcher at Pew, told RNS on Wednesday.
Partisan politics seems to play a role in Americans’ response to that question. Sixty-percent of Democrats rated other Americans’ morality as bad …