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Summary
The fact that people are coming [morally] from different places gives a reason why we run into indignant people every day, because they can’t believe that we’re thinking something completely different. 8 out of 10 Americans are concerned about the moral behavior in the United States. It seems immoral behavior finds its way to the surface faster today through social media, through technology.
We asked three questions about laws regulating moral standards. We had 44 percent believe it’s better to have fewer laws regulating moral standards, whereas just over half believe too many laws regulating moral standards have been removed.
The general pattern on these are a fairly split audience of wanting fewer laws or saying that too many laws have already been removed. The reality is, on the legislation side, that most states have more laws than they’ve ever had on the books.
We do see that more than a quarter of Americans are saying that their religious beliefs are shaping their beliefs about moral standards. That’s even higher, about 10 percent higher, among African Americans.
We see that, culturally, different parts of our society are starting in a different place. How they’re responding to some of the rules around them and how they respond to whether something’s right or wrong can completely come from a different place.
We asked “Whether something is morally right or wrong for you depends on…” and we listed a whole bunch of options for them in terms of deciding that. About half of them said, “Nothing specific. What is right and wrong does not change.”
Be sure to Tweet your questions and comments to us: @LifewayResearch and individually: @smcconn, @statsguycasey, and @lizettebeard. Join us next time for another edition of Keep Asking.
(See the full transcript for the episode –with links–on next page)
