According to a study by Grey Matter Research (Phoenix, AZ), most Americans believe the Christian faith has a positive impact on society when it comes to the less fortunate being helped and children being raised with good morals.
But Americans are about as likely to feel the Christian faith has a negative impact as a positive one in the areas of sexuality in society, racism, how the US is viewed by other countries, and how people view others with different beliefs and perspectives.
The most negative perception is how the Christian faith impacts sexuality in society. Just 26% feel the faith has a positive impact in this area, while 37% see no real impact, and 37% believe it has a negative impact.
If the measured 16 different areas of society are averaged together, the typical perception of the Christian faith is that 13% of all Americans believe it has a strongly positive impact, 29% see a somewhat positive impact, 37% see no impact, 15% perceive a somewhat negative impact, and 7% believe the faith has a strongly negative impact on American society.
Ron Sellers, president of Grey Matter Research, notes that people who identify with Christianity often are still critical of the impact the Christian faith has on society:
People who are Christian don’t just view their faith through rose-colored glasses. Even among those who actively attend church and read the Bible, there are frequent criticisms that the Christian faith is not having a strongly positive impact on society, and in fact sometimes that the faith is impacting things negatively. Of course, at the same time, many non-Christians give credit to the Christian faith for making positive contributions to society in some areas. It’s not quite as black-or-white as some might think.
See our other blogposts tagged "Religion."
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