Moral Absolutes Or ‘It Depends’: How Americans See Right And Wrong

(ANALYSIS) The more I think about what religion means, the more that I think that there are just two camps of people in the United States.

Some folks draw bright lines around what they think is right and wrong. In evangelical circles, there’s an oft uttered phrase, “The Bible says it. I believe it. That settles it.” They just have a really clear sense of what is acceptable in their world and what is not.

Then there’s a whole different class of folks who just don’t seem to believe in anything concrete. It seems that their most likely response to a lot of complicated questions about right and wrong is, “It depends.” For them, ethics are situational.

For what it’s worth, surveys don’t make it easy to get to the bottom of this divide. I mean, can you really ask, “Are there moral absolutes in your life? Where did they come from?” We sort of nibble around the edges when asking questions about a respondent’s view of the Bible, but there’s been a woeful lack of focus on this idea of moral clarity.

Well, I’ve got a great question from the most recent Pew Landscape Survey. Respondents were asked to pick either of these two options:

There are clear and absolute standards for what is right and wrong or whether something is right or wrong often depends on the situation.

Here’s what that looks like in the entire sample of nearly 37,000 folks.

You can read the rest of Ryan Burge’s post on Substack.

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Ryan Burge is an assistant professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University, a pastor in the American Baptist Church and the co-founder and frequent contributor to Religion in Public, a forum for scholars of religion and politics to make their work accessible to a more general audience. His research focuses on the intersection of religiosity and political behavior, especially in the U.S. Follow him on X at @ryanburge.