The Great Divide: American Morality Perception and Why We Judge Our Neighbors
According to a 25-country survey, Americans are more likely than people in other countries to question the morality of their fellow countrymen. This American morality perception makes us an unfortunate outlier.
In nearly every other country surveyed, the opposite was found. More people said that their neighbors have somewhat or very good morals than those who said they displayed somewhat or very bad levels of morality.
But again, not in America.
According to the Pew Research Center, “The United States is the only place we surveyed where more adults (ages 18 and older) describe the morality and ethics of others living in the country as bad (53%) than as good (47%).”
Why This Judgment?
Since this was the first time Pew has ever asked this question, it isn’t known whether this is a new assessment of our neighbors, or one that has been longstanding. And if a new one, it is not known what may be driving it.
They have a suspicion, though. Yep, partisan politics.
Because they did find that those who lean toward the Democratic Party are more likely than Republican leaners to rate their fellow Americans as morally and ethically bad. And earlier research had shown that “rising numbers of both Republicans and Democrats say people in the other party are immoral.”
Another possible explanation is that people in America are simply more moralistic than people in other countries. Translation: we are more inclined to judge various behaviors to be immoral or sinful.
The problem with that theory is that the results of the survey questions posed by Pew don’t support the idea that Americans are especially judgmental. In asking about nine specific behaviors, including having an abortion and drinking alcohol, the report found the U.S. is somewhere in the middle:
It’s neither the country where the highest percentage of adults view each behavior as morally wrong, nor is it the country where the highest percentage say the same behavior is morally acceptable or not a moral issue.
For example, 39% of U.S. adults say homosexuality is morally wrong—far more than take that position in Germany or Sweden (5% each) but far fewer than in Indonesia (93%) or Nigeria (96%).
In case you are curious, Americans are most inclined to view a married person having an affair as morally wrong, and most accepting of using marijuana or gambling.
But no matter the behavior, one thing is sure:
… your neighbor thinks you have character issues.
Read more from James Emery White »
This article originally appeared on ChurchAndCulture.org and is reposted here by permission.
