Over 99% of evangelical Protestants believe in the concept of sin. But exactly what behaviors evangelicals define as “sin” varies widely, from just 6% who say dancing is sin to 96% who feel adultery is sin.
These and other results were just released by Infinity Concepts and Grey Matter Research in their latest report, What Is Sin? Evangelical Beliefs and Behaviors.
Researchers asked evangelicals about 26 different behaviors to learn if they usually defined each one as sin or sinful behavior. The average evangelical defined 17 of these 26 behaviors as sin.
A few of the behaviors that at least three out of four evangelicals consider to be sinful include:
- Adultery (96%)
- Racism (87%)
- Reading/watching pornography (86%)
- Homosexual activity or sex (86%)
- Anti-Semitism (84%)
Other important findings from the research include:
- Among evangelicals who believe it is a sin not to tithe, just 14% come anywhere close to a tithe in their own giving.
- Among those who do believe not attending worship is sin, 36% do not attend weekly, and 24% do not even attend monthly.
- Fifteen of the 26 behaviors show no differences in being viewed as sinful according to political beliefs.
“It is important to remember this is a study of what evangelicals believe, and not necessarily how they actually behave,” said Ron Sellers, president of Grey Matter Research.
“As he shares in Romans 7:19, even Paul struggled with aligning behavior with beliefs,” Sellers added. “That does not excuse what is fairly common behavior among evangelicals, but hopefully provides at least a little context.”
And while there may be a tendency to think there are great differences about what is sin based on age or political perspective, those perceptions would be premature.
“The truth is right now, young evangelicals, at least in their beliefs about sin, are rarely more permissive than older evangelicals,” said Mark Dreistadt, president and CEO of Infinity Concepts.
“There is much more agreement than we realize,” he added. “Hopefully this will help evangelicals create bridges for building and sustaining our faith in a time of increasing challenge about what is right and wrong within our culture.”
