Simon Cox Blog: Two-Thirds of Americans Admit They Are Sinners

Tuesday 15 August 2017

Two-Thirds of Americans Admit They Are Sinners

Most agree with Romans 3:23, but disagree on what to do about it.

America is full of sinners—and most of them want to mend their ways.

Two-thirds of Americans (67%) say they are sinners, according to a new study from LifeWay Research. Most people aren’t too happy about it—only 5 percent say they’re fine with being sinners.

As America becomes more secular, the idea of sin still rings true, said Scott McConnell, executive director of the Nashville-based group. “Almost nobody wants to be a sinner.”

The survey question about sin was inspired in part by an exchange McConnell witnessed on his way to a Nashville Predators hockey game. A religious group of protesters began preaching at people on the street outside the hockey arena, calling them sinners, he said. That led a few people in the crowd to embrace the title with enthusiasm.

“I wondered how many people really think of themselves as sinners,” said McConnell.

Diverse responses to sin

Americans tend to fall into three categories when it comes to sin, according to LifeWay Research’s representative survey of 1,000 Americans.

A third (34%) of Americans say they are sinners and are working on being less sinful, while a quarter (28%) say they are sinners and rely on Jesus to overcome their sin. Meanwhile, 1 in 10 Americans say sin doesn’t exist (10%) or that they are not sinners (8%), while a larger share (15%) prefer not to say if they are sinners at all. Only 1 in 20 is fine with being sinners (5%).

Among the other findings:

Folks in the Northeast (9%) are more likely to be fine with being sinners than those in the South (5%) and West (4%). They’re also more likely to say sin does not exist (14%).

Americans with evangelical beliefs are more likely to say they rely on Jesus to overcome their sin (72%) than those without evangelical beliefs (19%).