http://www.ellisonresearch.com/releases/20080311.htmEllison Research recently released a study about American's viewpoints on sin. It is pretty exhaustive and interesting study.
It showed the vast majority of Americans (87%) believe in the concept of sin. “Sin” was defined in the research as “something that is almost always considered wrong, particularly from a religious or moral perspective.”
Some personal highlights:
"One of the biggest differences in whether people believe in the concept of sin is actually not even religious, but political. Among political conservatives, 94% believe there is such a thing as sin. This is also true among 89% of moderates. But only 77% of political liberals believe in the concept of sin."
"Evangelical Christians are far more likely than almost any other group to include numerous behaviors under the definition of sin, and the difference between evangelicals and other Americans is often quite large."
Under the " Definitions of Sin, by Religious Perspective… " table the "Not Born Again" category of people were less likely to defined any of the actions as "sin."
CULTURE
This study is pretty impressive. It is very interesting and worth a lookin at. It tells us about hte culture we live in. There are some things/meta narratives (like Sin) that even non-religious peoples understand.
