An extensive Pew Research survey done between June and October of last year revealed that about 54% of Americans say that a belief in God is not necessary in order to be moral and have good values. In the same survey, respondents said that they believe religion is important in their lives.
One trouble with such surveys is that they don’t take into consideration the deeper questions; questions like, “What is your definition of good? What is moral, and What is the foundation of your answers to those questions?”
For those who say God and the Bible are unnecessary, they must choose some other ground to stand on. What is it? They can’t use our nation’s founding documents, since those documents all acknowledge the existence of God. They might use societal norms for their defining of what is good and moral, but those are shifting sands for sure!
They can join the many who say, “I’ll be my own arbiter of what is good and moral for me.” Every man does that which is right in his own eyes, as they did in the dark times of Israel’s period of the Judges. This is, of course, what leads to anarchy, as we have been seeing illustrated in the streets of many American cities.
For the Christian there can be no other foundation for our understanding of what is good and moral, than that of our faith in the reality of God, His purposes and will as expressed in the Word of God.
1 Corinthians 3:11, For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.