According to this report, http://www.ptm.org/uni/resources/ptmupdate/042108/sin.html;
Most Americans believe in sin.
Specifically, 87% of Americans believe there are certain actions that are "almost always considered wrong, particularly from a religious or moral perspective." This is how sin was defined in a recent study by Ellison Research (a Christian research firm) of Phoenix Arizona, which sampled over a thousand American adults.
How do you rank in the specific areas mentioned in the list? The percentage is the reported percentage of Americans that believe the action is sinful. I reproduce the list below for your consideration. How do you rank?
| Adultery | 81% |
| Racism | 74% |
| Using "hard" drugs, such as cocaine, heroin, meth, LSD, etc. | 65% |
| Not saying anything if a cashier gives you too much change back | 63% |
| Having an abortion | 56% |
| Homosexual activity or sex | 52% |
| Not reporting some income on your tax returns | 52% |
| Reading or watching pornography | 50% |
| Gossip | 47% |
| Swearing | 46% |
| Sex before marriage | 45% |
| Homosexual thoughts | 44% |
| Heterosexual thoughts about someone to whom you are not married | 43% |
| Doing things as a consumer that harm the environment | 41% |
| Smoking marijuana | 41% |
| Getting drunk | 41% |
| Not taking proper care of your body | 35% |
| Gambling | 30% |
| Telling a "little white lie" to avoid hurting someone's feelings | 29% |
| Using tobacco | 23% |
| Not attending church or religious worship services on a regular basis | 18% |
| Playing the lottery | 18% |
| Watching an R-rated movie | 18% |
| Being significantly overweight | 17% |
| Not giving 10% of your income to a church or charity | 16% |
| Drinking any alcohol | 14% |
| Working on Sunday / the Sabbath | 14% |
| Spanking your child when he/she misbehaves | 7% |
| Making a lot of money | 4% |
| Dancing | 4% |
Of the listed items [30] - although I don't use the term 'sin' much anymore, I found that I believed that only about 8 or 10 of them would be completely off-limits to my way of thinking now. And most of those would be considered less 'objectionable' in my eyes now than just a few years ago [for obvious reasons I suppose.].
Some of them, I never would have considered 'wrong' to begin with. Others have been scrapped in my mind due to changing paradigms about religion/life.
Thoughts?
Jeff