“What is clear from the study are the increasingly entrenched perspectives of two Americas: A growing secular America champions an unburdened sexual libertinism whose version of sexuality is freed from the constraints of traditional sexual morality, a morality that often issued from religious-based truth claims. Meanwhile, religious conservatives in America remain quite skeptical about the general population’s enthusiasm for throwing off supposedly outmoded notions of sexuality.”

A new study out this week shows widening gaps in how different demographics in America approach sexuality and family. The Relationships in America study, produced by the Austin Institute, looks at “how social forces, demography, and religion continue to shape attitudes about family and intimate relationships.” The findings are notable, boosted by a survey that draws from 15,738 respondents ages eighteen to sixty, a very large and representative sample of the general population of the United States.

What is clear from the study are the increasingly entrenched perspectives of two Americas: A growing secular America champions an unburdened sexual libertinism whose version of sexuality is freed from the constraints of traditional sexual morality, a morality that often issued from religious-based truth claims. Meanwhile, religious conservatives in America remain quite skeptical about the general population’s enthusiasm for throwing off supposedly outmoded notions of sexuality.

But another narrative of America’s religious landscape is also clear from the survey—one that Russell Moore and I wrote about at National Review discussing preliminary statistics that sociologist Mark Regnerus described at a spring conference of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. What we said then remains important: Evangelical Christians aren’t liberalizing on the issues of sexual morality.

To begin, the just-released report reveals that it is evangelical Christians who report much higher rates (74 percent) of weekly church attendance than their Mainline Protestant counterparts or secular counterparts. Evangelical Christians report moderately lower rates of pornography usage (though still troublingly high, but not as high as the general population). Weekly church attenders are the least likely to view pornography. The same is true for engaging in premarital sex. Evangelicals rank amongst the lowest of those who insist that marriage is an outdated institution, while the same can be said for promoting casual sex and cohabitation. Evangelicals are also amongst the least likely to believe that same-sex marriage should be legal. This study is important because it makes the necessary distinction about rates of church attendance, not just self-identification. In Appendix B, the study reveals that those who attend church services at least three times a month are much more likely to have traditional or conservative beliefs about sexuality.

Read More