Many Evangelicals who don’t attend church regularly say not going is a sin

96% say adultery is sin, only 86% say homosexuality is a sin

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Monday, October 14, 2024

A new study shows that many Evangelicals who think that not attending church services regularly is a sin don't go to church on a regular basis themselves.

Infinity Concepts and Grey Matter Research released a new report titled “What is Sin? Evangelical Beliefs and Behaviors” following a survey that asked 1,039 Evangelicals whether they viewed a series of behaviors as sinful.

The study defines an Evangelical as a person who agrees that “the Bible is the highest authority for what they believe,” view it as important to “encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior,” believe that “Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin” and think that “only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation.”

While belief in the concept of sin was nearly unanimous among those surveyed (99%), there was wide divergence on what behaviors amounted to sin. The behavior viewed as a sin by the largest share of Evangelicals was adultery. Ninety-six percent of respondents agreed that cheating on a spouse constituted a serious sin, a belief that extended across all demographic subgroups. When asked if they considered homosexual activity a sin, 86% answered in the affirmative.

Similarly large majorities indicated that they believed that racism (87%), reading or watching pornography (86%), antisemitism (84%), using hard drugs (84%), having sexual thoughts about a person one is not married to (83%), sexual activity outside of marriage (82%), having an abortion (81%), homosexual thoughts (78%), gossip (77%), not saying anything if a cashier gives back too much change (77%) and profanity (76%) amounted to sins.

Most respondents also characterized gambling (62%), telling “white lies” to avoid hurting people’s feelings (67%) and failing to report some income on tax returns (70%) as sins.

Only 30% of respondents believed that not attending church regularly was a sin. Unsurprisingly, 64% of those who feel this way go to church every week. However, 12% of Evangelicals who think failure to attend church regularly is sinful only go to church one to three times a month, while 24% who have this belief attend church services less frequently or not at all.

Weekly churchgoers were a majority (75%) of those who do not believe failure to attend church on a regular basis is sinful, while the remainder of Evangelicals with this opinion go to church either one to three times a month (8%), less frequently or not at all (17%).

In recent years, there has been much coverage centered on the decline of religious affiliation and church attendance among Americans.

In March, for example, Gallup reported that 21% of Americans said they attend religious services weekly, while 9% said they go nearly every week. However, 11% of respondents said they attend about once a month, 25% reported attending “seldom,” while 31% said they “never” go to worship.

Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: [email protected]