But which God? 3

We are looking into Paul Froese and Christopher Bader, America’s Four Gods: What We Say about God–and What That Says about Us. What this book does is profile what views of God Americans have and how those views of God are related to various other beliefs, and the topic for today is our view of God and our moral beliefs.

Your image of God deeply shapes what you think about hot-button moral issues in our culture. The majority of Americans (70%), they say, “hate the sin, but love the sinner” when it comes to homosexuality. But, on abortion: 16% think abortion is never wrong while 14% think it is always wrong. We are not just polar opposites on this issue.

Most Americans, they discover, are moral relativists.

Look at the chart below …

What do you see? What does this tell you about God and morals? Why does the Authority God lead those moral issues to rise to the top?

At the top left is an ascending/descending scale from Always Wrong to Never Wrong, and the different images of God map one’s view of:

adultery,

gay marriage,

abortion,

premarital sex,

and stem-cell research.

(Note they are always in the same order, so the ranking of moral issues is the same across the spectrum.)

Click on image to read easier.