A recent study indicates that many Evangelicals who believe that not attending church services regularly is a sin do not actually attend church consistently.
The report, titled “What is Sin? Evangelical Beliefs and Behaviors,” was released by Infinity Concepts and Grey Matter Research following a survey of 1,039 Evangelicals regarding their views on various behaviors deemed sinful.
The survey revealed that belief in the concept of sin was nearly universal among respondents, with 99% acknowledging its existence. However, there was considerable variation in how individuals defined sinful behavior.
The most widely recognized sin was adultery, with 96% of those surveyed agreeing that cheating on a spouse is a serious sin, a viewpoint that was consistent across all demographic groups. When the participants were asked whether they viewed homosexual activity as a sin, 86% agreed affirmatively.
The survey also found that significant majorities believed that other behaviors constituted sin, including racism (87%), watching or reading pornography (86%), antisemitism (84%), using hard drugs (84%), having sexual thoughts about someone not married to them (83%), engaging in sexual activity outside of marriage (82%), having an abortion (81%), harboring homosexual thoughts (78%), gossiping (77%), remaining silent when a cashier gives back too much change (77%), and using profanity (76%).
Additionally, most respondents classified gambling (62%), telling "white lies" to avoid hurting someone’s feelings (67%), and failing to report some income on tax returns (70%) as sinful behaviors.
Despite these strong views on sin, only 30% of respondents considered irregular church attendance a sin. Among those who held this belief, 64% attended church weekly. However, 12% of Evangelicals who think that not attending church regularly is a sin only go to church one to three times a month, while 24% attend less frequently or not at all.
Conversely, Weekly churchgoers were a majority (75%) of those who do not believe failure to attend church regularly 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%).
The study emerges amid ongoing discussions about the decline in religious affiliation and church attendance among Americans. A Gallup report from March indicated that only 21% of Americans attend religious services weekly, while 9% attend nearly every week. Additionally, 11% attend services about once a month, 25% reported attending “seldom,” and 31% stated that they “never” participate in worship.
