Kerby Anderson

The latest polls show a moral slide of generations. A good example can be found in George Barna’s American Worldview Inventory 2024. He concludes that “what Millennials began, Generation Z is accelerating.” This is a generational transformation of this country’s moral landscape.

Let’s begin at the top level and then work down to specific moral issues. The percentage of Americans who have a biblical worldview has been declining over five consecutive generations. The number of adults with a biblical worldview plummeted from 12 percent to 4 percent today.

A majority of adults accept lying, abortion, gay marriage, and consensual sexual intercourse between unmarried adults. This is due in large part because they reject the concept of absolute moral truth. And less than half of all adults embrace the Bible as their primary guide to morality.

Let’s look at some specific issues. A majority (54%) of Millennials say telling a lie is of minor consequence in order to protect your personal best interests or reputation. And six in ten of Gen Z also believe that is morally acceptable. Two-thirds (67%) of Millennials endorse abortion, and a slightly higher percentage (69%) of Gen Zs endorse abortion.

Two decades ago, two-thirds of Boomers did not support gay marriage. Today more than six in ten (61%) endorse two people of the same biological sex getting married. Those percentages are even higher for Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z. We also can find similar increasing percentages from one generation to another concerning premarital sex. This ranges from 59 percent for Boomers to 73 percent for Gen Z.

The first step back to a moral foundation is to make sure we teach biblical morality in our families and within the church.