Study shows: Active Christians value civic responsibility

PHILADELPHIA (BP)—Christians who study the Scriptures place the highest value on civic engagement and community involvement, according to the American Bible Society in its latest publication of the 2024 State of the Bible.

The study shows that Christians who are interested in Scripture fall in a presidential election year and therefore place greater emphasis on being aware of social and governmental issues, advocating for social and governmental policies, and submitting to government leaders.

Specifically, 66 percent of Christians who study the Scriptures said it is important or very important to stay informed about social and governmental issues; 48 percent placed the same importance on advocating for social and governmental policies; and 42 percent said the same is true of submitting to government leaders.

“On all measures – awareness, commitment, and submission – those who are interested in the Bible are much more likely to emphasize the importance of civic responsibility,” the researchers found, outperforming those described as Bible-distant and those in the “moving middle,” a group that is more likely to be interested in the Bible and more likely to embrace it.

“We see little difference between the moving middle and those who are not biblically oriented in terms of awareness and commitment, but those who are Scripture-oriented clearly place more value on these aspects of citizenship.”

Yet those who study Scripture, considered the most committed of all Christians, still rank the importance of advocacy and submission lower than awareness on the study’s seven-point importance scale; only awareness ranks above 50 percent.

Focus on “Love in Action”

In the fourth chapter of the 2024 report, released on July 11, researchers focused on “love in action,” tabulating the importance of several aspects of the biblical commandment to love one’s neighbor (Matthew 22:39). Researchers reported perspectives rather than actual activities.

The researchers cited the election year as an explanation for the decline in awareness among practicing Christians over the past three years of the importance of welcoming immigrants, making friends with people of other races, and protecting the environment.

“The political climate certainly influences responses here. Our survey presents the issues in a few words, without further definition,” the researchers wrote. “Respondents will of course add their own context – for example, whether immigration is legal or illegal. With that in mind, we see significant changes on these issues in recent years, especially among practicing Christians.”

Among practicing Christians, the importance of welcoming immigrants into the community fell from 4.3 on a six-point scale in 2022 to 3.9 in 2024. While friendship with people of other races reached 4.7 on the scale in 2022, it is now 4.5. Environmental protection was 4.7 in 2022, but 4.6 in 2024.

“All groups place less emphasis on welcoming immigrants than in recent years, but the decline is most pronounced among practicing Christians,” the researchers explained. “Non-Christians now place more emphasis on this than practicing Christians.”

Otherwise, the areas of involvement that have to do with charity have remained roughly the same over the past four years, say the researchers. These include caring for prisoners and advocating for those oppressed by society.

Researchers found that interest in cross-racial engagement, which surged after the death of George Floyd in 2020, has cooled.

“Over the next year or two, we saw major corporations champion diversity and communities tear down statues,” the researchers noted. “But our trend line suggests that attention has waned over the past two years.”

Nevertheless, the majority of study participants attach importance to being good neighbors, even if there are different opinions about who counts as a neighbor.

Demographically, charity is most valued by baby boomers, women, people interested in the Scriptures, urban and suburban residents, the Northeast, and homeowners.

The University of Chicago’s NORC research center conducted the survey from January 4 to 23, compiling results based on responses from 2,506 online interviews conducted with more than 9,900 adults contacted as part of the nationally representative AmeriSpeak panel.

The American Bible Society will publish a chapter of the 2024 study each month through December. Future publications will focus on the Bible’s intersection with artificial intelligence, well-being, church, hope, need, loneliness and philanthropy.