Do American Christians Value Free Speech? Not nearly as Much as Religious Freedom, Survey Shows

A new survey has revealed that, of all the things evangelical Americans value about their country, free speech and the Bill of Rights actually fall near the bottom of the list.

RelevantMagazine.com reports on the study done by the Barna Group. The study involved a poll asking participants to choose two options from the following list which they believe best represent “What Makes America Great? As an American, what are you proud of in your country? What in your opinion, makes America great?”

The available options to choose from were:

• The opportunity to become who you want to be
• The Constitution
• Free speech/free press
• Freedom of religion
• Democracy
• The Bill of Rights
• A “melting pot” society
• Christian origins and values
• Military strength
• Tech and innovation
• Beauty and variety of geography and scenery
• industrious/entrepreneurial spirit
• Arts and culture
• Economic stability
• America’s relative youth as a nation

Among this extensive list, Americans chose as most representative of America’s greatness the following, in this order: The opportunity to become who you want to be, the Constitution, free speech/free press, freedom of religion, democracy, and the Bill of Rights.

However, the survey’s results become even more interesting when it revealed that evangelical Americans view freedom of religion and Christian origins and values as top choices (not much of a surprise, perhaps), but only six percent of evangelical Americans chose free speech/free press and only six percent chose the Bill of Rights.

This survey thus gathered some fascinating insight into what different groups most value about America. The purpose of the survey, according to Barna, was to determine what people actually think makes America great, since this idea has become central to the political landscape with President Trump’s campaign.  

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Publication date: August 10, 2017