According to a new report this year, two out of three American adults currently reject or doubt absolute moral truth. American churches are not immune; among those who reject absolute moral truth are 61% of mainline Protestants and 69% of Catholics. Thankfully, such rejection has declined among theologically identified born-again Christians (57% in 2020, now 49% in 2025). But still, every other “born-again” Christian rejecting universal moral truth? Yikes.
This prompts a deeper question. If so many Americans reject absolute truth, then where are they getting their version of moral truth from? What do they acknowledge as their source for such truth? Well, the study discovered these individuals’ most popular sources of truth to be “feelings” and “personal emotions.” A whopping 74% of adults “at least occasionally rely upon their emotions to discern moral truth,” which places emotions as the sole source of truth trusted by a majority of adults.
It’s somewhat comforting that the Bible still ranks second in the list of popular moral truth sources. But it rests at a mere 44%. In other words, three-quarters of American adults use their feelings to discern moral truth, while less than half use the Bible. Other popular truth sources listed were: “public policies and laws” (41%), “scientific and mathematical claims” (40%), and “societal norms, majority beliefs, cultural traditions” (39%).
Evidently, for a disturbing number of Americans, the desire to “follow my heart” is more important than the need to “follow God’s Word.” Now, let’s first give them the benefit of the doubt. The Bible does teach that we have an inner knowledge of God’s law written on our hearts (Romans 2:14–15). When we sin, most of us sense the inner voice of our conscience rebuking us. So could these people who reportedly “rely on their feelings” really be talking about the conscience and simply not know how to describe it?
That’s a possibility, but we can’t chalk it all up to that. Remember, it’s “feelings” or “personal emotions” that three-quarters of Americans use to discern moral truth. But we all know there is a difference between emotions and the conscience. If everything that violated our consciences also violated our emotions, we wouldn’t get pleasure from sinning! Rather, as the Bible describes it, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9, NASB). Sadly, a disturbing number of Americans are following their deceitful emotions instead of God’s Word.
No wonder sins like abortion, homosexuality, and transgenderism are as prevalent as they are. Any logical case for these abominations quickly breaks down. There is no rational justification for killing a baby in the womb, two men having sex, or a boy ingesting chemicals to change himself into a girl. All of these things should easily prick an unseared conscience.
But then we dress them up in emotional language like, “What about a woman who’s been raped?” Or, “Love is love.” Or, “Would you rather have a dead son or a living daughter?” When you rely on your emotions as a source of moral truth, you’re a lot more likely to be duped by these appeals to empathy.
Now, it’s not as if those who rely on their emotions think that only their emotions are a source of moral truth. Because 74% rely on their emotions, and 44% rely on the Bible, evidently many Americans look to both their emotions and the Bible. However, as the article puts it, “most Americans who even consider the scriptures relevant to moral decision-making treat the content of the Bible as just one alternative among many for distilling moral truth.” And that’s a problem, because when the Bible says homosexuality is wrong, but your emotions tell you it’s acceptable, you might very well dismiss the Bible. It’s just “one alternative among many,” after all.
Ultimately, this happens when we fail to acknowledge that Christ is Lord over our lives. When Christ is Lord, nothing else competes with Him. He has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). He is Lord, His Word prevails. He cannot be just one alternative among many. And when He speaks, He speaks absolute moral truth. America needs to repent and turn to Christ as Savior, for He absolutely forgives. But America also needs to kneel and confess Christ as Lord, for He speaks absolute truth.
