Casual Christians struggle more than those who regularly attend church services and read the Bible to offer and receive forgiveness, even as research links forgiveness to greater flourishing and lower stress and loneliness, a new survey finds. The American Bible Society released the sixth installment of its “State of the Bible: USA 2026” report last Thursday.
The new chapter, titled “Forgiveness,” examines how Americans forgive themselves and others, and whether they believe they have received forgiveness from God. The findings come from a survey of 2,649 U.S. adults conducted Jan. 8 to 27.
"We see that those who are committed to their faith and to reading the Bible are more likely to give and experience forgiveness," American Bible Society Chief Innovation Officer and State of the Bible Editor-in-Chief John Farquhar Plake said in a statement.
“This makes sense, given the centrality of forgiveness in the message of the Bible." Overall, 29% of respondents said the statement “It is really hard for me to accept myself once I’ve messed up” was “true of me,” compared with 56% who called it “not true of me.” Americans were far more divided on a statement about forgiving others.
Forty percent said the statement “If others mistreat me, I continue to think badly of them” is true, while 41% called it not true. Most respondents said the statement “I have done things for which there is no divine forgiveness” is not true (81%), while just 10% called it true. By faith participation level, casual Christians were most likely to report difficulty forgiving themselves (38%).
The report defines a “casual Christian” as someone who identifies as Christian, attends church at least monthly, but does not “strongly agree” that faith is important to them. Among nominal Christians — those who identify as Christian but attend church less