Casual Christians have a harder time forgiving themselves, others: survey
September 17, 2026
A new survey from the American Bible Society (ABS) finds that casual Christians struggle to offer and receive forgiveness more than those who regularly attend church services and read the Bible.
The Christian Post reports that research from the sixth installment of the ABS’s “State of the Bible: USA 2026” report released last Thursday, also links forgiveness to greater flourishing and lower stress and loneliness.
The latest chapter of that survey, titled “Forgiveness,” examines how Americans forgive themselves and others, and whether they believe they have received forgiveness from God.
American Bible Society Chief Innovation Officer and State of the Bible Editor-in-Chief John Farquhar Plake said in a statement, “We see that those who are committed to their faith and to reading the Bible are more likely to give and experience forgiveness. This makes sense, given the centrality of forgiveness in the message of the Bible.”
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.
According to the Christian Post, practicing Christians, who identify as Christian, attend church at least monthly and “strongly agree” that faith is important to them, reported less difficulty forgiving themselves and others.
Researchers also report that forgiveness struggles were less common among the “Scripture Engaged” — those who score 100 or higher on the Scripture Engagement Scale, which measures how often people use the Bible and how it affects their lives.
“Our data also shows that while those who hold on to resentment are weighed down, forgiveness brings freedom,” Plake concluded. “This opens an important conversation for the Church and its leaders to help equip our communities to both give and receive forgiveness.”
The findings come from a survey of 2,649 U.S. adults conducted Jan. 8 to 27.
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