Kindness is the leading cause of hope among U.S. adults, a recent LifeWay Research survey found.
Forty percent of respondents said, “kindness people have shown” when presented the question, “What has given you hope during the adversity you have seen recently?”
“Relationships” (38%) was the second highest response, followed by “my religious faith” (36%) and “my finances are stable” (33%).
The remaining responses all had fewer than 20% of responses, with 7% of respondents saying they did not have hope.
Older adults (47% average of those aged 50+) were more likely than younger adults (35% average of those 49 and under) to find hope in kindness, while evangelical Christians (46%) were more likely than non-evangelicals (39%) to do so.
Evangelicals (76%) were far more likely than non-evangelicals (27%) to find hope in their religious faith, while 74% of Christians attending four or more worship gatherings monthly find hope in their faith.
Older adults (43% of those aged 50-64; 44% aged 65+) were far more likely than younger adults (28% aged 18-34; 33% aged 35-49) to say their religious faith gives them hope.
The full report is available here. The topline results are available here.