The Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) team put our heads together and came up with the following top religion and politics research findings in 2010. These issues are sure to follow us into the new year. Let us know in the comment stream what you would add to the list.
1. Nearly half (47 percent) of Americans who identify with the Tea Party movement also identify with the Christian right.
2. Pew found that nearly 1-in-5 (18 percent) Americans wrongly believe President Obama is a Muslim, and PRRI found a majority (51 percent) say his religious beliefs are different from their own.
3. Fifty-seven percent of Americans are opposed to allowing NY Muslims to build an Islamic center and mosque two blocks from ground zero, but 76 percent say they would support Muslims building a mosque in their local community if they followed the same regulations as other religious groups.
4. Americans are about five times more likely to give an "F" (24 percent) than an "A" (5 percent) to churches for their handling of homosexuality. Two-thirds see connections between messages coming from America's churches and higher rates of suicide among gay and lesbian youth.
5. Forty-five percent of Americans say the values of Islam are at odds with American values and way of life, while a plurality (49 percent) disagree.
6. If another vote similar to Proposition 8 were held now, a majority (51 percent) of Californians say they would vote to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.
7. At least 7-in-10 Americans say that protecting the dignity of every person (82 percent), keeping families together (80 percent), and the Golden Rule are important values that should guide immigration reform.
8. In his new book American Grace, Robert Putnam found that between one-third and one-half of all American marriages are interfaith marriages, and roughly one-third of Americans have switched religions at some point in their lives.
9. Despite high levels of religiosity, Pew found on average that Americans only answered about half of 32 questions correctly on their Religious Knowledge Survey.
10. The 2010 congressional election revealed relatively stable voting patterns by religion compared to past elections. GOP candidates held an advantage among white Christians, while Democratic candidates held an advantage among minority Christians and the unaffiliated.
And 11 for 2011. Nearly 6-in-10 Americans affirm American exceptionalism, that God has granted America a special role in human history. Those affirming this view are more likely to support military interventions and to say torture is sometimes justified.
What would you add to this list?
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I found the inter-faith marriage one interesting. I honestly think it's misleading, as are many claims addressing labeled religions. What is a Christian? What is a Jew? What is a Muslim? What is an agnostic? I wonder how many couples that both identify as "Christian" actually hold the same beliefs with regard to what Christianity really means. In a way, I think that just about all marriages are "inter-faith."
What is one's religion is determined by one's acts. It doesn't matter in whose pew one sits.
No amount of ceremonial observance, prayer recitation, donations can make one a buddhist or christian if one's acts are not in accord with the precepts of those teachers.
Judged by their acts, the percentage of Americans who would be judged to be Christian is a tiny fraction of the self=declared christians in the Pew Survey.
My point was that the enormous variety found in any religion makes those umbrella labels almost useless. Would a Pentecostal and a Catholic be considered inter-faith? How about Orthodox and Reformed Jew? How about Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal? You can keep dividing ad nauseum and they all still have the right to call themselves Christian.
From the Army/Marine (FM 3-24) field guide:
7-42. "Torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment is never a morally permissible option, even if lives depend on gaining information. No exceptional circumstances permit the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment."
For those who harbor doubt please bother to inconvenience yourself by reading Petraeus et al., by clicking here ----> http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/coin/repository/FM_3-24.pdf (re: pgs. 36,163-164)
I could care less what your personal voodoo beliefs are. Just don;t go harassing others beliefs and god as being false and yours as the only truth. If you are bigoted towards others belief then you deserve to be mocked for your beliefs.
A given religion's right to be left alone by outsiders should be reciprocal and contingent upon its responsibility to leave outsiders alone.
Which "you" are addressing? And do you distinguish the belief interpretations of the troublemakers from those who do not bother you, and might even be your secular allies?
The issue is of the other 25%. Within this 25% some religions have a bad influence. The worst offenders are Islam and christianity. But even those two have managed to do harm only within the 25% of the overall group.
stability and peacefulness aren't newsworthy. strife, contention and conflict are. that's why we always hear about the minority that stir the pot. and it's oh so much more exciting when it's exhibited in our politicians. . .
The Historic source is American Protestants, influenced by Hebrew scripter. Like Israel they had a “covenant” with God. Israel was chosen for service. Quoting John Adams “The Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation…” (Letter to F.A. Van der Kemp, 2/16/1809.) As Bruce Feiler points out Moses is America's Prophet.
The five books of Moses contain a covenant binding upon the gentile nations. It is elaborated in Judaism’s oral Torah. (Genesis 9:8-9) The code does not actually contain the concept of “exceptionalism”. The ‘Noahide’ Code’s contents are analogues to ‘natural law’ which was influential in the 17th & 18th Century. Although its origin is Torah and Rabbinic Judaism, acknowledgement is also found in the Gospel. (Paul & James & Acts as well as other mentions)
The universal concepts of God’s covenant with the children of Noah, was recognized by the United States Congress “(E)thical values and principles have been the bedrock of society from the dawn of civilizati¬on, when they were known as the Seven Noahide Laws…witho¬ut these ethical values and principles the edifice of civilizati¬on stands in serious peril of returning to chaos…” (Joint Resolution of the United States Congress, Public Law 102-14, U.S. Congressio¬nal Record).”
Exceptionalism is an ingrained part of America’s religious/cultural heritage.
Ask the middle eastern christians how 'christian' are these franklin graham cultists
more than a miracle but it would be above your intellect at this time.
the intellect will never find the mystery of the infinite. just as religion will never find the mystery of the infinite. must be realized.
two sides of the same coin intellectualism and religion. both suffer the same condition called unawareness. it is not permanant but it is troublesome.
and so, over half do not identify with the Christian right? Pretty much proves that TP is not mostly Christian fundies.
And 11 for 2011. Nearly 6-in-10 Americans affirm American exceptionalism, that God has granted America a special role in human history.
and so, nearly 60% of Americans, regardless of political beliefs, believes in American exceptionalism. Nice.
and that is the point
Interesting, regarding the second point I'm distubred that 49% of the country think Obama has the same religious views as them. I think we need more religious plurality than that!
truly exists and can be seen from many directions. in religion, the paths lead to nothing other than
self-satisfaction in ignorance.