Earlier this week (\u201cChristians and Politics: Too much or too little?\u201d) I shared information from a public opinion survey which showed Americans\u2019 significant level of comfort with \u201cChristians being involved in politics.\u201d The poll found the following levels of support for such involvement: all Americans (52%), Protestants (61%), weekly church attendees (65%), and born-again\/Evangelicals (72%).
\nI observed that the poll question was worded deliberately by the ERLC and LifeWay Research \u201cin a way that would elicit the most negative response possible\u201d because \u201cpolitics\u201d is \u201coften perceived as partisan, rancorous, and something that many Christians feel is too \u2018worldly.\u2019\u201d
\nWhen I shared the survey\u2019s findings with my good friend Tony Perkins, the head of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., he confirmed my thesis. He shared with me the results of polling they commissioned which produced even higher percentages of support when people were asked this question: \u201cWhen religious leaders believe public policy decisions involve moral issues, they should be free to speak publicly on those policy decisions.\u201d
\nNearly three-fourths of Americans (74%) either \u201cstrongly agree\u201d (49%) or \u201csomewhat agree\u201d (25%) that pastors and other religious leaders \u201cshould be free to speak\u201d on \u201cpublic policy decisions\u201d that \u201cinvolve moral issues.\u201d Only 18 percent of Americans either \u201cstrongly disagree\u201d (11%) or \u201csomewhat disagree\u201d (7%) with that statement.
\nWhile the survey did find a partisan divide on this issue, it was not as great as many might have believed with Republicans (83%) and Democrats (69%) supporting pastors speaking out. Independents (76%) were predictably in between Republicans and Democrats. Clearly, all these groups registered strong levels of support for religious leaders speaking out on public policy issues that have moral implications.
\nThere was also a remarkable lack of divergence on this issue among urban (73%), suburban (74%), and rural (76%) voters. The survey also found that while there was predictably strong support among self- described \u201cconservatives\u201d (83%), support was also high among self-described \u201cmoderates\u201d (73%), and \u201cliberals\u201d (63%).
\nPerhaps the survey\u2019s most surprising result involved the attitudes of people who \u201cnever\u201d attend religious services. Among such self-described non-worship service attendees, 72% agreed that religious leaders should have the right to speak out on policy decisions when they \u201cinvolve moral issues.\u201d While that level of support is not as high as the level found among those who attend worship \u201cfrequently\u201d (79%), it is the same as those who \u201cseldom\u201d (72%) attend church and is still quite high. In fact, when averaged together the percentages equate exactly with the 74 percent approval found among the general population for religious leaders speaking out.
\nThese survey results are yet another solid indication that Americans of all beliefs and political persuasions are far more comfortable with churches and religious leaders\u2019 involvement with public policy issues and decisions than many pundits and analysts either believe them to be or they would think is appropriate.
\nThe American people have the odd habit of deciding for themselves what they think is appropriate and then acting accordingly. The late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said, \u201cEveryone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.\u201d The facts seem to be that Americans, even those who never attend worship, are more than comfortable with people of faith being involved and speaking out on the moral implications of the public policy decisions facing the nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Earlier this week (\u201cChristians and Politics: Too much or too little?\u201d) I shared information from a public opinion survey which showed Americans\u2019 significant level of comfort with \u201cChristians being involved in politics.\u201d The poll found the following levels of support for such involvement: all Americans (52%), Protestants (61%), weekly church attendees (65%), and born-again\/Evangelicals (72%).…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n