GOD-TALIKIN'

Polling People About God (PETER STEINFELS, August 2, 2003, NY Times)

Not only did the findings deserve headlines, the Pew poll offered valuable details to aid much needed analysis. For example, some Muslim leaders blamed negative statements by conservative Christian leaders for the shift in perceptions of Islam. But the poll showed that white Catholics had shifted in their views as much as white evangelicals - and that people identified as "seculars," not the sort to be captivated by Pat Robertson or the Rev. Jerry Falwell, had shifted even more.

Less frequently noted in news reports was the finding that few Americans were distressed at political leaders' God-talk. In fact, the poll's sponsors point out, "nearly twice as many say there has been too little reference to religious faith and prayer by politicians (41 percent) than say there has been too much (21 percent)."

Almost two-thirds of the sample thought President Bush mentions his faith "about the right amount," compared with the 14 percent who said "too much."

But how do Americans react when faced not with a question about political leaders' use of religious references in general but with an actual example, like Attorney General John Ashcroft's declaration, "Unique among nations, America recognized the source of our character as being godly and eternal"?

The poll asked whether respondents were "comfortable or uncomfortable" with that statement and three others. Half of the sample were told the source of each statement, and half were not. The only statement getting more "uncomfortable" (49 percent) than "comfortable" (44 percent) responses was "I have never believed the Constitution required our schools to be religion-free zones. . . ."

But among those informed that the source of this statement was President Bill Clinton, the reaction was quite different: 59 percent comfortable, 34 percent uncomfortable. [...]

Possibly the most intriguing finding to go largely unreported was what the pollsters called "an important and often overlooked fact of American politics: African-Americans and white evangelical Christians are remarkably similar in their views about the role of religion in politics, yet they come to sharply different partisan conclusions."

Two-thirds of white evangelical Protestants think that churches should weigh in on day-to-day social and political issues. An even higher percentage of black Protestants agree. Similar percentages of the two groups would like to see more religious leaders serving as advisers to elected officials.

African-American Protestants come second only to white evangelicals - and well ahead of other groups - in saying that they frequently rely on their religious beliefs in deciding how to vote. The two groups line up the same way in expressing reluctance to vote for an atheist for president and in viewing Israel as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy about the second coming of Jesus. White evangelicals and African-Americans are the two groups whose views on gay marriage have remained virtually unchanged.

People grope around trying to figure out the source of American exceptionalism and then you see numbers like these and realize--whether you think it's for good or ill--we just aren't much like even the rest of the West. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 9, 2003 10:55 AM