Religion news: Occupy Wall Street and the tea party
("Hillsdale.net," November 25, 2011)
Hillsdale, USA - The Public Religion Research Institute, in partnership
with the Religion News Service, recently released the results of a new
national survey that finds equal numbers of Americans say both the Occupy Wall
Street and tea party movements share their values (29 percent each).
Here are some more findings from the study:
- Among religious groups, white evangelical Protestants are the most likely
to say that the tea party movement shares their values (49 percent), but
39 percent say it does not. Nearly 4-in-10 (38 percent) of religiously
unaffiliated Americans say the Occupy Wall Street movement shares their
values,
compared with 34 percent of minority Protestants, 30 percent of white
mainline Protestants, 29 percent of Catholics and 18 percent of white
evangelical Protestants.
- Americans are evenly divided in their evaluations of the responses of
churches and clergy to the economic crisis. Forty-six percent say churches and
clergy have not provided enough moral leadership on the country's most
pressing economic problems, compared with 45 percent who disagree. With the
exception of minority Protestants, all major religious groups are divided on
this question. Sixty-four percent of minority Protestants agree that
churches and clergy have not provided enough moral leadership on economic
problems.
- Majorities of nearly all other demographic groups, including all major
religious groups, agree that it's fair to ask wealthier Americans to pay a
greater percentage in taxes than the middle class or those less well off.
- There are interesting divisions over cutting federal funding for programs
that help the poor, depending on whether the funding is going to religious
organizations. Nearly 7-in-10 (68 percent) Republicans oppose cutting
federal funding to religious organizations helping the poor, but only 46
percent oppose cutting general federal funding to help the poor. Among
Democrats,
there is an opposite, though less pronounced, pattern: 83 percent oppose
cutting general federal funding to help the poor, but only 66 percent oppose
cutting federal funding to religious organizations to help the poor.
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