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.
