Poll shows declining religious influence on society

August 24, 2006

(RNS) A solid majority of Americans believe that the earth is getting warmer, that religion's influence on society is waning and that the U.S. is a Christian nation, according to a new poll released Thursday (Aug. 24).

The poll, a joint effort of the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, shows Americans' attitudes toward a host of issues touching on faith and public policy.

Politicians in Washington may note that only 26 percent of Americans see the Democratic Party as "friendly to religion." But the number of Americans -- particularly white evangelical Protestants -- who view the Republican party as friendly to religion has fallen from 55 percent last year to 47 percent today, according to the Pew poll. Less than half of the population (44 percent) holds a favorable view of Christian conservatives.

Meanwhile, 69 percent of Americans say liberals have gone too far in trying to keep religion out of schools and government. At the same time, 49 percent believe conservative Christians have gone too far in trying to impose their religious values on the country, up 4 percent since 2005.

The percentages of American political/religious life remain relatively small, with only 7 percent of the public identifying with the "religious left," while just 11 percent identify with the "religious right."

More Americans (32 percent) think of themselves as "liberal or progressive Christians," than identify as white evangelical Christians (24 percent).

But evangelicals remain more cohesive, according to the pollsters, because members "share core religious beliefs as well as crystalized and consistently conservative political attitudes."

That cohesion can be seen in the number of evangelicals who believe God gave Israel to the Jews (69 precent), that the Bible is the literal word of God (62 percent) and that Israel is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy (59 percent).

Finally, 79 percent of Americans believe there is solid evidence that the earth is getting warmer.

The Pew survey was conducted July 6-19 among a nationwide sample of 2,003 adults. For results based on the total sample, the margin of error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

-- Daniel Burke