Survey of readers shows resistance to divisive movements in church

Homosexuality

No issue has been more polarizing in the church in recent years than the question of what do to about homosexual practice. Few Outlook readers think that homosexual orientation comes from God (29 percent), and most think the Bible condemns homosexual practice (62 percent). Few Presbyterian leaders are content to say we can accept homosexual practice in the civil society but not in the church (5 percent), nor to let civil society, rather than the church, perform same-sex marriages (14 percent). These results support a consistent culturally conservative view.

Yet when faced with practical options about what people with homosexual orientation should do, Outlook readers are more evenly divided. A third think homosexual practice would be OK within same-sex marriage, and that figure rises to almost half (45 percent) if we add the possibility of a non-marital “committed relationship.” Yet half (51 percent) oppose the church’s performing same-sex marriages. Perhaps a promising line for future discussion would begin with the fact that half (48 percent) of church leaders surveyed now think that “Christians should try to overcome any desire to engage in homosexual behavior.”

Outlook readers agree more than three-to-one that the Bible condemns homosexual practice. This is particularly interesting given the liberal leanings of the Outlook readership as a whole. Even among those who support the pro-gay More Light Presbyterians, a quarter agree that the Bible condemns homosexual practice. Even among those who agree that the Bible condemns homosexual practice, a quarter believe that Christians may legitimately do it anyway in a committed relationship. This finding supports the view that the deeper division in the church is not so much about what the Bible says, but whether the Bible is authoritative for the church.

The Confessing Church Movement

Another hot issue this year has been the effect of the Confessing Church movement on the church. While 90 percent of respondents were familiar with this conservative movement, only 28 percent agreed with it — fewer than the 32 percent who strongly disagreed. Most respondents (55 percent) thought the movement would be harmful to the church. Ten percent reported that their own congregation had joined the movement, which roughly matches the national percentage of participating congregations. That 10 percent did tend to be strongly supportive of the movement, but few outside of those confessing congregations were supportive.

One of the points that the confessing churches confess is that Jesus Christ alone is the Lord of all and the only way to salvation. While most Outlook readers would agree that the only absolute truth for humankind is “in” Jesus Christ (65 percent), only a third (31 percent) thought that only followers of Jesus Christ can be saved.

The confessing movement also confesses Scripture as the word of God and “the church’s only infallible rule of faith and life.” 90 percent of Outlook readers agree that the Bible is the word of God. Few, however, are fundamentalists on either the Christian or naturalist side: only 3 percent say they take the Bible literally, and fewer than 1 percent say it is just an ancient, though valuable, book.

There are likewise few fundamentalists of right or left on the creation and evolution issue. Only 4 percent believe in a literal Genesis creation with no evolution, and only 5 percent believe that natural forces and natural selection alone made the world. The solid majority (63 percent) of Outlook readers took the middle Christian position: God created the world, and has guided evolution ever since.

Church Conflict and Schism

The conflict over homosexual practice and the Confessing Church movement are part of a larger picture of ideological competition in the church. An overwhelming 85 percent of Outlook readers wish there were less conflict in the PC (USA). Yet an even more overwhelming majority (91 percent) are willing to tolerate different viewpoints in the church even if it means conflict. Most also believe that the church would be in trouble if people were not willing to fight for their beliefs (58 percent), and are split evenly on whether conflict at the General Assembly level affects their own congregation at all.

Most of these church leaders, 64 percent, accept the view that “in the church today, a small liberal wing and a small conservative wing are competing for the larger center.” A huge majority (89 percent) say that being Presbyterian is important to their own Christian identity, which would seem to put them in this center position of denominational loyalists. At the same time, only a quarter is willing to expect denominational loyalty from others.

Outlook readers are very optimistic about the church. Ninety percent say they are optimistic about the future of the Christian church in general, the church in the United States and about their own congregation. The percentage of optimists falls when they consider the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), but even there three-quarters fall on the positive side.

Outlook readers show themselves to be loyalists when faced with the greatest threat to any institution — civil war, or, in church terms, schism. The overwhelming majority of Outlook readers — 82 percent — do not think the church should split. Yet most Outlook readers — 56 percent — think that a split is likely. This last point might on the face of it seem to be the most important result of the entire survey. Further investigation of this question reveals, however, that only 5 percent think schism “very likely” and only 11 percent think it “likely.” The plurality of Outlook readers, fully 40 percent, think that a split in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is only “somewhat likely.”

Special Interest Groups

Answers to an unusual pair of questions revealed both that the survey group was slightly left-of-moderate and that the impact of special interest groups may be overstated. The survey reprinted the mission statements of the Presbyterian Coalition and of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, and asked the respondents to identify which was which. Most elders, and more than 80 percent of the ministers, successfully identified the more conservative Coalition and the more liberal Covenant Network statements.

Using the Coalition and the Covenant Network as a rough measure of how conservative and liberal Outlook readers are, we find them to be generally in the center, but with more liberals than conservatives. When asked whether they agree or disagree with the Coalition, 50 percent disagree (35 percent strongly disagree), while only 31 percent agree. Asked the same question about the Covenant Network, 58 percent agree, while only 28 percent disagree.

Readers were sounded out on 20 other Presbyterian organizations as well. Aside from The Outlook itself, the two most familiar organizations to Outlook readers were the Presbyterian Lay Committee and More Light Presbyterians. These organizations probably represent the ideological poles of the spectrum of organizations that we asked about, and opinion was suitably polarized. About the Lay Committee, 65 percent disagreed (54 percent strongly disagreed), versus only 18 percent in agreement. This supports the liberal-leaning interpretation of The Outlook readership in general. On the other hand, the even division of opinion about the More Light Presbyterians — 39 percent agree, 40 percent disagree — shows the limits of that liberalism, and the generally centrist inclinations of these grassroots leaders.

While the groups are numerous, their identification across the denomination appears spotty. More than half the respondents said they had no familiarity with nine of the 20 groups.

Taking all things together, Presbyterian Outlook readers are tolerant theological centrists who fear divisive movements of the left and right, but who remain cautiously optimistic about the future of the Presbyterian Church.