A survey from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that 70 percent of those who are affiliated with a religion or denomination believe that “many religions can lead to eternal life.” Nearly two-thirds of Protestants held that belief (66 percent), including 83 percent of those affiliated with mainline Protestant churches and 57 percent of evangelical Protestants, along with 79 percent of Catholics.
More than half of Muslims surveyed (56 percent) saw more than one road to eternal life, as did more than eight-of-10 Jews, Buddhists, and Hindus.
Some may see that as a sign of tolerance among Americans; others, that people don’t understand or agree with the basic teachings of even their own faith traditions.
Is this diversity or shallowness of views — or maybe some of both?
“Most Americans also believe there is more than one correct way to interpret the teachings of their own faith,” said John Green, a senior fellow on religion and American politics at the Pew Forum, speaking at a news conference announcing the findings. “This finding may be surprising to many people because, in the public square, religious people with a strong dogmatic or exclusive view of their faith are often the most visible. We believe this non-dogmatic approach to faith is consistent with the great diversity of American religion.”
And there are links between religious belief and the views people hold on public policy issues, particularly on controversial ones such as abortion or homosexuality. Conservative or traditional religious views tend to correlate with conservative political views on some eternally-controversial social issues.
But it’s less obvious how religious conviction correlates with views on other public issues, such as foreign policy or environmental policy. On matters such as those, people’s political views tend to cross religious lines.
Those are some of the findings from the recently-released second report of the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, which is considered significant in part because of its breadth. The Pew Forum on Religion conducted the telephone survey of more than 35,000 American adults between May and August 2007. Because so many were interviewed, the researchers were able to measure the religious views of even relatively small groups – providing an in-depth view of the diversity of American religious belief.
Here are some key findings of the study.
Politics. Not surprisingly, Mormons and evangelical Christians tend to be more conservative in their political views, and Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, and atheists tend to be more liberal. Those who regularly attend worship and hold traditional religious views are much more likely to lean conservative politically, while people who are not as tied to religious traditions and are more secular tilt toward liberalism.
That tends to hold particularly true for hot-button social issues, such as abortion and homosexuality. For example, asked whether abortion should be illegal in most or all cases, seven-in-10 Mormons and six-in-10 members of evangelical churches said “Yes,” while six-in-10 members of mainline Protestant churches and seven-in-10 of the religiously unaffiliated said abortion should be legal in most circumstances.
More conservative religious views also seemed to be stronger among those who most frequently attend religious services. For example, nearly three-in-four members of evangelical churches who attend church at least once a week said abortion should be illegal in nearly every circumstance — compared with just 45 percent of evangelical church members who attend less often.
But on other political issues, more agreement seems to exist across religious lines. Majorities of people from most religious traditions, for example, said government should do more to help the needy, and supported more stringent environmental regulation, even at higher cost. There also was agreement across religious lines that “diplomacy rather than military strength is the best way to ensure peace,” the report states.
What are the implications of this for the upcoming election?
“Quite frankly, there are votes to be had for both Democratic and Republican candidates by making appeals to religious groups,” Green said. “Some groups are more solidly in one party than the other; some groups are completely up for grabs. We do have some evidence, in this survey and also in other surveys, that evangelical Protestants may be more in flux this time than they were in 2004.”
He said later that “the right Democratic candidate, with the right kind of appeal, may very well be able to make inroads among conservative religious voters, at least as compared to 2000 and 2004.”
Some sizeable minorities also see religion itself as being a significant source of difficulty in the world.
Most Americans — 62 percent, including a majority of Christians and more than two-thirds of Muslims — do not believe that religion causes more problems in society than it fixes. But others see it differently, particularly those from minority religions in the United States or with little or no religious affiliation. Those who responded that religion does cause more problems than it solves included nearly half of Jews (49 percent); a majority of Buddhists (56 percent) and Hindus (57 percent); the unaffiliated (59 percent) and three quarters of atheists (77 percent).
Personal belief. While certainly diverse, the United States is still a country of significant religious faith.
More than half of American adults consider religion very important in their lives, regularly attend religious services and pray every day. Many of those who are religiously unaffiliated also show evidence of faith, with four out of 10 saying religion is at least somewhat important in their lives, seven-in-10 saying they believe in God and just over a quarter attending religious services at least a few times a year.
Even some who described themselves as atheist show evidence of some religious belief. Ten percent of atheists and 18 percent of agnostics said they pray at least once a week – and roughly equal numbers said they believe in heaven. Asked if they believe in God or a universal spirit, overall nine-in-10 said yes — including 21 percent of atheists and 55 percent of agnostics.
Asked about that, Green said during the news conference that some of those surveyed may not understand what “atheist” means; there could be some measurement error.
“But more importantly, that disjunction may show us the complicated ways people think about their faith,” Green said. “Many people who identify as atheists may not be telling us they don’t believe in God. They may be telling us they don’t like organized religion and that’s the association they have with atheism. … There’s a lot of complexity in American religion, and it produces lots of strange results. In addition to having atheists who say they believe in God, we have people who tell us they’re very committed to a religious tradition and who also report they don’t believe in God.”
