Poll-Watch: Back-Lash? Majority of Americans Now Want Churches Out of Politics

By Joshua Holland, AlterNet
Posted on August 22, 2008, Printed on May 27, 2012
http://www.alternet.org/story/96045/poll-watch%3A_back-lash_majority_of_americans_now_want_churches_out_of_politics

A new poll from Pew finds a slim majority of the public "saying that churches and other houses of worship should keep out of political matters and not express their views on day-to-day social and political matters."

The new national survey by the Pew Research Center reveals that most of the reconsideration of the desirability of religious involvement in politics has occurred among conservatives. Four years ago, just 30% of conservatives believed that churches and other houses of worship should stay out of politics. Today, 50% of conservatives express this view.

As a result, conservatives' views on this issue are much more in line with the views of moderates and liberals than was previously the case. Similarly, the sharp divisions between Republicans and Democrats that previously existed on this issue have disappeared.

There are other signs in the new poll about a potential change in the climate of opinion about mixing religion and politics.

Joshua Holland is an editor and senior writer at AlterNet.

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