Posted on 10/04/2023 8:00:46 AM PDT by Morgana
Pastors at mainline Protestant churches are much more likely to identify as liberal than their congregants as most of them hold progressive positions on hot-button social issues, according to a new survey.
The Public Religion Research Institute released the results of a study based on responses collected between November 2022 and May 2023 from 3,066 clergy last month.
All respondents belong to one of the seven largest mainline Protestant denominations: the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the American Baptist Churches USA, the Presbyterian Church USA, the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ.
The survey examined the political ideology and partisan affiliation of pastors, comparing such information to data about the views of congregants from the PRRI’s 2022 Health of Congregations Survey. Overall, 55% of pastors identify as liberal, while moderates and conservatives each constitute 22% of respondents.
On the other hand, just 23% of white mainline Protestant churchgoers categorize themselves as liberal. Larger shares of such churchgoers view themselves as moderate (32%) and conservative (43%).
Broken down by specific denomination, the United Church of Christ had the highest share of pastors who identify as liberal (84%), followed by the Presbyterian Church USA (70%), the Episcopal Church (69%), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (68%) and the Disciples of Christ (62%). Liberals accounted for 44% of the United Methodist Church clergy. Only the American Baptist Churches USA had a majority of clergy (56%) who labeled themselves as conservative.
Looking at partisan affiliation as opposed to political ideology yielded similar findings, with 49% of mainline Protestant clergy affiliating with the Democratic Party compared to just 24% of white mainline Protestant congregants. A plurality of white mainline Protestant churchgoers (36%) identify as Republicans and 35% are independents.
Seventy-one percent of United Church of Christ clergy identified with the Democratic Party, along with 61% of Presbyterian Church USA clergy, 60% of Episcopal Church clergy, 60% of Disciples of Christ clergy and 59% of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America clergy. Democrats made up 38% of the United Methodist Church pastors surveyed, while a narrow plurality (32%) of American Baptist Churches USA clergy were Republicans.
On issues related to LGBT ideology, members of the clergy were also more liberal than white mainline Protestant churchgoers. Ninety percent of pastors surveyed support “nondiscrimination protections” for LGBT people, while 79% favor allowing same-sex couples to marry and 69% oppose allowing faith-based businesses to refuse to provide services for LGBT people if doing so violates their religious beliefs.
Among white mainline Protestant churchgoers, LGBT nondiscrimination protections (77%) and same-sex marriage (72%) also received majority support, while 57% expressed opposition to religiously based service refusals. Near-universal support for LGBT nondiscrimination protections was measured among pastors affiliated with the United Church of Christ (97%), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (96%), the Episcopal Church (95%) and the Presbyterian Church USA (94%).
Substantially large shares of pastors affiliated with the Disciples of Christ (90%), the United Methodist Church (87%) and American Baptist Churches USA (80%) also favored LGBT nondiscrimination protections. Pastors affiliated with the United Church of Christ (95%), the Presbyterian Church USA (94%), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (93%) and the Episcopal Church (91%) expressed near-unanimous support for same-sex marriage.
While smaller majorities of clergy associated with the Disciples of Christ (78%) and the United Methodist Church (72%) favored same-sex marriage, just 39% of American Baptist Churches USA pastors did.
Ninety percent of United Church of Christ pastors opposed religiously based service refusals, followed by 79% of Episcopal Church clergy, 78% of those affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Presbyterian Church USA, 71% of Disciples of Christ pastors and 62% of United Methodist Church pastors.
American Baptist Churches USA pastors were once again the outlier on religiously based service refusals, with just 37% opposing allowing faith-based business owners to refrain from providing services to LGBT individuals if doing so went against their religious beliefs. Differences in opinion between pastors and congregations as well as across different denominations also manifested on the issue of abortion.
Seventy-three percent of mainline Protestant pastors opposed the United States Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. A smaller share of white mainline Protestant churchgoers (67%) disapproved of the reversal of Roe.
Opposition to the reversal of Roe was highest among the United Church of Christ clergy (91%) but large majorities of Presbyterian Church USA pastors (85%), Evangelical Lutheran Church in America pastors (84%), Episcopal Church pastors (83%), Disciples of Christ clergy (80%) and United Methodist Church pastors (65%) also disapproved of the overturning of Roe. American Baptist Churches USA pastors were the only group of white mainline Protestant clergy where less than half (48%) opposed the Dobbs decision.
With that said why don't the congregants get rid of them and get some one more conservative?
Just as Republican Politicians are more liberal than their voters.
Progressive is not liberal. We need to quit letting anyone conflate the terms.
“Progressive” is the tranny version of liberal — fake and poisonous by design.
Exactly Yet when running for election they tell us how conservative they are.
Liberal isn’t liberal. The communists hijacked that term too.
I am a liberal, in the classical sense, they are not.
In a similar survey, Pope more likely to be catholic.
“Severely” Conservative!
Our leaders suck eggs on that I agree.
As a rule of thumb, the more wealth and/or status you have, the more likely you are to throw in with globohomo.
Agree.
And most Roman Catholic clergy more gay than their parishioners...
No surprise there.
People may be aware that their denominations are liberal, but they like their pastor and think there is no way. Denial is a horrible thing.
Sad, but true.
Kind of cutting off the branch you are sitting on.
I have witnessed this up close and personal. I asked a local pastor if he understood that the churches are the last line of defense against the LGBTQ movement in America. His response was, "Well, we have to be careful about this issue because we don't want to upset our congregations."
I told him young people are under attack. They are being persuaded in schools, by friends, and in the media that homosexuality and gender reassignment is okay...even a good thing. If the churches aren't willing to preach about such sins, where do you expect them to learn what the Bible teaches?
This preacher said nothing in response.
White evangelical Protestants stand noticeably apart from other religious people on how the government should act on two of the most politically divisive issues at play in the 2020 presidential election, according to a new poll of Americans from various faith backgrounds.
Asked about significant restrictions on abortion — making it illegal except in cases of rape, incest or to threats to a mother’s life — 37 percent of all Americans responded in support, according to the poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Those abortion limits drew 39 percent support from white mainline Protestants, 33 percent support from nonwhite Protestants and 45 percent support from Catholics, but 67 percent support from white evangelical Protestants.
A similar divide emerged over whether the government should bar discrimination against people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender in workplaces, housing or schools. About 6 in 10 Catholics, white mainline Protestants and nonwhite Protestants supported those protections, compared with about a third of white evangelical Protestants. - https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/white-evangelicals-distinct-lgbtq-rights-abortion-n1109446
And from a recent post of mine in response to a RC who asked me about my statement that most Catholics support homosexual unions:”
40% Roman Catholics vs. 41% Non-R.C. see abortion as "morally acceptable"; Sex between unmarried couples: 67% vs. 57%; Baby out of wedlock: 61% vs. 52%; Homosexual relations: 54% vs. 45%; Gambling: 72% vs. 59% http://www.gallup.com/poll/117154/Catholics-Similar-Mainstream-Abortion-Stem-Cells.aspx
Homosexual activity or sex was sin: 72 percent of Protestants affirmed versus 42 percent of Catholics . Ellison Research, March 11, 2008
Among Christian traditions, Protestants are more likely than Roman Catholics to include most of the 30 different behaviors as sin. The biggest differences included gambling (50 percent of Protestants compared to 15 percent of Catholics); failing to tithe 10 percent or more of one's income (32 percent to 9 percent); getting drunk (63 percent to 28 percent); gossip (70 percent to 45 percent); and homosexual activity or sex (72 percent to 42 percent). - https://www.christianpost.com/article/20080312/study-behaviors-americans-consider-sinful.htm
A 2002 nationwide poll of 1,854 priests in the United States and Puerto Rico reported that..49 percent affirmed that it was always a sin to engage in homosexual behavior, often, 25 percent; and never, 19 percent. - https://www.bishop-accountability.org/resources/resource-files/reports/LAT-Priest-Survey.pdf
79 percent of American Jews, 58 percent of Catholics and 56 percent of mainline Protestants favor acceptance of homosexuality, versus 39 percent of members of historically black churches, 27 percent of Muslims and 26 percent of the evangelical Protestants. U.S. U.S. Religious landscape survey; Copyright © 2008 The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2008/06/report2-religious-landscape-study-full.pdf P. 147
[2008] 30% of Catholics say homosexuality should be discouraged by society.. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2008/06/report2-religious-landscape-study-full.pdf P. 94
[2011] A majority of Catholics (56%) believe that sexual relations between two adults of the same gender is not a sin. Among the general population, less than half (46%) believe it is not a sin. - Public Religion Research Institute, In https://www.prri.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Catholics-and-LGBT-Issues-Survey-Report.pdf P. 1
Nearly three-‐quarters of Catholics favor either allowing gay and lesbian people to marry (43%) or allowing them to form civil unions (31%). Only 22% of Catholics say there should be no legal recognition of a gay couple’s relationship. 60% of Catholics overall, and 53% of the general public favor allowing homosexual couples to adopt children. - https://www.prri.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Catholics-and-LGBT-Issues-Survey-Report.pdf P. 1
Catholics are more supportive of legal recognitions of same-‐sex relationships than members of any other Christian tradition and Americans overall. Nearly three-‐quarters of Catholics favor either allowing gay and lesbian people to marry (43%) or allowing them to form civil unions (31%). Only about 1-‐in-‐ 5 (22%) say there should be no legal recognition for a gay couple’s relationship. By comparison, a majority of black Protestants and white evangelical Protestants oppose any form of legal recognition for same-‐sex couples (52% and 58% respectively) (PRRI, Pre-‐election American Values Survey, 9/2010). - https://www.prri.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Catholics-and-LGBT-Issues-Survey-Report.pdf P. 6
About half of Hispanic Catholics favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally (54%), while 31% of Latino Catholics oppose same-sex marriage. About seven-in-ten Hispanics who are religiously unaffiliated also favor legal marriage for gays and lesbians (71%). Hispanic evangelical Protestants, by contrast, remain opposed to legal marriage for gays and lesbians by more than two-to-one (66% opposed, 25% in favor).
White, non-Hispanic Catholics express about as much support for same-sex marriage as Hispanic Catholics do (53% and 54%, respectively). White evangelical Protestants are somewhat more opposed to gay marriage (76%) than are Hispanic evangelical Protestants (66%). - https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2012/10/18/latinos-religion-and-campaign-2012/
[2020] In the United States, about six-in-ten Catholics (61%) said in a 2019 survey that they favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry.
In Western Europe, large majorities of Catholics said in 2017 that they support legal same-sex marriage [as in 16 out of 22 countries polled] . That was the case in the Netherlands (92%), the United Kingdom (78%), France (74%) and Germany (70%).
In Eastern Europe, acceptance was weaker, with roughly half or fewer of Catholics saying that homosexuality should be accepted by society in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Lithuania. (In Lithuania, however, 27% of Catholics did not respond to the question.) - https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/11/02/how-catholics-around-the-world-see-same-sex-marriage-homosexuality/
In some of the other surveyed countries, including in Africa and the Middle East, large majorities of Catholics said homosexuality should not be accepted by society. That was the case in Nigeria (91%), Lebanon (84%) and Kenya (80%). - https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/11/02/how-catholics-around-the-world-see-same-sex-marriage-homosexuality/
A majority of Catholics have consistently approved of gay marriage in Gallup polling since 2011, with an average 59% approving from 2011-2015, rising to an average 69% since 2016. U.S. Catholics' support for gay marriage has consistently exceeded the national average by five or more percentage points since the 2000s. - https://news.gallup.com/poll/322805/catholics-backed-sex-marriage-2011.aspx Also, After examining the official web sites of 244 Catholic universities and colleges in America, the TFP Student Action found that 107 – or 43% have pro-homosexual clubs. TFP Student Action Dec. 6. 2011; https://veneremurcernui.wordpress.com/2011/12/08/pro-gay-clubs-found-at-107-catholic-universities/
My ancestors from France were run out because of their Protestant faith.
I know nothing about that faith. But I thought they were too faithful, maybe.
Anyone? Looking fro a denominational church. Anyone know about it?
The ELCA is apostate. Congregants who recognize this have an obligation. In my view they need to challenge local leaders to repent using sound scriptural requirements and references. If successful, this would likely include ELCA departure. If not, one needs to leave.
I have been trying to think of one major traditional US institution, whether government, religious, academic or private - which has not been corrupted by neo-marxism and globohomo.
I can’t think of one
Apostasy.
Never trust a man in a dress.
Id agree up to a point
Church of God
Church of Christ Harding style
And other more fundamentalist
Would be exceptions
What Catholics here refer to as mainline are the liberal Protestants
Reformed Lutheran
United Methodist
PCUSA
DOC
Congregationalist
All very culture left in my opinion
Southern Baptist epitomize conservative attendees and more moderate preachers
Suburban preachers are very political animals
Often trying to be all things
When I was a kid SBC preachers were fire breathers
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