The Public Religion Research Institute recently released a poll examining religous-based attitudes about same-sex marriage among Californians. The findings are disappointing, though not particularly surprising. Here are some excerpts from the summary of poll findings:
•If another vote similar to Proposition 8 were held tomorrow, a majority (51%) say they would vote to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry, compared to 45% who say they would vote to keep same-sex marriage illegal.
• There are major religious groups on both sides of the debate. . . . Solid majorities of Latino Catholics and white mainline Protestants say they would vote to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry, while solid majorities of white evangelical Protestants, Latino Protestants, and African American Protestants say they would vote to keep same-sex marriage illegal.
• An overwhelming majority of Californians, and majorities of all major religious groups except Latino Protestants, say they both favor laws that would protect gay and lesbian people from job discrimination and favor allowing gay and lesbian people to serve openly in the military (75% and 69% respectively). A majority (56%) of Californians favor adoption rights for same-sex couples.
• . . . A majority of Latino Catholics (57%) say they would vote to allow gay and lesbian couple to marry, compared to just 22% of Latino Protestants. The Catholic-Protestant divide in the Latino community is evident across a wide range of public policy issues related to gay and lesbian rights.
• In the wider California religious community, there are also significant Catholic-Protestant differences in the frequency with which each group hears about the issue of homosexuality from their clergy. Protestants are significantly more likely to hear about the issue than Catholics. . . . Mainline Protestants are the only major religious group that is more likely to hear positive than negative messages about homosexuality from their clergy.
• The messages about homosexuality that Californians hear at their place of worship are correlated with their views on same-sex marriage. . . .
The full text of the report can be found here.
(Via: Religion Clause)
July 26th, 2010 | 9:59 am
Interesting that Latino Protestants are more opposed to gay marriage than Catholics–considering that the Catholic Church opposes the practice whereas in mainstream Protestant churches teaching is hit-or-miss on this issue. This might have to do with bad local priests–but it also might be the case that the Latino Protestants are by and large more committed and serious about their chosen religion. One can be “Catholic” and never go to church.
July 26th, 2010 | 10:03 am
Looks like somebody needs to send missionaries to Californian christians.
July 26th, 2010 | 10:20 am
Good to see many Christians and other people of faith supporting our gay and lesbian brethren’s civil and human rights. It’s the decent thing to do.
July 26th, 2010 | 10:23 am
Peter’s right. Like a lot of Anglos, Latino Catholics are Andrew Greeley’s “communal (read: tribal) Catholics.” Those Latinos who’ve become Protestants are evangelicals, well-catechized and fervent in their belief. You know, like, Christians!!
July 26th, 2010 | 10:44 am
Good to hear.
It’s time for full civil and marriage equality rights in 21st century America.
As a CT justice of the peace, where civil unions were legalized in 2005, and marriage equality in 2008, I perform non-religious civil marriage ceremonies for couples coming to CT to wed, many of whom have been together for 20, 30 and 45 years!
And lets not forget that marriage licenses are issued by and recorded in town halls, not church halls, or mosques or temples in America.
Onward, Joe Mustich, Justice of the Peace,
Washington, Connecticut, USA.
July 26th, 2010 | 12:10 pm
Joseph, please stop disgracing the institution of marriage. Seriously. You people have reduced it to a tool for political self-righteousness.
July 26th, 2010 | 1:51 pm
Peter,
I would suggest that Catholic Latinos are likely to have a very fleeting relationship to the Bible unlike Protestant Latinos and Romans chapter one clearly condemns both gay and lesbian activity in se…in the nature of the act regardless of long duration couplings. Catholicism is the true fullness of the truth potentially unless Catholics neglect full commitment to the Bible. And they do neglect all the time. I have 16 years of Catholic education and I know few Catholics who could tell what I just said about Romans.
Further you recently had Pope John Paul II write on the death penalty in EV and he never once
referred to Romans 13:4 on the topic. Aquinas when writing on usury preferred Aristotle to the obvious sense of the OT passage which allowed the Jews to take interest from foreigners; Aquinas went on to say that they were still sinning. Jerome saw little value in having many children since some could perish inter Alia in damnation and thus he disregarded Titus who said that generally women are saved through child rearing.
In short Protestants were not incorrect that we often ignore scripture both our leaders do and our laity do….but then Protestants ruined their whole point by destroying Western culture with divorce etc by their reading scripture and interpreting it outside the chain of Bishops established and continued by the laying on of hands.
July 26th, 2010 | 9:38 pm
As a Catholic, I find it distressing that Latino Catholics reject the Church’s teaching on sexuality. I suspect that as in polling on many other issues (ex. abortion), the difference in the attitudes between the church going group (aka comitted Catholics) and the non-church going group would be striking. I agree with Peter that anyone can be labelled as Catholic and the label say absolutely nothing related to Catholic belief.
One can’t help but sometimes think about Jesus’ warning about the almost total absence of faith in the end times. I wonder if this is what it will be like….abortion on demand, unlimited sexual license, men marrying men, no personal sin to confess, and on and on.
And no Javier and Joseph, this is not about civil rights, a tiresome mantra used by the gay lobby to bash the public for too many years.
Regards from Canada.
July 27th, 2010 | 8:04 am
One’s personal religious views on same-sex marriages are relationships should not determine one’s view on whether they should be legally recognized. Religion is a private, personal matter that should not dictate other people’s secular civil rights. Government should not favor nor endorse a particular religious belief over another.
As a Christian, I do not want to use my religion to force other people to abide by it’s principles. There are Christians and Jews that religiously bless gay marriages, so why should Christians who don’t determine the secular law for people who have a different theological perspective? Religion should not be used as a weapon to subjugate people who do not hold your religious beliefs. Christianity is a religion that calls people to voluntarily submit to Jesus Christ. If someone has a different understanding or belief, they are free to live in accordance with their conscience. Government should not prefer or endorse conservative CHristian/Jewish dogma over other religious or secular views, especially in an era where are growing number of people do not hold to conservative CHristian belief. You cannot force people to have a religious creed in which they do not believe or love.
July 27th, 2010 | 12:46 pm
Tony
July 26th, 2010 | 9:38 pm
As a Catholic, I find it distressing that Latino Catholics reject the Church’s teaching on sexuality. I suspect that as in polling on many other issues (ex. abortion), the difference in the attitudes between the church going group (aka comitted Catholics) and the non-church going group would be striking. I agree with Peter that anyone can be labelled as Catholic and the label say absolutely nothing related to Catholic belief.
One can’t help but sometimes think about Jesus’ warning about the almost total absence of faith in the end times. I wonder if this is what it will be like….abortion on demand, unlimited sexual license, men marrying men, no personal sin to confess, and on and on.
And no Javier and Joseph, this is not about civil rights, a tiresome mantra used by the gay lobby to bash the public for too many years.
Regards from Canada.
—————————————-
Wow you are a little Christian fanatic fundamentalist foaming about the mouth aren’t you? I believe the Pope also says that using condoms and contraceptives is against God’s will and against nature. The church also did not apologize for Galileo’s decapitation until very recently. The Pope also practices self mortification as a way of “gaining salvation”.
Do you also know that the Vatican is the only “country” in Europe who doesn’t allow its female inhabitants to vote and that all of its inhabitants are required by law to be Catholics? The only examples I can find that come closest to the Vatican are Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
If you feel you have the revolting righteous one-upmanship to arrogantly demand other people to confess their “personal sins”, please move to these religious oases mentioned above. If anybody needs to be confessing their sins within the church, they are the child molesting priests and the ones implicated in their massive cover-ups of abuse.
Bashing the public? Canada has had same sex marriage for five years. Has anybody been bothered by that except for religious fringe groups with members like you? NONE. The majority of Canadians, poll after poll, shows that they want same sex marriage to stay (the latest says 61% – http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/07/26/14835021.html)
Tony. Please move out of Canada. Your religious dogma smacks of religious Nazi-sm that I view deleterious to the multicultural tolerant Canadian values I was brought up to learn.
July 27th, 2010 | 1:04 pm
Wow, way to be a walking cliche, Tom.
July 27th, 2010 | 1:14 pm
Rep. John Lewis, ally and close associate of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., has said,
“I have fought too hard and for too long against discrimination based on race and color not to stand up against discrimination based on sexual orientation. I’ve heard the reasons for opposing civil marriage for same-sex couples. Cut through the distractions, and they stink of the same fear, hatred and intolerance I have known in racism.”
I think he’s a greater authority on the subject of civil rights than you.
July 27th, 2010 | 3:31 pm
“and that all of its inhabitants are required by law to be Catholics? The only examples I can find that come closest to the Vatican are Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan.”
That’d be news to the small number of rather persecuted Catholics in those countries…
July 27th, 2010 | 10:59 pm
Probably worth noting who funded this survey and why. (see link)
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