{"id":31677,"date":"2022-09-10T15:39:48","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/americans-see-religion-as-a-force-for-good-except-in-one-area\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T15:39:48","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:39:48","slug":"americans-see-religion-as-a-force-for-good-except-in-one-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/americans-see-religion-as-a-force-for-good-except-in-one-area\/","title":{"rendered":"Americans See Religion as a Force for Good, Except in One Area"},"content":{"rendered":"
Ben White photo – Unsplash <\/p>\n

By Aaron Earls<\/em><\/p>\n

Most adults in the United States believe churches have a positive impact in our society, but they still don\u2019t want them involved in politics.<\/p>\n

A Pew Research study found a majority of Americans say churches and religious organizations do more good than harm (55%) and strengthen morality (53%) in American society. Half (50%) say churches mostly bring people together.<\/p>\n

More than 3 in 5 Christians see religion playing a positive role in those areas\u2014do more good than harm (70%), strengthen morality (67%), and mostly bring people together (64%).<\/p>\n

Even many religiously unaffiliated see religion as a force for good. Around 3 in 10 say religion does more good than harm (31%), strengthen morality (29%), and mostly bring people together (26%).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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Still, Americans on the whole are adamant they don\u2019t want to see churches engaged in politics.<\/p>\n

More than 3 in 5 (63%) say churches and other houses of worship should keep out of political matters, while 36% say they should express their views on social and political questions.<\/p>\n

An even larger majority (76%) say churches should not come out in favor of one candidate over another during political elections. Around a quarter (23%) disagree.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This is similar to a 2016 Lifeway Research study that found 79% of Americans say it is inappropriate for pastors to publicly endorse a political candidate during a church service.<\/p>\n

Around 4 in 5 adults (81%) also believe it is inappropriate for churches to use their resources to campaign for candidates for public office, according to Lifeway Research.<\/p>\n

In the Pew Research study, Christians are more divided on the church\u2019s role in politics.<\/p>\n

Seven in 10 American Christians agree that churches should not support one candidate over another.<\/p>\n

However, they are essentially split on whether churches should keep out of political matters (50%) or express their views on social and political questions (48%).<\/p>\n

Evangelicals and black Protestants are slightly more open to political involvement than Christians as a whole.<\/p>\n

Among both groups, 43% say churches should keep out of political matters, with majorities (55% of evangelicals, 54% of black Protestants) saying they should express their views on the issues.<\/p>\n

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See also  The Group Most Likely to Still Be Missing From Your Church<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A clear majority of both groups oppose endorsements (66% of evangelicals, 55% of black Protestants), but are less likely to do so than Christians overall.<\/p>\n

Americans as a whole are divided about how much influence churches and religious organizations have in politics\u201437% say too much, 34% say about the right amount, and 28% say not enough.<\/p>\n

Evangelicals (48%) and black Protestants (54%) are most likely to say churches don\u2019t have enough influence in politics.<\/p>\n

Among the various age demographics, adults under 30 (47%) are most likely to say churches have too much political influence.<\/p>\n

Whether they are actually political engaged or not, most Americans believe religion is no longer as influential as it has been.<\/p>\n

More than 3 in 4 Americans (78%) say religion is losing influence in American life, including 42% who say the waning influence is a bad thing.<\/p>\n

Only 17% of the nation say religion is losing influence and that is a good thing.<\/p>\n

One in 5 (20%) believe religion is actually gaining influence, including 6% who say that is a bad thing and 10% who see it as a positive.<\/p>\n

Among Christians, 58% say religion is losing its influence and that is a bad thing. Evangelicals (68%) are the group most likely to say this.<\/p>\n

Around 1 in 5 Christians (21%) say religion is gaining influence, with 14% saying this is a good thing.<\/p>\n

Black Protestants are most likely to believe religion is gaining influence (33%) and see it as a positive (22%).<\/p>\n

AARON EARLS (@WardrobeDoor)<\/strong> is online editor of <\/em>Facts & Trends.<\/p>\n

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Dig Deeper at Lifeway.com<\/div>\n
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Letters to an American Christian<\/h2>\n

Bruce Riley Ashford<\/p>\n

FIND OUT MORE <\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Related posts:<\/h3>\n
Most Open to Spiritual Conversations, Few Christians Speaking 22 Vital Stats for Ministry in 2022 Fewer Americans Identify as Christians 3 Ways to Reach Non-Religious People in Your Community <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ben White photo – Unsplash By Aaron Earls Most adults in the United States believe churches have a positive impact in our society, but they still don\u2019t want them involved in politics. A Pew Research study found a majority of Americans say churches and religious organizations do more good than harm (55%) and strengthen morality … Continue reading “Americans See Religion as a Force for Good, Except in One Area”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31677\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}