Timely research: Who are our neighbors?

Learning to share the public space with those with whom we disagree; learning to overcome humanity’s abysmal record of religious wars, religious ethnic cleansing, and genocide-fueled religious bigotry—these have become some of the most urgent challenges of our time.” —Ganoune Diop, October 2016

Our friends at PRRI, the Public Religion Research Institute, have published a research summary on more than 100,000 interviews of US adults.

Of these interviews, 40,000 focused on respondents’ values and political views, and included questions about legalized discrimination against LGBT people. PRRI’s research summary also breaks down responses based on religious affiliation.

Take this chart, for example. It addresses support for or opposition to denials of service based on religion or “sincerely held morals”:

The only group more likely than Latter-day Saints to support denials of service in the name of religion are White evangelical Protestants.¹ The groups least likely to support religiously or morally justified service denials are Buddhists and Unitarian Universalists.

Even among religious groups without majority support for same-sex marriage, nearly all oppose religiously based service refusals of gay and lesbian people.” —PRRI, February 3, 2017

And a strong majority of respondents recognize in society “a lot of discrimination” against “gay and lesbian” and “transgender” people. (PRRI’s questions did not address bisexual people.)

In tomorrow’s post, I’ll share some of the history behind these responses. For now, take a look at PRRI’s report, and imagine for yourself how your local faith community might be represented on charts like these.

Denial of service laws don’t just affect small businesses and street vendors. They also impact schools, hospitals, and public social services like clinics, childcare centers, and foster care homes. How, if at all, do you think members of your community might justify social discrimination in these spaces?

Whatever your group’s official position statements on race, sexuality, or care for the foreigner and other vulnerable people, how do group members actually treat Others? Who are your neighbors and how do you show it?

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1. Seventh-day Adventists aren’t among the groups named in PRRI’s report, but can be classified as evangelical Protestants. I know of no recent survey of Seventh-day Adventists that addresses these questions. [Back to text: ◄]