Public Religion Research released jointly with Third Way today Beyond the God Gap: A New Roadmap for Reaching Religious Americans on Public Policy Issues.  In today’s Huffington Post, Third Way’s Jim Kessler and PRR’s Robert P. Jones outline why we created this resource to help journalists, policy makers, and the public retire old stereotypes about religious Americans and politics.

From the Huffington Post:

“Insofar as Evangelicals have demonized gays and lesbians [they] should repent before God.” Was it Jon Stewart who said that? Bill Maher? Barney Frank? No, it was said by an Evangelical pastor of a Southern megachurch — a conservative who calls Mike Huckabee a friend. We live in a new era, marked by an aging and declining Christian right that is increasingly eclipsed by the Tea Party, a nascent but growing chorus of diverse progressive religious voices, and a broadening of political agendas among many people of faith. Maybe it’s time to rethink our assumptions about religious Americans and public policy.

That conviction is the guiding principle of a new paper called Beyond the God Gap, which provides a road map for navigating the complex terrain of religion and public policy in America….

These old “god gap” assumptions [the authors] encountered in our pasts were not atypical. Public conversations about religion and politics continue to fall into well-worn ruts based on stereotypes: evangelical Christians march monolithically to a right-wing tune; mainline Protestants are no longer relevant; Catholics in the pews affirm all official church positions; and the non-religious are moral relativists. But as we have discovered through research and in our own lives, the truth is more nuanced and interesting. And understanding this truth is heartening and essential not only for anyone hoping to make progress on specific issues such as gay and lesbian rights, abortion, and immigration reform, but also for anyone working to foster a more civil dialogue throughout the country.

Today, four religious groupings make up about three-quarters of the U.S. population: white evangelical Protestants, white Mainline Protestants, African American Protestants, and Roman Catholics. In Beyond the God Gap, we took a fresh look not only at political attitudes on key issues, but also at the underlying cultural fabric and theological beliefs that help explain attitudes toward government, voting patterns, and shifts taking place within each of these religious families.

Read the rest of the article at the Huffington Post.

First Ever Polls Comparing Conservative and Progressive Religious Activists
Show Divergent Identities and Strategies,
Common Commitment to Political Involvement

(WASHINGTON, DC) New surveys conducted by leading researchers on religion and politics in America show the divergent ways conservative and progressive religious activists understand their religious identity, engage in politics, and prioritize issues. The 2009 Religious Activist Surveys were conducted by the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron in partnership with Public Religion Research.

“Both conservative and progressive religious activists are committed to being visible and active in the political process,” said Dr. John C. Green, Director of the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron. “This fact suggests that the prominent role that religion played in the 2008 election is likely to continue in the future.”

“If anyone still believed that committed religious activists come down on only one side of any major policy issue, these surveys should finally put that idea to rest,” said Dr. Robert P. Jones, president of Public Religion Research. “These activists are faithful, engaged, and have widely divergent views about both the place of religion in public life and the political implications of their faith.”

Both groups of activists are more likely than members of the general public to report that religion is important in their lives, and they’re more likely to be frequent worshippers. But they approach their faith in strikingly different ways. For example, nearly half of conservative activists (48%) view scripture as the literal word of God, a view held by only 3% of progressives.

Conservative and progressive activists have markedly different political priorities. Conservative activists overwhelmingly identify abortion and same-sex marriage as most important issues. Fewer than 10% of progressive religious activists call those “most important” issues. Highest priorities for progressive activists are poverty (74%), health care (67%), environment (56%), jobs/economy (48%), and the Iraq war (45%).

Progressive religious activists perceived themselves as having significant influence on the 2008 election compared to other groups, while conservative religious activists perceived themselves as having relatively little influence. More than 4-in-10 (43%) progressive activists say that progressive religious groups had a great amount of influence, roughly as influential as labor unions (44%) and business groups (41%). By a nearly 2-to-1 margin, conservative religious activists also thought “religious progressive groups” had a greater influence than “religious conservative groups” (25% vs. 13%).

Among the findings of the surveys:

Issue positions

Conservative and progressive religious activists have sharply different views on cultural, economic, and foreign policy issues.

· Abortion. Conservative religious activists are nearly universally opposed to legalized abortion: 95% say either that abortion should be illegal in all cases (60%) or most cases (35%). In sharp contrast, 80% of progressive religious activists say abortion should be legal in all (26%) or most (54%) cases.

· Gay and Lesbian Issues. On the issue of same-sex marriage, conservatives overwhelmingly oppose (82%) both same-sex marriage and civil unions, while nearly 6-in-10 (59%) progressives support same-sex marriage, and another third support civil unions.

· Health Care. Only 6% of conservative religious activists agree that the U.S. should have comprehensive national health insurance even if it resulted in fewer choices for patients, compared to nearly 8-in-10 (78%) progressive activists who agree.

· Environment. Only 13% of conservative activists agree that more environmental protection is needed even if it raises prices or costs jobs, compared to nearly 9-in-10 (87%) progressive activists who agree.

· Torture. A significant majority of conservative religious activists say torture can often (25%) or sometimes (36%) be justified. Only 5% of progressive religious activists take either of those positions, with 79% saying torture can never be justified.

· Role of Government. Sixty-eight percent of progressive religious activists believe government should increase spending and provide more services. Among conservative religious activists, even larger margins (86%) believe that government should provide fewer services and cut spending.

Politics and the 2008 election

· In 2008, Barack Obama was the solid favorite among progressive religious activists. Conservative religious activists initially were divided but eventually rallied to McCain. Among progressive activists, 58% say Obama was their first choice in the Democratic primary, and 93% supported him in the general election. Conservative activists overwhelmingly supported John McCain in the general election, although they were initially more split among GOP contenders, with 28% calling Mike Huckabee their top choice, Romney getting 22%, and McCain 17%. However, conservative activists hold a much warmer view of McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin. Nearly 9-in-10 activists view Palin favorably, and a majority (53%) have a very favorable opinion of her.

· Both religious activist groups cite faith as an important factor in their voting decision, but conservative activists were more likely to say that their faith was the most important factor. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of the conservative activists say their faith was the most important factor in deciding how to vote in 2008, and another 29% say their faith was as important as other factors. Among progressive activists, 1-in-5 say faith was the most important factor, and 41% report that faith was as important as other factors in deciding who to support in the election.

· Conservative and progressive religious activists report relatively similar levels of participation in traditional campaign activities such as making campaign donations or signing petitions. However, progressive religious activists were much more likely to have participated in a range of online campaign activities. Also, while both groups were active in the presidential campaigns, conservative activists report being somewhat more active than progressives in congressional campaigns (46% vs. 41%), statewide campaigns (41% vs. 37%), and ballot issues (42% vs. 34%).

Religion in public life

· Conservative and progressive religious activists both support a role for religion in public life, but the groups have strongly diverging views of church-state separation. Eighty-one percent of progressive religious activists say the U.S. “should maintain a strict separation of church and state,” a position taken by only 21% of conservative activists.

· More than two-thirds of conservative religious activists say there was not enough public expression of faith and prayer by political leaders during the 2008 election, compared to only 5% of progressive religious activists. Among progressive activists, a majority (52%) say the amount of religious expression by political leaders in 2008 was about right.

· In terms of future public engagement, both conservative and progressive activists strongly emphasized the importance of being publicly visible and politically active. Conservative activists were more likely to emphasize the importance of prayer, whereas progressive activists were more likely to emphasize the importance of civility, pluralism, and social justice.

The full report, including a description of survey methodology, and the survey top lines are available at http://www.publicreligion.org/research/.

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Yesterday, Public Religion Research President Dr. Robert P. Jones participated in a national press conference with leading Evangelical and progressive leaders to announce the Come Let us Reason Together Governing Agenda. The common ground agenda unites moderate evangelical leaders and progressives behind specific policy recommendations on abortion, gay rights, torture and immigration reform. The Governing agenda is the culmination of two years of work led by the progressive think tank Third Way, Evangelical leaders like Reverend Joel C. Hunter, Dr. David Gushee, Robert P. Jones, and and Faith in Public Life. Public Religion Research president Robert P. Jones served as the principal religion advisor for the project.

The following are Dr. Jones’ remarks for the press conference (you can listen to the press conference here):

It’s a great privilege to have been part of this process of “reasoning together” over the last two years. As one who has spent considerable time in both communities represented here— professionally working among progressives and personally growing up as a Southern Baptist in Mississippi—I know how contentious debates over these issues can be, and it has been deeply meaningful for me to see this shared governing agenda emerge, which illuminates a genuinely new path for the country.

I want to make two points about the significance of this governing agenda for the increasingly complex evangelical community, which constitutes a quarter of the U.S. population. First, the Come Let Us Reason Together Governing Agenda heralds the arrival of the second wave of the evangelical center. Where the first wave was marked by a commitment to broadening the agenda beyond abortion and gay and lesbian issues, second wave evangelical centrists have recognized that a biblically balanced agenda requires reengaging with these important, difficult issues with new eyes and new ears.

Second, this governing agenda highlights the priorities of a new evangelical majority that is finding its voice. In the recent Faith and American Politics Survey, conducted by my firm Public Religion Research and sponsored by Faith in Public Life, we found that 40% of evangelicals are centrists, while 46% are traditionalists (or more conservative) and 14% are modernists (or more progressive). Among younger evangelicals (18-34), the evangelical center is even larger (45%). This means that the coalition of centrist/modernist evangelicals account for a majority of evangelicals. Our research also demonstrates that a majority of centrists/modernist evangelicals support even the most divisive areas of our governing agenda, abortion reduction and employment nondiscrimination for gay and lesbian people.

This shared governing agenda, built by big-tent progressives and the emerging evangelical center, is a cause for great hope that we may move toward the beginning of the end of the culture wars at such a critical time in our nation’s public life.

If you are interested in supporting this project visit www.comeletusreasontogether.org, where you can sign on to a letter urging President-elect Obama and congressional leaders to support the governing agenda. You can also find us on Facebook and add your support there.

A groundbreaking survey conducted by Public Religion Research and sponsored by Faith in Public Life details how younger Americans are transforming the political landscape in 2008. The report also reveals the issue priorities and the politics of young evangelicals and young Catholics. The full report can be found here.

Some highlights include:

Monthly worship attenders swing to Obama in 2008. The greatest shift in candidate preference between 2004 and 2008 has occurred among all voters who attend religious services once or twice a month, moving from 49% support for Kerry in 2004 to 60% support for Obama in 2008.

More Americans think Obama is friendly to religion than McCain. Forty-nine percent of Americans say Obama is friendly to religion, while 45% say McCain is friendly to religion. More than seven-in-ten (71%) say it is important for public officials to be comfortable talking about religious values.

Young first-time voters are heavily supporting Obama. Among young first-time voters, who make up close to one-third of this age group (ages 18-34), more than seven-in-ten (71%) support Obama, compared to slightly more than half (53%) of young voters who have voted in previous elections.

Younger Catholics more strongly support Obama, abortion rights, and more active government than older Catholics. While older Catholics (age 35 and older) are split between the candidates (46% for McCain and 44% for Obama), among younger Catholics Obama leads McCain by 15 points (55% to 40%). Six-in-ten younger Catholics say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, compared to half of older Catholics. Younger Catholics are more pro-government than any other religious group, with two-thirds preferring bigger government with more services, compared to 41% support among older Catholics.

Younger white evangelicals strongly oppose abortion rights but are less conservative and more supportive of same-sex marriage than older evangelicals.  Young white evangelicals are strongly opposed to abortion rights, with two-thirds saying abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. Yet, less than a majority (49%) of younger evangelicals identify as conservative, compared to nearly two-thirds (65%) of older evangelicals.  Among young evangelicals, a majority favor either same-sex marriage (24%) or civil unions    (28%), compared to a majority (61%) of older evangelicals who favor no legal recognition of gay couples’ relationships.

Younger white evangelicals are more pluralistic and more supportive of active government at home and of diplomacy abroad. While less than one-third (30%) of older evangelicals say a person can be moral without believing in God, 44% of younger evangelicals affirm this idea, a 14-point gap. A majority (56%) of younger evangelicals believe diplomacy rather than military strength is the best way to ensure peace, compared to only 44% of older white evangelicals. Younger white evangelicals are also more likely than older white evangelicals to favor a bigger government offering more services, by a margin of 21 points (44% and 23% respectively).