smac97 Posted November 26, 2019 Posted November 26, 2019 Here: Quote Massive majorities of Americans across the political spectrum support maximum toleration and accommodation of religious practices in the public and private realms, according to a newly launched annual survey. The accompanying chart dramatically demonstrates that support for religious freedom is overwhelmingly bipartisan, cutting across the ideological and party spectrums: The 2019 Religious Freedom Index from the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty is a nationally representative survey of 1,000 individuals who were asked a battery of 21 questions designed to measure opinion on six major dimensions of religious freedom in America. The responses are then compiled into an overall measure, the Religious Freedom Index. The 2019 survey will henceforth be repeated annually with identical wording of the questions, according to Beckett. The overall index of support for religious freedom in 2019 is 67, with 100 indicating “robust support” of religious freedom and 0 meaning complete opposition. This is very encouraging. And kudos to the Beckett Fund folks. Quote The three overall conclusions shown by the survey, according to Beckett, include: Even after decades of religious freedom being pulled into the culture wars, Americans accept and support a broad interpretation of religious freedom. Contrary to popular narratives of increased tribalism and polarization, Americans support a culture of accommodation for minority faith practices. Americans are uncomfortable with the idea of the government penalizing groups and individuals for living out their religious beliefs. The entire article, and the link in it, are worth a read. Thoughts? Thanks, -Smac 2
blueglass Posted November 26, 2019 Posted November 26, 2019 (edited) This was a surprise to me, "63 percent of the respondents “supported the freedom to practice religion in daily life and at work, even when it creates an imposition or inconvenience for others.” Not sure where the trend is headed or where this was 10 years ago? Edited November 26, 2019 by blueglass
Ahab Posted November 26, 2019 Posted November 26, 2019 3 minutes ago, blueglass said: This was a surprise to me, "63 percent of the respondents “supported the freedom to practice religion in daily life and at work, even when it creates an imposition or inconvenience for others.” Not sure where the trend is headed or where this was 10 years ago? Makes me wonder if how many of those 63% are the employers or supervisor/managers. Rome had a lot of liberal citizens too but all it took was the minority in charge to direct their subjects to persecute Christians and any other religious group they didn't accept.
blueglass Posted November 26, 2019 Posted November 26, 2019 17 minutes ago, Ahab said: Makes me wonder if how many of those 63% are the employers or supervisor/managers. Rome had a lot of liberal citizens too but all it took was the minority in charge to direct their subjects to persecute Christians and any other religious group they didn't accept. Brendan Eich the inventor of Javascript was asked to resign from Mozilla, Mozilla announced Eich’s resignation Thursday afternoon in a blog post, saying that his hiring did not reflect the organization’s beliefs. https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-mozilla-ceo-resigns-under-fire-prop-8-20140403-story.html
Calm Posted November 26, 2019 Posted November 26, 2019 No time to read right now... Do they give specific cases where conflict between individuals might occur? Abstract questions resulting in positive views of religious freedom (or other forms of freedom) doesn't surprise me at all.
Calm Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 (edited) I am not sure how reliable a study this is given they provide the very information they are claiming to measure. Quote It is very interesting to note that the large majority of Americans personally accept and support the ability of people of faith to believe and live according to their beliefs. Yet, when asked, these same people report that they DO NOT feel that our society is very accepting or supporting of people of faith. In other words, our perceptions of how society treats people of faith is very different than how we individually treat people of faith. Why do you believe our perceptions of how society treats people of faith are so much worse than how most Americans actually see and treat people of faith? Please write a couple of sentences explaining what might be going on. What makes our perceptions so much worse than our actual experience? Page 53 https://s3.amazonaws.com/becketnewsite/2019-Religious-Freedom-Index.pdf I am going to get my prof husband to take a look at it and see how he evaluates it (he does this kind of stuff in his field). Loaded language imo Quote Smith believes that business owners or private organizations holding unpopular views–or what some might consider repulsive or discriminatory views—deserve to be boycotted, harassed or even shut down. Society should not tolerate any type of view or behavior that could be construed as hateful or discriminatory. Jones believes that business owners or private organizations have the right to hold any view they want—even if it is no longer politically correct and seems hateful and discriminatory to others—without the threat of losing their jobs or business. A society founded on freedom of speech and freedom of religion should tolerate the expression of these freedoms for all citizens. Who is not going to disagree with Smith? Quote Smith believes that people of faith holding unpopular views–or what some might consider repulsive or discriminatory views—deserve to be harassed or silenced. Society should not tolerate any type of view or behavior that could be construed as hateful or discriminatory. Jones believes that people of faith have the right to hold any view they want—even if it is no longer politically correct and seems hateful and discriminatory to others—without the threat of being harassed or silenced. A society founded on freedom of speech and freedom of religion should tolerate the expression of these freedoms for all citizens. At this point I would be shocked if they got low numbers instead of the high ones they actually found. I am not impressed with the informative value of the survey. It feels more like push polling (not saying that was the intent, just that is what they ended up with). No real specific actions, no conflicts of liberties to choose from to show strength of commitment, just questions about discriminating against those of religious belief. Word choice slanted to presenting restriction of liberties in a negative way (harassing, silenced). Unfortunate the questions weren't more neutral. This kind of research done well would be valuable, imo. Hopefully they will get feedback that causes them to alter it since they plan to continue. Edited November 27, 2019 by Calm 2
Scott Lloyd Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 (edited) 11 hours ago, smac97 said: Here: This is very encouraging. And kudos to the Beckett Fund folks. The entire article, and the link in it, are worth a read. Thoughts? Thanks, -Smac This is superficially encouraging. But I’m curious about how all this translates into other public policy views. For example, what portion of those who say they support religious liberty would favor taxing churches or forcing churches against their will to perform gay weddings? Edited November 27, 2019 by Scott Lloyd 1
Hamba Tuhan Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 8 hours ago, blueglass said: Brendan Eich the inventor of Javascript was asked to resign from Mozilla, After which I completely stopped using Firefox on both my personal and work computers. Not that anyone important will have noticed ...
sunstoned Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 1 hour ago, Scott Lloyd said: This is superficiallyy encouraging. But I’m curious about how all this translates into other public policy views. For example, what portion of those who say they support religious liberty would favor taxing churches or forcing churches against their will to perform gay weddings? Is there any evidence of churches being forced to perform gay weddings against there will? I would be really interested if you could provide some references on this. 1
Scott Lloyd Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 (edited) 49 minutes ago, sunstoned said: Is there any evidence of churches being forced to perform gay weddings against there will? I would be really interested if you could provide some references on this. If not, I’m afraid it’s only a matter of time. Not too long ago, I never would have supposed a baker could be forced to create a cake to celebrate a gay wedding (involuntary servitude). Edited November 27, 2019 by Scott Lloyd
sunstoned Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 I don't think we have anything really to worry about. No one forced the church stop its racist priesthood practices, and that went on for over a hundred years.
Scott Lloyd Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 9 hours ago, sunstoned said: I don't think we have anything really to worry about. No one forced the church stop its racist priesthood practices, and that went on for over a hundred years. I take it, then, that you’re not among those who push the preposterous narrative that the 1978 revelation was driven by governmental pressure.
sunstoned Posted November 28, 2019 Posted November 28, 2019 16 hours ago, Scott Lloyd said: I take it, then, that you’re not among those who push the preposterous narrative that the 1978 revelation was driven by governmental pressure. I wasn't there, so I can't really say. I know there was social pressure, some of it coming from sports programs. However, I am unaware of any government pressure, and in fact I would be surprised if there was any. If there was, the press would have picked up on it.
The Nehor Posted November 28, 2019 Posted November 28, 2019 This seems like a meaningless survey. It is like a survey asking people if they are racist or are physically attracted to sheep. Almost everyone is going to say no but then when someone of another ethnicity annoys them or a particularly attractive sheep walks by all bets are off. 2
blueglass Posted November 28, 2019 Posted November 28, 2019 (edited) Reflecting upon Reynolds v. US it looks like moral acceptance of polygamy is steadily increasing. From a low of 5% in 2006 to 17% in 2017. Seems to be tracking the moral acceptance of polyamory as ameircans leave organized religion. https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/214601/moral-acceptance-polygamy-record-high-why.aspx https://religionnews.com/2015/08/14/polyamory-polygamy-religion-same-sex-marriage-supreme-court-obergefell/ Religion v polyamory Polyamory defined as the practice of engaging in multiple sexual relationships with the consent of all people involved. Question in the survey asked was "Do you think polyamory is morally acceptable or morally wrong?" For those in which religion is "Very important" 80% believe polyamory is wrong with only 9% morally acceptable. If religion is not at all important, polyamory acceptance rises to 58%, with 17% still believing it is morally wrong. Edited November 28, 2019 by blueglass 1
Jake Starkey Posted November 29, 2019 Posted November 29, 2019 I am impressed with the informative value of the survey, even if it is nothing more than gut reaction. Nothing to show that it was push polling. A more strict protocol-organized poll would be the next step.
Calm Posted November 30, 2019 Posted November 30, 2019 (edited) I am not saying it is push polling, just that it reminds me of it with it sharing the conclusions it comes up with as part of the survey. One of the questions: Quote Quote It is very interesting to note that the large majority of Americans personally accept and support the ability of people of faith to believe and live according to their beliefs. Yet, when asked, these same people report that they DO NOT feel that our society is very accepting or supporting of people of faith. In other words, our perceptions of how society treats people of faith is very different than how we individually treat people of faith. Why do you believe our perceptions of how society treats people of faith are so much worse than how most Americans actually see and treat people of faith? Please write a couple of sentences explaining what might be going on. What makes our perceptions so much worse than our actual experience? The conclusions: Quote The three overall conclusions shown by the survey, according to Beckett, include: Even after decades of religious freedom being pulled into the culture wars, Americans accept and support a broad interpretation of religious freedom. Contrary to popular narratives of increased tribalism and polarization, Americans support a culture of accommodation for minority faith practices. Americans are uncomfortable with the idea of the government penalizing groups and individuals for living out their religious beliefs. Edited November 30, 2019 by Calm
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