* These are the responses of those subjects who were familiar with the religion being considered. Thus, for Christianity, 6% of the subjects were unfamiliar with the religion and 94% of were familiar. Of the latter, 85% gave a positive assessment. 

Unfortunately, the Barna news release is missing many pieces of data. The study apparently classified the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormons, as a non-Christian denomination. Conservative Christians frequently define Mormonism as a non-Christian cult -- perhaps bordering on Christian Gnosticism -- rather than as a Christian denomination.  Barna Research apparently follows this practice.

American adults, whether Christian or non-Christian, apparently regard only Christianity and Judaism as having a positive influence on society. The remaining five religions are viewed by the average American as having a negative impact on society. These beliefs do not bode well for the future of religious tolerance and peace in the U.S. -- particularly in view of the rapid increase in religious diversity in that country.

Barna also compared the beliefs of those who go to church regularly with the unchurched:

Attending church obviously influences people to value Christianity more, and to hold a lower opinion of  other religions. Surveys consistently show that about 40% of Americans say that they regularly attend religious services. But these numbers appear to be inflated. Groups who have actually counted church attendance report that 20% is a closer estimate. 

Prejudice against those of other religions becomes even more serious when born again Christians are compared to non-Christians: 

We suspect that mainline and liberal Christians have opinions that are intermediate between the above two groups. The percentage of American adults who are "born-again" is about 35%. The percentage of non-Christians is about 15%.

The extremely low regard for Atheists may well be mainly based on two factors:

Gallup polls on prejudice based on religion, race, sex, sexual orientation, age, etc.:

Polls from 1937 to 2007 by the Gallup Organization are of particular value because they have asked essentially the same question of American adults for over four decades. One series of questions is typically worded:

"If your party nominated a generally well-qualified person for president who happened to be a 'X' would you vote for that person?"

"X" is Atheist, Baptist, Black, Catholic, Homosexual, Jewish, Mormon, and Woman. Percentage of unprejudiced adults (those answering "yes") at approximately 20 year intervals have been:

In the past seven decades, Americans have made impressive gains in overcoming bigotry on the basis of religion, sex, and race. However, they have lots of room for improvement in reducing bigotry towards Atheists, homosexuals, and the elderly.

In 1978, the most discriminated-against characteristic was homosexuality; only about one in four Americans would vote for a well-qualified homosexual. Gays and lesbians have made impressive gains in acceptance. Now, about three in five Americans would consider voting for one. 

In 1978, the second most-discriminated against group were Atheists. Only four Americans in ten would vote for a well-qualified Atheist. In 1999, Atheists had made a slight gain; half would vote for one.

The data shown for 2007 was collected between February 9 and 11. A later survey, taken in 2007-DEC showed that the acceptance level for a Mormon president had risen from 72% to 80% during the year. This increase was probably due to the presence of Mitt Romney as a Republican candidate for the presidency.

Americans improve their view of Muslims:

Summary:

These data indicate that, on average:

Our opinion about the future of religious peace in North America:

Many conservative Christians believe that the world is in its last days -- the world-as-we-know-it is about to come to an end. They anticipate that the first sign of this transition will be the arrival of Jesus Christ in the sky, and the rapture of all born-again Christians to be with Jesus. In 1999, when this essay was originally written, many conservative Christians expected that the rapture was imminent; they anticipated it in their very near future -- perhaps at the start of the year 2000. We were concerned that if none of these events happened, that the resultant mass disappointment might fuel a backlash against believers in minority religions.

There was a very common belief during the 19th century that Jesus' return was being delayed until after most of the world was converted to Christianity. Some Christians still follow that belief. We feared that Atheists, other secularists, and followers of non-Christian religions might be blamed for three delays: of Jesus' return, the rapture, and Armageddon. This blame could quickly evolve into hatred and violence.

As it turned out, we were pleasantly surprised. Since 2000-JAN-1, end time events did not come to pass. People expecting Jesus' return seem to have adjusted to the disappointment without a lot of distress. Conservative religious leaders still refer to the world being in its last days, but few are predicting exact times for the end events.

We remain concerned about the long-term future of religious peace in North America. A recent study shows that Christianity is in rapid decline in the U.S. The percentage of American adults who identify themselves as Christians is dropping at a rate of almost one percentage point per year. Meanwhile, the percentage of persons who don't consider themselves to be affiliated with any organized religion is rapidly growing. Some non-Christian religions are also growing quickly. The number of Wiccans, for example, is doubling every 30 months. If current trends continue, then most Americans will consider themselves to be non-Christians sometime during the 2020's. We are not certain that such a transition can be attained peacefully without active programs by governments and by the main religious groups to promote respect among their membership for followers of other religions. What is needed are programs to teach one of the corollaries of the Golden Rule: that we are to treat all persons with respect -- even those who hold beliefs different from ourselves. It is not important whether we accept the beliefs of others as valid, or reject them as false. What is important is that we not attack, discriminate against or oppress these "others."

Without such pro-active programs, we expect that there will be growing frictions, mainly between the followers of the dominant religion -- Christianity -- and persons who either identify themselves as non-believers in any organized religion, or as followers of minority religions.

These tensions could be exploited by some political leaders. This happened in the break-away areas of the former Yugoslavia, where long-standing religious frictions were manipulated by a small number of political and religious leaders, and used to fuel atrocities, crimes against humanity and genocide. No part of the world is immune from these tendencies. 

A possible cure:

Most organized religions tend to teach that their beliefs alone are true, and that other religions are, to various degrees, wrong. Some even teach that other religions are Satanic in nature. These beliefs can lead to prejudice against other faith groups, which can degenerate into violence and oppression. However, all major religions also teach an Ethic of Reciprocity. This is the Golden Rule in Christianity. They teach the importance of treating others as you would be wished to be treated in return. One implication of such an ethic is that others should be granted religious freedom -- they should be allowed to freely follow their own, different, spiritual paths as a fundamental human right without experiencing oppression, discrimination and attacks. 

If religious groups were to lay greater stress on the Ethic of Reciprocity contained within their religious texts, then religious prejudice should decrease markedly. Churches could include such secular documents as the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the American Bill of Rights, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, etc. in their tolerance classes. Without such a pro-active program, some of their followers may fall back on some of the intolerant passages in their own religious texts for guidance.

Do these poll results indicate religious bigotry and intolerance?

Religious prejudice is not as simple as racism, sexism, homophobia or xenophobia. Other factors are involved when we consider religion:

Related essays:

References

1. Barna Research has a home page at: http://www.barna.org
2. "Christianity has a strong positive image despite fewer active participants," Barna Research, 1996-FEB-5, at: http://www.barna.org/
3. "Americans today much more accepting of a woman, black, Catholic or Jew as president; Still reluctant to vote for Atheists or homosexuals," The Gallup Organization, 1999-MAR-29, at: http://www.gallup.com/
4. "U.S. Muslims' Image Gains, Poll Finds," Associated Press, 2001-DEC-7, at: http://www.latimes.com/
5. Frank Newport, "Americans' Views of the Mormon Religion: Most frequent top-of-mind impression of Mormons is polygamy," The Gallup Poll^®, 2007-MAR-02, at: http://www.galluppoll.com/ This may be a temporary listing.
6. "Washington Post-ABC News Poll," 2007-FEB-27, at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
7. "Some Americans Reluctant to Vote for Mormon, 72-Year-Old Presidential Candidates," Gallup, 2007-FEB-20, at: http://www.gallup.com/
8. "Percentage Unwilling to Vote for a Mormon Holds Steady," Gallup, 2007-DEC-11, at: http://www.gallup.com/