Althouse: "How Americans Feel About Religious Groups/Jews, Catholics & Evangelicals Rated Warmly, Atheists and Muslims More Coldly."

July 16, 2014

"How Americans Feel About Religious Groups/Jews, Catholics & Evangelicals Rated Warmly, Atheists and Muslims More Coldly."

A Pew survey (with lots of detail).

27 comments:

madAsHell said...: Who pays for these surveys??
....then we can understand what message they want to convey.; 7/16/14, 4:03 PM
Saint Croix said...: Episcopalians are so awesome, we don't even have to ask.; 7/16/14, 4:36 PM
Unknown said...: "Religious groups are rated more positively by their own members than by people from other religious backgrounds."

I hope the analysis didn't cost a lot of money.; 7/16/14, 4:43 PM
lgv said...: Some odd groupings. There's Catholics and Evangelicals, but no protestants that aren't evangelicals. The majority of protestants are not evangelicals. I don't think of Lutherans and Unitarians as evangelical.; 7/16/14, 4:49 PM
Anonymous said...: Blogger madAsHell said...
Who pays for these surveys??
----------------------------

A quick perusal of the results tells me, it was not CAIR or CAP.; 7/16/14, 5:02 PM
Diamondhead said...: Interesting that evangelical Christians hold Jews in very high regard but Jews hold evangelicals in lower regard than they do Muslims. Atheists also have warmer feelings for Muslims than evangelicals. Seems it's worse to be annoying than scary.; 7/16/14, 5:31 PM
YoungHegelian said...: For those of us interested in the sociology of American religion, a veritable gold mine of an article. What's amazing is that the Jews have the "highest" ratings. That a gentile nation has the "warmest feelings" for Judaism is, bluntly, an historical first. It's all the more incredible when the large populations of Catholics & Evangelicals are that "self-liking" are factored out, leaving the Jewish 2% of the population which can't tip the scales in its favor. Actually, when one thinks about the fact that the top three groups --- Jews, Catholics, and Evangelicals, have all been despised groups in American history at one time or another, it's a testament to the profound spirit of religious comity that inhabits the American character.

When I posted this to FB, it seems to be taking a looooong time to clear the censors to appear "on the board". I guess it rings too many alarm bells for the censoring-bots. yet another reason to despise FB.; 7/16/14, 5:44 PM
chuck said...: @Saint Croix

Modern Episcopalians are classified as atheists.; 7/16/14, 5:51 PM
cassandra lite said...: Americans don't feel warmly about Muslims? It's a mystery. Because if you look at every problem spot in the world today you--wait a second, never mind.; 7/16/14, 6:38 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Saint Croix,

Yes, I noticed that too. Surely there ought to have been a category at least for "mainline Christianity." Is the theory that every Christian is either evangelical, Catholic, or Mormon? (OK, "Are Mormons Christian?" is a subject in itself ...); 7/16/14, 7:18 PM
Tarrou said...: Atheists suffer from an adverse selection perception. The ones most likely to tell people about their views are also the most likely to be annoying and abrasive. There aren't enough of them in the populace for most people to have a pool of them to choose from when making a mental picture of what an "atheist" is like.; 7/16/14, 8:18 PM
The Godfather said...: Unknown put his/her/its finger on it: In this survey, members of a particular religious group are rating their feelings about themselves, and finding that they like themselves. So large groups are going to show up as popular, because they are popular with their own members. For example, I'm an Episcopalian, and even if Chuck thinks we're all atheists, I have warm, fuzzy feelings about the folks I worship with. So, yes, that means that the warm fuzzy feelings we all seem to have about Jews are particularly remarkable (given the antisemitism one sees displayed on college campuses and in the MSM, I do wonder about these findings). But without spending more time on these numbers than they're worth, I'm not sure there's much else of interest there.; 7/16/14, 8:56 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Interesting that evangelical Christians hold Jews in very high regard but Jews hold evangelicals in lower regard than they do Muslims.

I think that part of it is that Evangelicals look at Jews as allies in the promised land of Israel. But, the Jews I have discussed this with question their motives. Part of it, I think, is that they see the Evangelicals as seeing the Jews back in Israel as the start of the End Times (or whatever it is called). Meaning that Jews controlling Israel is a necessary precondition to the 2nd Coming of Christ. But, since most of the Jews aren't going to accept Christ - they will, of course not be saved. Something like that.

Still, I find this a bit hypocritical on the part of Jews, in that the continued existence of Israel comes as a result of significant American support, and a lot of that support is a result of Evangelical support.

Finally, I think that you must also consider the severe cognitive dissonance being felt by a lot of Jews these days, with their guy, President Obama, essentially taking the side, in many cases, of the Palestinians in their war against Israel. Arguably, Obama, and his policies, have done more harm to Israel than any number of his predecessors did, and, yet, got overwhelming support from the Jewish community - even in his reelection, despite significant evidence by that time of his leanings when it came to Israeli/Arab or Israeli/Palestinian relations.

I point this out, because the Evangelistic Christian question came up repeatedly when I would ask my Jewish friends why they would support a candidate so openly opposed to Israel. Something to the effect that they couldn't support the Republican candidate because he was supported by Evangelicals, who only want Jews to control Israel for the 2nd Coming, where they predicted most Jews would not be saved. Something like that. Not the most rational argument, from the most rational of people.; 7/16/14, 9:02 PM
SteveR said...: Jews rate Evangelicals based on politics, Evangelicals rate Jews based on religion.; 7/16/14, 9:18 PM
Titus said...: Why are jews only or most exclusively democrats?

Are they low information jew voters?

What do they know that the rest of us need to tell them, to set them straight for being against their own self interest?

tits; 7/16/14, 9:35 PM
Titus said...: There are tons of jew democrats in congress but only one republican jew, who just lost easily.

Obviously jews are very stupid electing democrats.....but why?

Show the jews the lights fellow republicans and haters of liberals, Obama, gays, blacks and women, and they will follow.

Sarah Palin had an Israeli flag in her office, doesn't that, like, count for something.; 7/16/14, 9:40 PM
Michael K said...: The most interesting thing to me was the fact that 32% of the respondents were evangelical Christians. Second was the relatively high rating of Muslims by Jews. It should be zero.; 7/16/14, 9:41 PM
n.n said...: An inadequate survey. They excluded popular secular religions including Marxism and its derivatives Communism, Socialism, and Fascism.

As for Atheism and Agnosticism, they are not religions. Neither has a moral foundation or awareness. Atheism is based on a single doctrine: rejection of theism. Agnosticism is based on a doctrine of cruel neutrality. While religion is inherently a quality of human beings (with rare exceptions), individuals of each philosophy are free to adopt the principles of formal religions, and often do, if only implicitly.

What about degenerate religions based on doctrines of collective and inherited sin? They too are missing from the survey.; 7/16/14, 10:35 PM
n.n said...: Jews rate Evangelicals based on politics

Yes. A common or similar morality is assumed, while the character of individuals is assessed through their actions.; 7/16/14, 10:38 PM
holdfast said...: Casual aetheists are quite likeable and even fun. The evangelical aetheists are just awful.; 7/17/14, 1:06 AM
Revenant said...: Hey, we've pulled ahead of Muslims finally.

Go, team! :); 7/17/14, 2:05 AM
Just asking questions (Jaq) said...: "Seems it's worse to be annoying than scary."

It's called displacement. 9-11 terrified you? Blame somebody unlikely to actually harm you, George Bush. You get to acknowledge the emotion while focusing on something harmless.; 7/17/14, 5:44 AM
Eleanor said...: What about Wiccans?; 7/17/14, 8:34 AM
Exurban Bourbon said...: lgv wrote: "The majority of protestants are not evangelicals."

No, there are more evangelical protestants than mainliners. A couple of studies from a few years ago put mainline protestants at 13-18% of the population, and evangelicals between 28-34%. And the number of mainline protestants goes down with each passing year.

Back to this survey, one interesting finding is that Jews have the highest self-regard of the given cohorts. The antipathy Jews hold for evangelicals probably comes from the perception that they are uneducated and low class.; 7/17/14, 9:32 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: Why are Jews only or most exclusively Democrats?

I think that part of it is historical. Probably the bulk of the ancestors of the Jews i this country came over at a time when the Republican party was the WASP party, and the Democratic party was the immigrant (along with Klan, etc.) party. And, even in my lifetime, there was a lot of antisemitism in much of the WASP community. Which means that they probably weren't that welcome in the Republican party at least through the 1950s. They were welcomed in the Dem party, and fit in just fine - they were just another interest group in the Dem coalition. They ultimately rose up, and ended up with a lot more power than their numbers would suggest (somewhere between 5x and 10x in the Senate). They are kept at the table, because they are some of the biggest bankrollers of the Dem party. If the big Jewish money ever shifted to the Republican party, the Dems would be in dire straights financially. They would be left essentially with mostly union money, and that means mostly government employee union money.

The problem today is that the interests of many, if not most, Jews today are more aligned with the Republicans, than with the Democrats. So, why not switch parties, like the many of the Catholics have (who joined the Dem coalition at about the same time for similar reasons)? The first reason, I suspect is tribal solidarity - Jews are surprisingly genetically related, given the almost two millennia since the 2nd Diaspora. They have survived as a people by sticking together. And, a lot of really rich Jews make a lot of money through crony capitalism, made much easier with prominent membership in the Dem coalition. For example, when Obama, Pelosi, and Reid were doling out favors and pork in the first "stimulus" bill, these big Dem donors were at the front of the line for pieces of the federal largess. And, the rich Jews making so much money on crony capitalism with Dem Administrations may bring along their less affluent brethren with the sort of peer pressure that results from two millenia of tribal solidarity.

The other part of this, I suspect, is that the Jewish beliefs in what happens to us at death are different from the Christian ones. And, as a result, tend to be more Utopian, trying to essentially create their heaven on Earth, whereas many devout Christians are willing to wait for the afterlife. I suspect that this makes Jews more susceptible to progressive schemes to supposedly make a better society. Of course, these schemes are built on false premises, which is why they inevitably flop and fail. And, of course, the Dem party is the party of unrealistic progressive schemes and redistribution (which, of course, would come disproportionately from Jews, but that is part of the cognitive dissonance I mentioned above).; 7/17/14, 10:34 AM
traditionalguy said...: Religions all have a harsh legalism system of easy guilt and atonement for sale for a price. That's what makes the successful businesses.

The exception is are a few evangelical groups that still offer converts Paul's gospel of a resurrected Jesus Messiah being the completed atonement available for free, and coming again soon.

The Messiah issue is the 800 lbs gorilla in the room. It causes evangelicals to support Israel and most Jews to despise the evangelicals.

The Muzzies see themselves as the final solution that must kill all of the Jews (the Saturday worshipers) and then kill all of the Christians (the Sunday worshipers.) Then we wont need any silly polls since all will men will bow prostrate in be submission to death with no atonement other than the fun slaughtering of stray infidels.; 7/17/14, 10:36 AM
Thorley Winston said...: Re: Jews and Evangelicals – I can honestly count the number of evangelicals I’ve met who have said that they support Israel because of the “end times” on one hand and still have enough fingers available to scratch my nose. By and large the conservative evangelicals that I’ve met who support Israel do so because (a) Christianity has its foundational roots in Judaism and even if we’ve parted ways two thousand plus years ago, they’re still part of our religious heritage, (b) Israel is culturally and politically closer to the United States than the people who hate and want to destroy both of us, (c) the Bible says that Jews are the “chosen people” and that God will bless those who support then (or words to that effect) and (d) much like Mormons, Jews have been disproportionately successful relative to the numbers and among politically and socially conservative people, success achieved by values like thrift, entrepreneurship and hard work is to be admired and emulated rather than despised and destroyed.; 7/17/14, 10:45 AM