Survey: majority of Americans, including Catholics, support same-sex marriage
February 27, 2014
53% of Americans-- including 58% of white Catholics and 56% of Latino Catholics-- now support same-sex marriage, according to a survey conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute.
In 2003, Americans opposed same-sex marriage by a 59%-32% margin.
“Roughly three-quarters (73%) of Catholics believe that most of their fellow congregants are opposed to same-sex marriage,” the survey continued. “However, Catholics who regularly attend church are in fact divided on the issue (50% favor, 45% oppose).”
“Majorities of Americans perceive three religious groups to be unfriendly to LGBT people: the Catholic Church (58%), the Mormon church (53%), and evangelical Christian churches (51%),” the survey added. “At least two-thirds of LGBT Americans perceive both the Catholic Church (73%) and evangelical Christian churches (67%) as being unfriendly toward LGBT people.”
The report also found that
- 72% of white Catholics and 66% of Latino Catholics “agree gay and lesbian couples can be as good as parents as heterosexual couples”
- 63% of white Catholics and 66% of Latino Catholics support adoption by homosexual couples
- “Fewer than half of white Catholics say smoking marijuana (38%) and same-gender sexual relations are morally wrong (46%), while a majority say having an abortion (56%) and viewing pornography (67%) are morally wrong. In contrast, large majorities of Hispanic Catholics say viewing pornography (78%), having an abortion (77%), smoking marijuana (66%) are morally wrong, while fewer-- though still a majority (53%)-- say sex between two adults of the same gender is morally wrong.”
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Posted by: Kansas Girl -
Feb. 28, 2014 10:26 AM ET USA
This only goes to show that we need more homilies on the sins of our times -- the homosexual lifestyle, abortion, contraception, fornication. How long has it been since you've heard condemnation of any of the above, with the possible exception of a few words on the evils of abortion? We hear more about citizenship for illegal immigrants and why we should reward those who break the immigration laws of our country.
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Posted by: Chestertonian -
Feb. 27, 2014 11:40 PM ET USA
Ah yes, and opinion polls trump the truth, do they? All these polls really indicate is the failure of evangelization of current generations of white Catholics. Obviously, the mainstream media hold more sway than the USCCB with a large swath of so-called Christian Americans, if the poll is an accurate reflection of our beliefs, which I tend to question. I pay more attention to election results, and those should be a wake-up call to the bishops about the poor job they're doing.
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Posted by: cellakon52529 -
Feb. 27, 2014 10:08 PM ET USA
Catholics need to learn the basic teachings of the Church, and they need to learn how to think straight. What will the long-term results be ten or twenty years down the road when we have multiple forms of "marriage" plus divorce?
