Support for same-sex marriage rising in US; most Catholics now in favor
February 09, 2012
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Opposition to legal recognition of same-sex marriage has eased in the US in recent months, and Catholics now support same-sex marriage by a narrow margin, according to a new opinion survey by the Pew Forum.
The Pew poll found 52% of Catholics in favor of same-sex marriage, and only 37% opposed. In 2010 a similar question found 46% in favor and 42% opposed. The overall survey did not distinguish between practicing and non-practicing Catholics.
Evangelical Protestants were most likely to reject same-sex marriage, with 74% opposed. The response from mainline Protestants was close to that from Catholics, with 54% favoring same-sex marriage.
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Posted by: Te_Deum -
Feb. 10, 2012 6:32 AM ET USA
The bottom line is that the chickens have come home to roost. Ask yourself when the last time was you heard a priest or bishop talk about the 6th or 9th commandments at Mass? Hopefully, they see the fruit this negligence has brought about and start talking now. Most Catholics have accepted co-habitation, let alone other offenses, but even this is not discussed from the pulpit.
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Posted by: frjpharrington3912 -
Feb. 09, 2012 11:45 PM ET USA
Since the vocation to marriage is written into the very nature of man and woman, who were made for one another as they came from the hand of God, some Fathers of the Church have taught that marriage is a "natural sacrament" with its own proper laws and dignity. Fidelity, exclusivity, permanence and openness to children are the "natural laws" of marriage. Though they point to a law giver, they are readily accessible to human reason, knowable to all people even without the aid of faith.
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Posted by: -
Feb. 09, 2012 10:14 PM ET USA
According to polls most Catholic do not believe in the True Presence in the Eucharist and most Catholic women use contraception. So this poll does not surprise me much .... Therefore most Catholic women and their contraception consenting husbands are in a state of mortal sin and they all bring condemnation on themselves by knowingly going to communion. Bishops and priests are responsible for this. The bishops should use the current Obama attack on Catholics as a 'teaching moment' to speak about contraception as a mortal sin ... where is their zeal for souls???? .... Oh, it went to 'social justice'. So no big deal if these 'Catholics' approve of same sex marriage .... they are Catholics in name only. I have zeal for their souls; therefore, I speak the truth about sin in this forum and on my Catholic radio show.
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Posted by: todway1041 -
Feb. 09, 2012 9:35 PM ET USA
The headline is totally misleading. It's not important what "non-practicing" Catholics think. It's anything-goes with them, they're disgruntled, that's why they are "non-practicing." They've got no dog in the fight. Indeed, many of them routinely revile the church. TaKE ANOTHER POLL.
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Posted by: Chestertonian -
Feb. 09, 2012 7:58 PM ET USA
And the question remains dangling in the air, where it has hung formore than a generation: Where are the bishops? Sinced the 1960's we've heard them rant about poverty, immigration, nuclear weapons and war. But they owe the faithful Catholics, and the disillusioned mea culpas for their long silence on life and family issues. They seem, finally, to be waking up, now that Obamacare is going to force the issues down their throats, but as a pro-lifer since 1970, I ask, where have you been?!
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Posted by: hartwood01 -
Feb. 09, 2012 7:15 PM ET USA
I fear "most Catholics" haven't a clue what a sacrament is, especially Matrimony.
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Posted by: Justin8110 -
Feb. 09, 2012 6:52 PM ET USA
These stats reflect more than anything else the systematic failure of bishops and priests in the last few decades to spell out loud and clear in CCD classes and from pulpits just what being a Catholic means and what Catholics are to believe. These folks who support same sex marriage and identify as Catholic might have the indelible mark of baptism on their souls by they are no longer Catholic in any meaningful sense. Where have priests and bishops been all these years? They are losing the flock.
