Report: Catholics more supportive of gay rights than other Christians

Report: Catholics more supportive of gay rights than other Christians 2016-09-30T17:47:24-04:00

That news will probably raise a few eyebrows.

Details:

Catholics are more supportive of gay and lesbian rights than the general public and other Christians, according to a new report released today. The new report, which is the most comprehensive portrait of Catholic attitudes on gay and lesbian issues assembled to date, also finds that seven-in-ten Catholics say that messages from Americaโ€™s places of worship contribute a lot (33 percent) or a little (37 percent) to higher rates of suicide among gay and lesbian youth.

โ€œIt may come as a surprise to many that rank and file Catholics are more supportive of rights for gays and lesbians than other Christians and the public,โ€ said Dr. Robert P. Jones, CEO of Public Religion Research Institute. โ€œBut the best data available paints this consistent portrait across a range of issues, including same-sex marriage, workplace non-discrimination, open military service, and adoption rights for gay and lesbian couples.โ€

Among the key findings:

Nearly three-quarters of Catholics favor either allowing gay and lesbian people to marry (43%) or allowing them to form civil unions (31%). Only 22% of Catholics say there should be no legal recognition of a gay coupleโ€™s relationship.

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of Catholics favor laws that would protect gay and lesbian people against discrimination in the workplace; 63% of Catholics favor allowing gay and lesbian people to serve openly in the military; and 6-in-10 (60%) Catholics favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to adopt children.

Less than 4-in-10 Catholics give their own church top marks (a grade of an A or a B) on its handing of the issue of homosexuality; majorities of members of most other religious groups give their churches high marks.

A majority of Catholics (56%) believe that sexual relations between two adults of the same gender is not a sin.

โ€œThe strong evidence of Catholic support for gay marriage highlights the growing acceptance in American culture of the normalcy of same-sex relationships, and further showcases ordinary Catholicsโ€™ dissent from official church teaching on sexual morality,โ€ said Dr. Michelle Dillon, a panelist on the call releasing the report and chair of the Sociology Department at University of New Hampshire. โ€œMost American Catholics believe that one can be a good Catholic and disagree with the Vatican and the bishops on issues of personal conscience; gay-marriage has clearly become another issue, along with artificial contraception and divorce and remarriage, which Catholics believe is not core to what it means to be Catholic.โ€

Read more. ย  And the report itself is also available online.


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