A majority of Americans believe religious displays, prayers at school and the Ten Commandments display in a court building should be legal in the United States, a new study showed.
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While religious Americans were more likely to agree, a majority of those who are not religious also believe such religious expressions and practices should be allowed, according to Ellison Research which conducted the research on a sample of 1,007 adults. The study was released Thursday.
Survey results revealed that 98 percent of born-again Americans compared to 81 percent of those not born again believe voluntary student-led prayer at public school events, such as football games or graduation ceremonies, should be legal. Also, 97 percent of born agains believe the law should support religious groups renting public property for meetings if non-religious groups are allowed to do so while 86 percent of not born again Americans agree. And 94 percent of born agains say a teacher wearing a religious symbol, such as a Star of David or a cross, during class should be legal compared to 85 percent of not born people.
Ron Sellers, president of Ellison Research, believes the survey breaks the stereotype of the "religious right" and the "liberal left" believing a certain way.
“There’s too often a stereotype in today’s world that one side – be they defined as churchgoers, conservatives, the ‘religious right,’ Republicans, evangelicals, or whatever – want to turn the U.S. into a theocracy or shove religion down everyone’s throats, while the other side – again, be they called Democrats, the non-religious, liberals, or the unchurched – are anti-religion and fighting to make this a purely secular society. On most of these issues, these different groups have a lot more in common than the stereotypes would suggest – most people simply support the right to individual religious expression, even if another person may not like that expression," said Sellers in the report.
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Enlarge this Image
While religious Americans were more likely to agree, a majority of those who are not religious also believe such religious expressions and practices should be allowed, according to Ellison Research which conducted the research on a sample of 1,007 adults. The study was released Thursday.
Survey results revealed that 98 percent of born-again Americans compared to 81 percent of those not born again believe voluntary student-led prayer at public school events, such as football games or graduation ceremonies, should be legal. Also, 97 percent of born agains believe the law should support religious groups renting public property for meetings if non-religious groups are allowed to do so while 86 percent of not born again Americans agree. And 94 percent of born agains say a teacher wearing a religious symbol, such as a Star of David or a cross, during class should be legal compared to 85 percent of not born people.
Ron Sellers, president of Ellison Research, believes the survey breaks the stereotype of the "religious right" and the "liberal left" believing a certain way.
“There’s too often a stereotype in today’s world that one side – be they defined as churchgoers, conservatives, the ‘religious right,’ Republicans, evangelicals, or whatever – want to turn the U.S. into a theocracy or shove religion down everyone’s throats, while the other side – again, be they called Democrats, the non-religious, liberals, or the unchurched – are anti-religion and fighting to make this a purely secular society. On most of these issues, these different groups have a lot more in common than the stereotypes would suggest – most people simply support the right to individual religious expression, even if another person may not like that expression," said Sellers in the report.
More Here
