Update: Americans' Views of Catholic Religion

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- The image of the Catholic religion in the United States has recovered slightly from 2002, when the church was in the midst of the Catholic priest abuse scandals, but just under a third of Americans still have an unfavorable view of the Catholic religion. Detailed analysis suggests that most of this antipathy is related to doctrine, with only a relatively small percentage of those with a negative view saying it is because of the abuse scandals.

Over the last six years, Gallup has asked Americans about their views of the Catholic religion three times.

Attitudes were quite positive in March 2000, but became significantly more negative in April 2002. Now, views have recovered but still are not as positive as at the beginning of the decade. Fifty-seven percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of the Catholic religion, and 30% have an unfavorable opinion.

There is a major distinction in views of the Catholic religion between those who identify with a Christian religion and those who do not.

Catholics are almost universally favorable toward their religion. Protestants and other non-Catholic Christians are also more positive than negative. On the other hand, those who identify with non-Christian religions and who have no religious affiliation are more negative.

It is reasonable to assume that non-Christians may be negative toward any Christian religion (or for that matter, any religion at all in the case of those who profess no religious preference themselves), rather than having unfavorable attitudes directed specifically toward the Catholic religion. The current survey did not include measures of attitudes toward any other religions and therefore does not provide the ability to test that hypothesis.

There is not a great deal of difference in perceptions of the Catholic religion by age.

The least favorable group are those aged 50 to 64, while those 65 and older are slightly above average in their favorable attitudes. Americans living in the West are more unfavorable toward the Catholic religion than are those living elsewhere in the country.

Why the Unfavorable Attitudes?

The survey asked Americans with unfavorable opinions of the Catholic religion to explain why:

What are some of the reasons why you say you have an unfavorable opinion of the Catholic religion? [OPEN-ENDED]

BASED ON 290 ADULTS WHO HAVE AN UNFAVORABLE OPINION OF THE CATHOLIC RELIGION

Only 19% of the responses of this group specifically referred to the priest abuse scandals as the reason for their negative views of the Catholic religion. Many of the other responses are related to church doctrine -- negative opinions based on unfavorable views of the fundamental tenets of the Catholic religion. These include basic disagreement with Catholic practices and doctrine, problems with specifics such as idolization of saints or the Virgin Mary, disagreement with the church's teachings on moral issues such as abortion, birth control, and on the church's rules regarding the priesthood.

Survey Methods

Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,013 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted May 5-7, 2006. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points.

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.