PoliticoMagazine is reporting on a survey by the non-partisan Public Religion Research Institute.
It was a wide-ranging survey of attitudes toward same-sex and
transgender issues. What is newsworthy is their finding a shift in
attitudes among evangelical Christians toward same-sex marriage.
Now about a quarter support same-sex unions, with an equal number supporting what is being called "the messy middle," meaning that they still oppose it on moral or religious grounds but they no longer support efforts to actively overturn it.
As is true of all demographic groups, younger evangelicals support marriage equality in larger numbers than their elders -- almost 50%.
As
with the general population, my assumption is that greater awareness of
the lives of GLBT people -- either known personally or empathically
experienced in television and movies -- is the greatest factor leading
to change. My more cynical side suspects that a factor of equal
importance with these groups, especially their outspoken leaders, is
that bashing gay marriage no longer has the political clout it did just a few years ago.
With states' bans on gay marriage now falling too quickly to keep count, it's just no longer a winning strategy.
Even stalwart opponents like Focus on the Family and the National
Association of Evangelicals have virtually stopped using it as a
campaign and fund-raising issue, shifting instead to the battle over "religious rights" of business owners not to provide services to gay weddings or health insurance coverage of contraceptives that they consider abortion-inducing.
This is the way progress occurs -- small steps that gradually build in momentum until there is a tipping point. That seems to be where we are now
on gay rights issues -- at least among the citizens; politicians are
the die-hards. It seems inevitable that within the next year, or
possibly two, the Supreme Court will issue a sweeping ruling that
settles the whole thing for the country.
Ralph
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