Poll shows more people want religion and politics mixed

Photo by Abby Bellow

While personal religious and moral stances seem to play a small role in American political decision-making, a recent poll conducted by Pew’s Religion & Public Life Project shows that more Americans may be in favor of mixing religion and politics.

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact think tank that conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. The religion and public life project delivers information on issues at the intersection of religion and public affairs in the U.S. and around the world.

The poll shows that 72 percent of over 2,000 people surveyed believe that religion’s hold on America is decreasing and the majority of that 72 percent believe it’s a bad thing.

John Maple, department chair of history and political science, suggests that perhaps this concern about religion in politics stems from the belief most Americans have that the Constitution calls for church and religion to be two completely separate entities.

“My basic attitude toward church and state is that it has been taken to the extremes beyond what the Constitution actually specifies,” Maple said. “The Constitution actually deals with the federal government not establishing a religion. Going beyond that to indicate that you just can’t have religion in anything that is public financed or anything pertaining to the government is nonsense. The Constitution wasn’t about putting up this huge wall that means that they have to be absolutely separate and never come in contact with each other.”

The poll, conducted Sept. 2-9, captures a glimpse of what the American people believe about issues that cause politics and religion to integrate.

For example, the poll shows that 49 percent of Americans are in favor of gay marriage, 49 percent of Americans believe churches and other houses of worship should express their views on social and political questions and 47 percent believe businesses should be allowed to refuse services related to same-sex weddings for religious reasons.

These examples aren’t new. As the American opinion begins to slowly sway, is allowing religion more reign in politics the answer?

“It depends on how you define religion in politics,” Maple said. “I would not want any of our representatives, presidents and so on to divorce their religion from their work lives because if they do, the basis for distinguishing right and wrong and any basic form of morality [is] gone and I think that having a basis for moral judgment is absolutely crucial.”

But Maple cautions that it could also lead to a slippery slope.

“There is a limit to [integrating religion and politics],” Maple said. “You don’t want to discriminate different faiths and you don’t want to have an established religion—that violates the Constitution. But in terms of the individual I think we need religion in politics to the sense that it forms a moral basis on which to make judgments.”

Graduate student Winston Ogletree agrees with Maple and said he feels America’s diversity is the reason religion should remain out of political decision-making.

“Not everybody in America is a Christian,” Ogletree said. “So what happens to those people who are Muslim or Hindu or Jewish? Do they just get mixed in with Christians because the majority of the people are Christians?”

Some suggest “religion” is a taboo term in politics and perhaps “morals” should be used as a substitute and a moral baseline is what Americans may want to turn to instead.

“Politicians can make wild promises with absolutely no intention of following up and they brazenly lie. And I think that’s gotten old for the American people,” Maple said. “My guess is that this trend shown by the poll may be an indication that people are realizing that there needs to be a moral basis for behavior in politics and that has nothing to do with establishing a religion and it has nothing to do with separation of church and state.”

Ogletree, however, is still doubtful of stating moral baselines.

“It’s hard to establish moral baselines because people have different morals,” Ogletree said. “That’s why it’s just overall not a good idea to mix church and state.”

As the battle rages on between religion and politics, it seems as though majority of Americans are taking more of an interest in the decisions politicians are making and the moral route the country is on.

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