5 findings from More in Common report on politics and people of faith

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Saturday, September 28, 2024

Tablets depicting the Ten Commandments placed outside the Supreme Court during a vigil by a religious group in a file photo. | (Photo: Reuters/Jason Reed)

3. Americans underestimate the respect for religious pluralism and separation of church and state among religious groups.

The report also highlighted a "perception gap" regarding religious pluralism and how different religious groups are perceived by others.

For instance, non-Evangelicals estimated that only 47% of Evangelicals believe that "the United States should be a place where people of all religious beliefs and no religious beliefs feel that they belong." However, a significantly larger share of Evangelicals (78%) actually agree with this statement.

Similarly, non-Muslims estimated that 52% of Muslims support religious pluralism, but 75% of Muslims expressed agreement with the idea. Non-Catholics believed that only 57% of Catholics supported pluralism, while in reality, 77% of Catholics embraced it.

There was also a 15-point perception gap between what religious Americans thought of religious "nones" and their actual beliefs. Religious respondents believed that 67% of "nones" support religious pluralism, but 82% of religious "nones" agreed with the statement.

The report also explored Americans' views on the separation of church and state. When asked if they agreed with the statement, “It is important to ensure financial and organizational separation of religious institutions from government institutions in the United States,” 58% of Muslims agreed. This figure was notably higher than non-Muslims’ estimate, which pegged Muslim support for church-state separation at just 46%.

Similarly, non-Evangelicals estimated that only 46% of Evangelicals would support the separation of church and state, while 57% of Evangelicals actually agreed with the statement.