Most U.S. Protestant pastors doubt Beck, Obama are Christians-poll
What do conservative TV and radio personality Glenn Beck and U.S. President Barack Obama have in common? Most U.S. Protestant pastors doubt their Christian credentials.
These are among the findings of a survey released this week by LifeWay Research, the number-crunching arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, which sometimes does interesting pastor polls.
The poll in question, of 1,000 U.S. Protestant pastors, asked: “Which, if any, of the following people do you believe are Christians?” It then gave a list of five prominent personalties: TV diva Oprah Winfrey, former U.S. President George W. Bush, Beck, Obama and former Alaska governor and conservative sweetheart Sarah Palin.
Only 27 percent of the respondents said they believed Beck, who is a Mormon, was a Christian and only 41 percent — well less than half — answered in the affirmative regarding Obama. Bush scored the highest at 75 percent and Palin was second at 66 percent. Oprah came in rock bottom at 19 percent. The national telephone survey took place Oct. 7-14.
It all raises some interesting questions and may raise a few eyebrows.
Let’s start with Beck, who often speaks the political and even spiritual language of conservative evangelical Christians– and counts many as his fans – but cannot score theological points with them because of his Mormon faith. Many evangelicals regard The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as an oddball cult and the survey’s results show it may be as much a political liability for Beck the activist as it is for Mitt Romney the candidate, the former and perhaps future Republican presidential contender.
Filipinos back contraception bill despite Catholic Church-poll
Seven in 10 Filipinos support a reproductive health bill permitting education on contraception which would also help check population growth, despite opposition from the powerful Roman Catholic Church, a survey showed on Tuesday.
The Church, a major social and political force in the poor Southeast Asian nation of about 95 million, has blocked similar bills since the 1990s and earlier this year denounced President Benigno Aquino’s support for contraception.
The bill is in the early stages of consideration by Congress, and proponents are confident it can be enacted into law given it has the backing of Aquino, who says slowing population growth will help fight poverty.
Father Melvin Castro of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said the bill was “an attack to the sanctity of life and indirectly promotes abortion”. The Church backs “natural” contraception while opposing “artificial” methods, including condoms, pills and other means. Ana Maria Tabunda of Pulse Asia, the group which conducted the survey, told Reuters the Church’s attack on Aquino over education had raised awareness of and support for the bill.
Read the full story by Manny Mogato here.
Pope Benedict praised Philippine bishops for opposing the bill during their once-every-five-years ad limina visit to the Vatican on Monday: “I commend the Church in the Philippines for seeking to play its part in support of human life from conception until natural death, and in defence of the integrity of marriage and the family. In these areas you are promoting truths about the human person and about society.”
New Yorkers see the right to build Islamic center, but also want it moved
New York voters contradicted themselves over a planned Islamic cultural center near the World Trade Center site, with majorities saying both that Muslims have the right to build one but that they should be forced to move it, a poll issued on Tuesday finds.
Fifty-four percent of those polled believe Muslims have the right to build the center and mosque near “Ground Zero” because of American freedom of religion, but a similar 53 percent said that right should be denied because of the sensitivities of relatives of those killed on September 11, 2001.
The Quinnipiac University poll surveyed 1,497 New York state registered voters from August 23 to 29, at the height of the controversy that Republicans who oppose the mosque have seized on for a political edge over Democrats ahead of November 2 mid-term elections. Read the full story here.
Kuwait-born Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who is touring Gulf Arab countries to speak about religious radicalism, said his plan for a $100 million cultural center and mosque in Lower Manhattan had become a campaign issue for the November 2 mid-term elections.
President Barack Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg support the right of Muslims to build the center. But it is opposed by most conservative politicians, some Democrats, and others who say its location is insensitive to families of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the September 11 attacks by al Qaeda militants in 2001.
“There is no doubt that the election season has had a major impact upon the nature of the discourse,” Abdul Rauf said of the heated U.S. debate in an interview published on Monday by Abu Dhabi’s The National newspaper.
Strong support to outlaw face veils as France prepares to vote ban
France’s plan to ban full face veils, which comes up for a vote in the National Assembly on Tuesday, enjoys 82% popular support in the country, according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project. Its neighbours also approve — 71% of those polled in Germany, 62% in Britain and 59% in Spain agreed that there should be laws prohibiting the Muslim veils known as niqabs and burqas in public.
The poll, conducted from April 7 to May 8, did not range further afield, but reports from other countries show support there as well. The lower house of the Belgian parliament has voted for a ban, which should be approved by the Senate after the summer. In the Netherlands, several bills to ban full veils in certain sectors such as schools and public service are in preparation. Switzerland’s justice minister has suggested the cantons there should pass partial bans but make exceptions for visiting Muslim tourists (the wives of rich sheikhs visiting their bankers in Zurich or Geneva?)
The big exception in the Pew poll is the United States, where 65% of those polled disapprove of a ban and only 28% support the idea. The poll did not investigate the reasons for this difference, so we can only assume it has to do with the more widespread acceptance of religion in public life in the U.S. and a more open approach to immigration.
The brief analysis that Pew published showed that support for a “burqa ban” seems pretty strong across the pollsters’ demographic categories. It said:
“Opinions about banning Muslim women from wearing a full veil do not vary along gender lines in any of the five countries where the question was asked. In France, Britain and the U.S., views on this matter are also similar across education and income groups. However, in Spain and Germany, those in higher income groups are more likely than the less affluent to approve of such a ban; for example, a slim majority (51%) of low-income respondents in Spain favor a ban on full veils, compared with 62% of those in the middle-income range and 68% of those with high incomes.
“Ideologically, those on the right in France, Britain and Germany are more likely than those on the left to approve of a ban on women wearing the full Islamic veil in public places, but majorities across the political spectrum in these countries endorse such a ban. In France, 87% of those on the right support prohibiting women from wearing full veils in public, and 75% of those on the political left agree. Spain is the only Western European country surveyed where those on both ends of the ideology scale express nearly identical views; 59% of those on the right and 57% of those on the left approve of a ban on Muslim women wearing veils that cover the whole face. Ideological differences are also insignificant in the U.S.”
In the latest twist to this story in France, businessman Rachid Nekkaz is offering to sell properties to set up a one million euro fund to help Muslim women pay the 150 euro fine they may receive for wearing the full veil in public if the ban becomes law.
POLL: the right verdict in slain Kansas abortion doctor case?
A man accused of gunning down one of America’s few late-term abortion providers was found guilty of first-degree murder on Friday after he said he had to act to stop the doctor from performing more abortions. Give us your opinion in the online poll below.
The judge initially allowed Roeder’s defense team to argue for a voluntary manslaughter conviction by proving he had “an unreasonable but honest belief that circumstances existed that justified deadly force.”
But after Roeder openly admitted on the stand to shooting Dr. George Tiller to death with premeditation, the judge told the jury it could not consider that option.
Having reasons for murdering someone is not the same as having a defence for murder.
After all, people usually have a reason for murdering someone. Or they wouldn’t have wanted them dead in the first place.
Manslaughter implies an accident, or a temporary loss of sanity. He admits it was no accident, and admits it was premeditated. So the only real option is murder.
Still, at least his judgement will be humane. Which is more then he gave for the man he killed.
Global economic crisis also a values crisis, Davos poll says
The World Economic Forum, whose annual Davos summit opening today is a favourite gathering for the rich and powerful, has issued an opinion poll showing two-thirds of those surveyed believe the current economic crisis is also a crisis of values. Almost as many singled out business as the sector that should stress values more to foster a better world. “The poll results point to a trust deficit regarding values in the business world,” the Forum said in a statement.
The fact the Forum conducted this poll may come as a surprise to those who know Davos only from the “CEO in the snow” interviews that flood some cable TV financial broadcasts at this time of year. However, he Forum has widened its scope beyond its initial role as a European management seminar. Since 2001, it has been working with faith communities in inter-faith dialogue, especially between the West and the Muslim world, and more recently a Global Agenda Council on Faith to explore “the challenges that lie in the interactions between religion and society, religion and peacebuilding and religion and business”.
My news story here on the poll gives a summary of its findings. In a few bullet points, they are:
- 67.8 % said the global economic crisis was “also a crisis of ethics and values”. Only 62.4 % of younger respondents aged 18-23 agreed here but the total jumped to 78.6 % for those aged over 30.
- 60.9 % said businesses large and small should stress values more, compared with 23 % for politics and 16.1 % for global institutions.
- Only 12.9 % of the 130,000 people polled said businesses were primarily accountable to their shareholders. 18.2 % said clients and customers, 22.9 % named employees and 46 % cited all of them equally.
- 39.3 % said honesty, integrity and transparency were the most important values to stress in the global political and economic system, 23.7 % chose respecting others, 19.9 % said considering the effect of actions on others and 17 % said preserving the environment.
- 54.2 % believed that universal values existed. Among rich countries, Germany was far ahead (64.9 %) of the United States (49.9 %) and France (37.6 %) here.
The quick takeaway from this is that lots of people believe the economic crisis reveals a crisis of values but they are less clear about what to do about it. Clearly they are not strong on the “shareholder value” school of business thinking. And only a bit more than half believe that universal values — a possible basis for a more ethical approach to business — actually exist.
The full report includes plenty of interesting information about the countries where the poll was conducted and also short essays by 16 world religious leaders. The essays all stress such fundamental values as concern for the common good, but none get into the nuts and bolts of suggesting policies that businesses can implement to make up for their perceived ethical deficits.
What do you think? Do you have an ethical argument about reforming business that might catch the attention of the rich and powerful now gathered in that luxury village in the Swiss Alps?
POLL: The world’s top 500 Muslims? Read and vote
If you’ve ever been confused by Muslim names you read in the news or unsure who’s important in the Islamic world, help is near. A new book entitled “The 500 Most Influential Muslims – 2009″ lists prominent Muslims from different fields — politics, religion, women, media, even radicals — with informative short biographies explaining who they are. It starts with an overall “top 50″ list and then surveys the most prominent Muslims in their fields. Here it is in PDF.
The book, edited by Professors John Esposito and Ibrahim Kalin at Georgetown University in Washington, is the first in what is planned to be an annual survey of the top Muslim personalities around the world. It’s a joint effort by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in Amman and Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. Esposito is director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center and Kalin is spokesman for the Common Word dialogue initiative we’ve written about on this blog before.
As the editors say in their introduction: “Influence in the Muslim world is particular to its context. There is not a clear hierarchy or organised clergy for Muslims to identify a leader, such as a patriarch for Orthodox Christians or a pope for Catholics.” They took a mix of factors into account in working out their top 50 list and have even asked readers to send in suggestions for next year’s list. You can vote for your candidate for “most influential Muslim” in the poll at the bottom of this post.
(UPDATE: The online poll has been closed after more than 1.8 million votes but comments are still open. See the results below.)
So who are the world’s most influential Muslims, according to this book? Here are the top 10:
1. King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, king of Saudi Arabia, custodian of the two Holy Mosques 2. Grand Ayatollah Hajj Sayyid Ali Khamenei, supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran 3. King Mohammed VI, king of Morocco 4. King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein, King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan 5. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prime minister of the republic of Turkey 6. Sultan Qaboos bin Sa’id al Sa’id, sultan of Oman 7. Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Hussein Sistani, Marja of the Hawza, Najaf 8. Sheikh Al Azhar Dr Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, grand sheikh of the Al Azhar University, grand imam of Al Azhar Mosque 9. Sheikh Dr Yusuf Qaradawi, head of the International Union of Muslim Scholars 10. Sheikh Dr Ali Goma’a, grand mufti of the Arab Republic of Egypt
muhammad shakh i think he is nice parson and well understand quraniq ayat so plz dont bolsheet about shakh sahab
POLL – Is reforming U.S. health care a moral issue?
The heated debate over United States health care reform revolves around practical issues like its expected costs or the government-run “public option.” But when President Barack Obama addressed Congress on the issue, he quoted a letter from the late Senator Ted Kennedy saying: “What we face is above all a moral issue; at stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country.”
Religious leaders and politicians supporting health care reform sometimes frame the issue in moral terms. But the term “moral” rarely pops up in the Washington debate and — apart from the Kennedy quote — it didn’t figure in Obama’s speech either. The president did discuss the issue of character, which is a moral term, and used the word often enough for it to appear in the Wordle web cloud below. But he avoided repeating what might be considered a religiously loaded word in a crucial political speech.
What do you think?
Here’s the word cloud of Obama’s speech. Even “character” is pretty hard to find (click to enlarge the image).
I don’t pretend to know how to fix the Health Insurance problem in the US; but it sure seems like a nation who has won two world wars, put men on the moon, and has some of the finest health care available in the world, should be able to afford natural conception to natural death individually COST-FREE Health Care for all of it’s citizens and LEGAL Visitors. We bailed out our major industries from a lengthy recession; but don’t we even have enough resources left to bail-out all of our own citizens and visitors ??? I think we do have the resources, we just need to figure out how to do it and still maintain the best standards of care available to modern medical science for everybody. Who cares if it is the Socialistic Democrats or the Fascist Republicans who propose the final solution; it’s about time to “Git Off The Pot’ and “Git ‘ER DONE !!” Way too many folks are falling “between the cracks”; it really doesn’t matter who gets the credit for it or the blame for it – It’s time to make the USA #1, once again !!!!!
Poll – Should Ted Kennedy have a Catholic funeral?
Our post “Catholic comments on Ted Kennedy, pro and con” showed readers were deeply split on whether the late senator should have a Roman Catholic funeral. The naysayers argued that his support for choice on abortion and other disagreements with Church doctrine disqualify him from a religious ceremony. Those for a church funeral argued that he helped advance many causes championed by Catholic social teaching.
Those opposing a Mass of Christian Burial for Kennedy predominated, but not all readers take the time to write a comment. One-click poll questions sometimes give a different picture from comment pages. So here’s a simple question:
As the old saying goes, Let he (or she) who is without sin, cast the first stone.
Nobody’s perfect. We all have faults. Teddy was a devout Catholic. Who are we mere mortals, to decide whether or not he should have the funeral of his choice. This is not American, nor is it Christian.
Christ would have forgiven him, and Teddy did an awful lot for a lot of people. Have some respect for the dead, for humanity’s sake.
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Resident FaithWorld Expert
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In a similar poll by PEW, it was revealed that conservative Christians had the least knowledge of the Bible & their own religious denomination. For an accurate evaluation of any person; “it says in the Bible”, is a nonstarter. It means nothing. No religious affiliation is a guarantee of good content of ones character. The same holds true for Muslims, who must depend on dubious clerics to tell them what it says in the Qoran, as most do not understand Arabic, & simply mouth the sounds. I can relate to that, in a sense; having grown up Catholic & an altar boy during the final years of the universal use of Latin for the Mass.At the age of 10 or so;I could mouth pages of Latin, & hadn’t a clue what I was saying.But, more to the point; it shouldn’t matter what religion, if any, the president follows. Perhaps this should be kept confidential, & successful candidates should have to abstain from church attendance while in office.