Americans Likely to Support Mixing Religion, Politics

It's not just that Americans are more likely than other Western nations to be personally religious; Americans are also more likely than citizens of other Western nations to want to mix their religion with politics. That's why politicians get so much milage out of rhetoric that brings religion into the political sphere.

AP reports:

Nearly all U.S. respondents said faith was important to them and only 2 percent said they did not believe in God, according to the polling conducted for the AP by Ipsos.

Almost 40 percent in this country said religious leaders should try to sway policymakers, notably higher than in other countries. "Our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian policies and religious leaders have an obligation to speak out on public policy, otherwise they're wimps," said David Black, a retiree from Osborne, Pa., who agreed to be interviewed after he was polled.

Still, 61 percent said they didn't think religious leaders should influence government decisions. "I think religion and politics are too closely intertwined in this country," said Dillon Hickman, a businessman from Uniontown, Ohio, near Akron. "A lot of religious leaders take too active a position in politics. And it's getting moreso."

It's nice that a majority continues to object such mixing of religion and government, but the low figure for atheists is curious. Every other poll has found a higher number of atheists — so why is this one so much smaller?

Only Mexicans come close to Americans in embracing faith, among the countries polled. But unlike Americans, Mexicans strongly object to clergy lobbying lawmakers, in line with the nation's historical opposition to church influence. ... Italians are the only European exception in the poll. Eighty percent say religion is significant to them and just over half say they unquestioningly believe in God. But in Italy, as in other European countries, enthusiasm is low for the mixing of religion and politics.

Both the Italians and the Mexicans demonstrate that it's possible to not only believe in God, but also possible for religion to be very important to a person without also believing that religion and government should mix. The two positions are independent and Americans who think that the latter follows automatically from the former are either being deceived by their religious leaders or just aren't thinking carefully enough about the matter.

Read More:

• Separation of Church and State 101
• Church and State News
• Secularism 101