**Rowland Croucher**
2009-03-10 02:42:44 UTC
*Sightings* 3/9/09
Mainline Clergy
-- Martin E. Marty
While the number of Americans coded as =93Mainline Protestant=94 has gone down
(almost) twenty percent in (almost) fifty years, still (almost) one in five
Americans and (almost) one in four voters are part of this often (almost)
invisible cohort which receives (almost) no prime time or front page media
and even (almost) no slot when pollsters interview and rank voters. You
will see and hear more than usual about them, thanks to a Public Religion
Research survey released Friday, entitled *Clergy Voices: Findings from the
2008 Mainline Protestant Clergy Voices Survey*. Robert P. Jones and Daniel
Cox present their findings, which are active enough, but in their own way.
Until around 1960 this cluster dominated much public discourse, as it does
not today. Happily, Jones and Cox don=92t waste any of their thirty-five
pages revisiting the overdone analysis of reasons for their relative decline
in size, status, and noise. Old stuff. The new stuff here is their set of
findings about clergy voices and actions today (as of last August, that is).
While the mainliners have enemies, mainly among conservative Protestants
and think-tanks on the right, they go about their work in thousands of vital
congregations and more struggling ones. Those enemies like to portray them
as ideological leftists; *Clergy Voices* does not find them so. The word
=93diffuse=94 shows up in the reports. They have voices in public affairs, but
rarely and mildly try to project or enforce social justice =93dogma.=94 Some
see their limits as a result of lay reaction to leftism, but current members
are not massively assaulted with radical preachments and policies.
Politicians who would organize and exploit them, as they do some other
religious groups, would have difficulty doing so; constituencies vary too
much by denomination, region, social class, and height of boundaries that
might be used to keep members in and others out. Their members may have
strong social justice commitments, but they blend them with those in other
religions or in the secular order. Yes, half call themselves =93liberal,=94
because they are not afraid of the label, but a third are=20
=93conservative.=94 Over
half are Democrat-=93leaning=94 and one-third =93claim a Republican affiliation.=94
No surprise here: More than three-quarters want the federal government to
do more on the social problems front, especially in respect to environmental
and health care issues. They fall into the =93church-state separation=94 camp,
and far more are worried about public officials who are too close to
religious leaders than about those who are too far.
Four out of five speak up on hunger and poverty issues but=97and this fits the
stereotype=97only one-fourth =93often discussed the issues of abortion and
capital punishment.=94 They are friendlier than not to gay and lesbian
people, and a majority supports their rights. Clergy? Ninety-three percent
are still white, eighty percent male, only twenty-nine percent believe in
biblical inerrancy, almost eighty-percent say they are strongly interested
in politics, but most don=92t preach on specific legislative or candidacy
themes. They and their members pitch in on other than directly political
causes and prefer broad-based works of mercy through voluntary associations
in church and beyond it. On the large screen, most =93are firmly opposed to
the war in Iraq and most think Israel has to make greater concessions to
achieve Middle East peace. That, in our reading, is the solitary issue that
prompts editorial and talk-show talk. They are generally for control of
guns. Maybe that=92s a clue to the reasoning of those who attack them:=20
Taking
on guns, they attack what may be America=92s real religion.
*References:*
Find information on the sponsoring agency of the survey at
www.publicreligion.org; the survey itself is available at
http://www.publicreligion.org/research/?id=3D167.
Martin E. Marty's biography, current projects, upcoming events,
publications, and contact information can be found at www.illuminos.com.
Visit the Religion and Culture Web Forum:
http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/webforum/index.shtml
----------
*Sightings* comes from the Martin Marty
Center<http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/>at the University of
Chicago Divinity School.
Attribution
Columns may be quoted or republished in full, with attribution to the author
of the column, *Sightings*, and the Martin Marty Center at the University of
Chicago Divinity School.
--=20
Shalom/Salaam/Pax! Rowland Croucher
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/
Justice for Dawn Rowan - http://dawnrowansaga.blogspot.com/
Mainline Clergy
-- Martin E. Marty
While the number of Americans coded as =93Mainline Protestant=94 has gone down
(almost) twenty percent in (almost) fifty years, still (almost) one in five
Americans and (almost) one in four voters are part of this often (almost)
invisible cohort which receives (almost) no prime time or front page media
and even (almost) no slot when pollsters interview and rank voters. You
will see and hear more than usual about them, thanks to a Public Religion
Research survey released Friday, entitled *Clergy Voices: Findings from the
2008 Mainline Protestant Clergy Voices Survey*. Robert P. Jones and Daniel
Cox present their findings, which are active enough, but in their own way.
Until around 1960 this cluster dominated much public discourse, as it does
not today. Happily, Jones and Cox don=92t waste any of their thirty-five
pages revisiting the overdone analysis of reasons for their relative decline
in size, status, and noise. Old stuff. The new stuff here is their set of
findings about clergy voices and actions today (as of last August, that is).
While the mainliners have enemies, mainly among conservative Protestants
and think-tanks on the right, they go about their work in thousands of vital
congregations and more struggling ones. Those enemies like to portray them
as ideological leftists; *Clergy Voices* does not find them so. The word
=93diffuse=94 shows up in the reports. They have voices in public affairs, but
rarely and mildly try to project or enforce social justice =93dogma.=94 Some
see their limits as a result of lay reaction to leftism, but current members
are not massively assaulted with radical preachments and policies.
Politicians who would organize and exploit them, as they do some other
religious groups, would have difficulty doing so; constituencies vary too
much by denomination, region, social class, and height of boundaries that
might be used to keep members in and others out. Their members may have
strong social justice commitments, but they blend them with those in other
religions or in the secular order. Yes, half call themselves =93liberal,=94
because they are not afraid of the label, but a third are=20
=93conservative.=94 Over
half are Democrat-=93leaning=94 and one-third =93claim a Republican affiliation.=94
No surprise here: More than three-quarters want the federal government to
do more on the social problems front, especially in respect to environmental
and health care issues. They fall into the =93church-state separation=94 camp,
and far more are worried about public officials who are too close to
religious leaders than about those who are too far.
Four out of five speak up on hunger and poverty issues but=97and this fits the
stereotype=97only one-fourth =93often discussed the issues of abortion and
capital punishment.=94 They are friendlier than not to gay and lesbian
people, and a majority supports their rights. Clergy? Ninety-three percent
are still white, eighty percent male, only twenty-nine percent believe in
biblical inerrancy, almost eighty-percent say they are strongly interested
in politics, but most don=92t preach on specific legislative or candidacy
themes. They and their members pitch in on other than directly political
causes and prefer broad-based works of mercy through voluntary associations
in church and beyond it. On the large screen, most =93are firmly opposed to
the war in Iraq and most think Israel has to make greater concessions to
achieve Middle East peace. That, in our reading, is the solitary issue that
prompts editorial and talk-show talk. They are generally for control of
guns. Maybe that=92s a clue to the reasoning of those who attack them:=20
Taking
on guns, they attack what may be America=92s real religion.
*References:*
Find information on the sponsoring agency of the survey at
www.publicreligion.org; the survey itself is available at
http://www.publicreligion.org/research/?id=3D167.
Martin E. Marty's biography, current projects, upcoming events,
publications, and contact information can be found at www.illuminos.com.
Visit the Religion and Culture Web Forum:
http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/webforum/index.shtml
----------
*Sightings* comes from the Martin Marty
Center<http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/>at the University of
Chicago Divinity School.
Attribution
Columns may be quoted or republished in full, with attribution to the author
of the column, *Sightings*, and the Martin Marty Center at the University of
Chicago Divinity School.
--=20
Shalom/Salaam/Pax! Rowland Croucher
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/
Justice for Dawn Rowan - http://dawnrowansaga.blogspot.com/