The Surprising Religious Breakdown Of Same-Sex Marriage Support
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2015/04/22/3649935/poll-american-muslims-supportive-sex-marriage-white-evangelical-christians/BY JACK JENKINS POSTED ON APRIL 22, 2015 AT 12:03 PM
CREDIT: AP
A new poll released this week found that the majority of most major religious groups now fully embrace marriage equality, and that even groups who oppose the right to marry are abandoning anti-LGBT views at a surprising rate.
On Wednesday, the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) unveiled new data from their American Values Atlas, a survey conducted last year that interviewed 40,000 people across the country. In expectation of next week’s U.S. Supreme Court case on same-sex marriage, PRRI published a list of religious perspectives on marriage equality, reporting that the majority of Catholics (60 percent), white mainline Protestants (62 percent), and Jewish Americans (77 percent) either “favor” or “strongly favor” legal recognition of marriages for LGBT couples.
“A decade ago, the most supportive religious groups were white mainline Protestants and Catholics, with 36 percent and 35 percent support, respectively,” Robert Jones, CEO of PRRI, wrote in a blog post. “Today, major religious groups reside on both sides of this issue and within many key groups—such as Catholics—support among rank and file members is now at odds with official church opposition.”
CREDIT: DYLAN PETROHILOS/THINKPROGRESS
But while other polling organizations have reported similar findings about these groups in the past, PRRI also included several religious communities typically left off of other surveys — with some surprising results. American Muslims and white evangelical Protestants, for instance, both oppose same-sex marriage in the survey, but with a key difference: a full 42 percent of Muslims told PRRI they support marriage equality, while only 28 percent of white evangelicals said the same. In addition, 56 percent of Orthodox Christians gave a thumbs up to the right to marry, as did 84 percent of Buddhists and 55 percent of Hindus.
more at link
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Buddhists, of course, and encouraged by the number for Muslims.
I'll admit I'm not sure what features characterize White Evangelical Christians, differentiate them from, say, Baptists. Any help is appreciated! 
Now back to my first reaction:
Unlike the baptists, they don't have a central organization, but tend to be more independent.
They can be progressive on some matters. For example, there are evangelical groups that are making environmental concerns a priority.
But when it comes to social issues, they tend to be quite conservative, as this data shows.
Love your carrot man!
When I try to imagine the details of the data collection methodology, I have to wonder how general terms are derived and applied.
10.5% of the total population is a larger value than I'd imagined.
how the fight for marriage equality was necessary in the first place because these institutions resisted it.
The only thing that really bugs me about this survey is how the results are presented. Those bar graphs make things look far better than they actually are, so liberal believers can pat themselves on the back and convince themselves that everything is great. There are a few reasons why this is not the case, and we should not naively fool ourselves.
First is what you mention - despite increasing support from members, institutions themselves - especially the RCC have not even begun to give up the fight.
Second is the deceptive nature of that pretty bar graph. Evangelicals are way down the list, but as a proportion of the population they are more numerous than Catholics:
Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and Jews make up less than 5% TOTAL. It's nice to see where members of those faiths stand, but let's not fool ourselves that this indicates broad religious support.
Meh, don't know why I'm bothering. Critical analysis and acceptance of ALL the roles of religion on this issue just isn't allowed here, as evidenced upthread. If you can't kiss religion's ass in all your posts, your viewpoint is not welcome.
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