Survey Says: Warm Feelings for Religious Groups?

As he neared the end of his second letter to Timothy, the apostle Paul gave a series of admonitions.  We read beginning in verse 2 of chapter 4:
2Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.3For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;4and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.5But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
This is a great template for each of us, as we think about spiritual readiness and doing the work of the ministry that we are all called to do - that's right, you have a responsibility to live and speak the gospel message.   You might not be called to a ministry position or vocation, but your role in the Kingdom of God is still vitally important.  Even in a culture where people turn aside from the ways of the Lord, we are called to faithfully live our lives in a manner that brings honor and glory to His name and, as it's been said, to make Him famous.
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In Ephesians chapter 2, we are reminded of our salvation through Christ and our preparation by the power of His indwelling Spirit to impact the world with His love:8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,9not of works, lest anyone should boast.10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

The folks over at Pew Research developed a rather non-scientific-sounding question recently to ask members of their American Trends Panel.  They asked survey respondents to rate a variety of religious groups on a so-called “feeling thermometer” ranging from 0 to 100 – where 0 reflects the coldest, most negative possible rating and 100 the warmest, most positive rating.  Three groups - Jews, Catholics, and evangelical Christians – received an average rating of 60 or higher (63 for Jews, 62 for Catholics and 61 for evangelical Christians). And 44% of the public rates all three groups in the warmest third of the scale (67 or higher).

Buddhists, Hindus and Mormons receive neutral ratings on average, ranging from 48 for Mormons to 53 for Buddhists. The public views atheists and Muslims more coldly; atheists receive an average rating of 41, and Muslims an average rating of 40. Fully 41% of the public rates Muslims in the coldest part of the thermometer (33 or below), and 40% rate atheists in the coldest part.

And, how did evangelicals feel about themselves? From people who describe themselves as born-again or evangelical Christians, evangelical Christians received an average rating of 79, compared with an average rating of 52 from non-evangelicals. Among non-evangelicals, roughly as many people give evangelicals a cold rating (27%) as give them a warm rating (30%).

One interesting area dealt with familiarity with people of other faith backgrounds. The study showed that
knowing someone from a religious group is linked with having relatively more positive views of that group.

Almost 9 out of 10 U.S. adults say they personally know someone who is Catholic. And seven-in-ten people (including 63% of non-evangelicals) say they know someone who is an evangelical Christian.  Around 60% of Americans say they know someone who is Jewish or an atheist, even though those groups are smaller than Catholics and evangelicals; roughly 2% of U.S. adults identify religiously as Jewish, and a little more than 2% identify as atheists. Other small groups are less familiar to most Americans - of those 44% of Americans say they know someone who is Mormon, and 38% say they know someone who is Muslim.

So, in addition to some interesting stats, I think that I come away with three main thoughts from those survey results.  For one thing, even though I believe we live in a time in America where to be a born-again Christian does put you on the receiving end of hostility and ridicule sometimes, this survey indicates that we may not be as villified as we might think.  There may be a greater receptivity to our faith than we might think, and that can produce a sense of confidence in sharing it.  

But, remember, the purpose of a believer is not to win a popularity contest.  Jesus promised there would be tribulation in this world - every one is not going to "like" us.  But, if we're seeking to live for Christ and love like Christ, speaking the truth with firm conviction and sharing what God has done for us, we can earn a right to be heard.   There will be those who do not love the Lord who will certainly speak against us, but we can continue to be encouraged to speak out for Him.

Finally, the statistics show that less than half of respondents know members who embrace a different religious practice.  We can be challenged to seek to build relationships with people of other religious backgrounds.  I think we do gravitate to people who live and act like us, and there may be opportunities to interact with people of other faith perspectives, with an intent on sharing Christ's love with them.