UNION:inDialogue/ » Pat Robertson http://unionindialogue.org Online Conversations from the Union Theological Seminary Community Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:00:32 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 Who speaks for Christianity? http://unionindialogue.org/wheatandthechaff/2009/10/23/who-speaks-for-christianity/ http://unionindialogue.org/wheatandthechaff/2009/10/23/who-speaks-for-christianity/#comments Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:24:37 +0000 Peter Herman http://6.4 A popular trope among religious liberals and progressives is that there is a great, unrecognized majority of our kind. If the mainstream media would only seek out Jay Bakker or James Cone instead of Rick Warren or Pat Robertson, we’d get a more accurate image of contemporary Christian belief. It is a hopeful thought to hold and it is seductive in the suggestion that the socially conservative presence in Christianity today is being overreported. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be true.

A study published in September by Public Religion Research has revealed some thought-provoking statistics on this question. The survey queried both conservative and liberal activists who identify as religiously faithful. In the conservative camp, 99% identified as some variety of Christian. The liberals reported 71% of their numbers as Christian. While the data could be interpreted as the liberal activists being a more inclusive community, it also points to the notion that perhaps equating “Christian” and “conservative” may not be that inaccurate after all.

Resources:
Public Religion Research
Daniel Schultz at Religion Dispatches on this report

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