Something I didn't know

Today, one of my favorite organizations, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (because I love data, if you hadn't figured that out already) came out with an interesting new study. It's worth a look. They looked at the "hotbutton" social issues of our time, such as abortion, stem cell research, and gay marriage. What they found is, in some ways unsurprisingly, that most Americans are pretty middle-of-the-road about those issues.

Interestingly enough, something that I hadn't known, is that there is no gender gap when it comes to people's opinions on the availability of abortion. I just hadn't known that (which is surprising to me, since I thought I knew a lot about that issue.) Also, 66% of Americans thought that we had to find some middle ground on abortion, and only 29% felt there was no room for comprimise. I imagine that 29% is divided in some way between those who are pro-choice, and those who are pro-life. Who knows.

There is also some interesting data about where people think homosexuality comes from. Interestingly enough, Black protestants are more conservative than White evangelicals on the question of birth vs. choice, and whether or not homosexuality is changable. I wonder why this is.

Anyway, all of this taken together is more evidence that I think the religious right has probably gone as far as it will be able to ever go on these hot button issues. And, given the varied reporting in the news and blogosphere, I think that it's getting really close to the point where we can say that they reached their peak, and they are fading. Yay!

technorati tags:abortion, religiousright, homosexuality, gaymarriage, protestant, evangelical