Currents Shaping Our World: How Others See Us

Confidence in organized religion dropped 30 points in the year after the September 11 attacks, the lowest in the 62 years the Gallup organization has measured the public pulse. Gallup blames the plunge on the Catholic sex abuse scandal and the declining attitude of Catholics toward their church. Protestants fared better.

The Gallup survey, taken in December 2002, shows 59% of U.S. adult Protestants have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the church itself, while only 42% of Catholics shared this view.

Ministers’ ethics: Public opinion of clergy dropped likewise. In 2001, 64% gave ministers high marks for ethical standards; in 2002, the number dropped to 52%.

Clergy rank seventh in favorable opinion of their ethics, behind nurses (79%), pharmacists (67%), military officers (65%), teachers (64%), medical doctors (63%), and police (59%).

Ministers led bankers, journalists, lawyers, and congressmen. Car salesmen and telemarketers, by the way, were at the bottom of the list.

Billy Graham was sixth on the list of most admired men, behind three presidents, one pope, and one busy secretary of state.

Moral decline predicted: 67% said our society is only getting worse. Is religion relevant? The response has varied little since 1974: 59% say religion “can answer” today’s problems. Only 24% percent say religion is “largely old-fashioned and out-of-date.”

Where the heart is: Religion trailed family, health, work, friends, and money on the what-really-matters list. While 96% said family is “extremely important” or “important,” only 65% said the same about their religion.

Would you describe yourself as ‘born-again’ or ‘evangelical’?” Yes: 46%. No: 48%. No opinion: 6%.

Reading habits: Americans are more inclined to read John Grisham than John Ortberg, but by a slim margin. Religious books ranked third in 13 categories of preferred reading material, as 24% of respondents said they were “very likely” to read books on spirituality or theology. Biographies topped the chart (30%), thrillers were second (25%).

—Eric Reed, with information from Gallup.com

Trendex

» Bad words. These religious terms are on a new list banned by a major textbook publisher:

Adam and Eve (replace with “Eve and Adam” to demonstrate males do not take priority over females)
Blind leading the blind (banned, handicapism)
Cult (ethnocentric when referring to a religious group)
Devil (no reason given)
Extremist (replace with “believer,” “follower,” or “adherent”)
Fanatic (replace with “believer,” “follower,” or “adherent”)
Founding Fathers (sexist, use “Founders” or “Framers”)
God (no reason given)
Hell (use “heck” or “darn”)
Lame (use “walks with a cane”)
Middle East (Eurocentric, replace with “Southwest Asia”)
Pagan (use “nonbeliever”)
Satan (no reason given)