A Profile of the American Clergyman

CT-Gallup Poll findings on American clergy show them to be more conservative than their public image.

Heretics make headlines. When a minister publicly denies the cardinal beliefs of his church it’s news. If she openly supports a lesbian lifestyle, reporters know that sells newspapers. But what about the clergy whose names appear only in the Saturday church announcements? What do they believe? What kinds of lifestyles do they approve? What do they feel about the ministry or the social-ethical issues of our day?

A modern business axiom proclaims, “In God we trust—all others must have data.” To gather data to answer these questions, CHRISTIANITY TODAY employed the Gallup organization and its affiliate, the Princeton Religious Research Center, to survey American clergy. A group of 1,060 Protestant ministers, selected at random, took time to answer 45 questions sent to them in the mail. In a separate sample, 998 Roman Catholic clergy also filled out the questionnaire. The denominational proportion of Protestant clergy participating in the survey corresponds to the actual number of clergy in the various denominations. Baptists made up 17 percent of the respondents; Methodists 14 percent; Lutherans 12 percent; Presbyterians 9 percent; United Church of Christ 4 percent; Episcopalians 3 percent; and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) 2 percent. Other religious bodies represented in the sample—Mormons, Eastern Orthodox, Bible churches, to name a few—each made up 1 percent or less of the total.

According to the study, most Protestant clergy serve relatively small congregations. Only 12 percent reported an active membership of 1,000 or more, while over half said they pastored churches with less than 300. Congregations that call their minister “the preacher” have support from the clergy: when asked what they considered the most important activities of pastoral ministry. 56 percent of the ministers singled out preaching. The closest second, checked by 15 percent of the respondents, was administration of the sacraments. That does not necessarily mean that clergy feel their preaching is effective. When asked. “What programs in your church are especially successful?” less than 10 percent mentioned preaching. About a third selected “liturgy—worship services.” Among evangelicals, youth ministries topped the list.

American clergy tend to classify themselves as theologically conservative rather than liberal. Over half—53 percent—declare they are evangelical. Over 20 percent say they are fundamentalists. One-third answer to “traditional confessional.” Ten percent accept the label “charismatic.” Only 15 percent of the clergy characterize themselves as “liberal” and 8 percent as “neoorthodox.” Within the evangelicals, 55 percent regard themselves as philosophically conservative compared to 37 percent who see themselves as “middle of the road” or a small 6 percent who think of themselves as “liberal.” What is more, members of the clergy believe their congregations view them as they view themselves.

Conservative doctrinal positions emerge again and again throughout the survey. Seven in ten ministers believe “the Bible is the Word of God and is not mistaken in its statements and teachings.” Among evangelicals, over 95 percent accept that position. Clergy under 30 are more likely to hold this view of Scripture than their elders. In fact, throughout the study, young persons in the clergy appear more traditional and theologically conservative than their older colleagues. As many Catholics hold this high view of the Bible as Protestants. Catholics and Protestants differ significantly, however, when it comes to testing religious beliefs. While 76 percent of Protestants cite the Bible as their chief authority, 77 percent of Catholics say they test their beliefs “by what the church says.” On questions about the person of Christ, respondents were even more orthodox. The great majority of clergy (87 percent) believe that “Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man.” Catholics are virtually unanimous in this doctrinal affirmation. Approached negatively, only 1 percent of all the clergy accept the proposition, “Jesus Christ is not God or the Son of God, but was a great religious teacher.” The only significant deviation from the strong affirmation of Christ’s deity and humanity came from Methodists: 30 percent felt that “Jesus Christ was a man, but was divine in the sense that God worked through him. He was the Son of God.”

Ninety-nine percent of both Protestant and Catholic ministers believe in life after death and eight out of ten go on to affirm that “the only hope for heaven is through personal faith in Jesus Christ.” A basic issue of the Reformation still separates Protestants and Catholics, however: 61 percent of Roman Catholic clergy believe that “heaven is a divine reward for those who earn it by their good life.”

Continuing the conservative trend, a strong majority of clergy believe that the devil is a personal being. Catholics, Southern Baptists, and those over 50 are more likely to affirm this than others in the sample. Once again Methodists as a group file a minority report. About one in five maintain that the devil does not exist either as a person or a force for evil in people’s lives.

In the face of pervasive teaching about evolution in our school systems, it is significant that 57 percent of the clergy and half of the general public still believe “God created Adam and Eve, which was the start of human life.” Younger clergy are more likely to accept this than their elders. Catholics, however, differ with Protestants on this question. Two-thirds of Catholic clergy agreed with the statement, “God began an evolutionary cycle for all living things, including man, but personally intervened in a point in time and transformed man into a human being in his own image.” Creation and evolution divide evangelicals. “Liberal” evangelicals appear much more likely to adopt an evolutionary position than those who characterize themselves as “conservative” or “middle of the road.”

Eight out of ten clergy testify to having had a “religious experience,” but the experience relates to some degree to their religious affiliation. For instance, Protestants are more likely than Catholics to have had such an experience, and Baptists are twice as likely as Lutherans. Within the group reporting a religious experience, better than nine out of ten said it involved Jesus Christ, and three out of four saw it as a turning point that included asking Jesus Christ to be their personal Savior. While most of those who report a religious experience feel it continues to hold significance for them, among Catholics and Lutherans the experience is not usually associated with conversion.

What about the personal lives of the clergy? Press reports of pastors and priests leaving the ministry make it appear that large numbers pick up their cross only to drop it along the way. According to the survey, however, only about three in ten indicated they “often” or “occasionally” considered leaving the ministry. Just as many replied that they have “never” considered dropping out. Catholics are less likely than others to have flirted with this possibility. In their personal lives, about half of the clergy feel they live up to their own moral and ethical standards most of the time. About one in three admit that while they try to live up to their standards, they find it difficult. However, few felt their standards were impossible to maintain. When temptation does assault the clergy, it is not blamed on the society around them. Only 2 percent checked the response “there is so much in today’s culture that works against my standards that I often find it impossible to live up to what I think is right.” Alcohol poses less of a threat to ministers than it does to the general public. While two out of three lay persons drink, less than half of the clergy indulge. Among evangelicals, three out of four are total abstainers.

Do clergy regard the world as their parish, or the parish as their world? On the one hand, when asked which pastoral activity gave them “least satisfaction,” 28 percent said “community service” (ranking under administration, which received the lowest marks of all). Yet, most agreed that “helping win the world for Jesus Christ” should hold top priority for a Christian. While Methodists and liberals are less likely to affirm that priority, it still ranks as the dominant opinion in these two groups as well. Two out of three respondents say the church should concentrate more on personal than social renewal; the remaining third vote for equal emphasis. Only 2 percent favor making social renewal the primary concern of the church. These reactions stem from a strategy embraced by four out of five ministers—personal renewal generally leads to social renewal. Even among liberals, the response stands four to one that if we renew persons we can renew society.

This emphasis on the individual does not necessarily imply the church has no business in politics. Three out of four of those questioned believe that religious organizations should take a public position on what they feel to be the will of God in political-economic matters. Catholics hold this more often than Protestants and young adults seem somewhat less likely to opt for political expression than their elders. The clergy also respond in impressive numbers that “religious organizations should try to persuade senators and representatives to enact legislation they would like to see become law.”

If the clergy should decide to get together on political-economic issues, though, they could not agree on what legislation to push. What could be expected is that the clergy would generally be more conservative than the public at large. For example, only 3 percent of the clergy agree that abortion is “acceptable under any circumstance,” while 13 percent of the public accept that statement. After that the clergy split. While over 80 percent of the Protestants feel that abortion is “acceptable under only certain circumstances,” only a quarter of the Catholics assent to that. Most insist that abortion is unacceptable in all circumstances.

A heavy majority (84 percent) believe sexual relations before marriage are wrong—while only half of the general public see that as true. Catholic clergy hold this view more often than Protestants, but conservative and middle-of-the-road evangelicals hold it even more strongly than Catholics. Among liberals, however, one out of four accept the idea that premarital sex may be right. When it comes to extramarital sex, the clergy present a more unified front—96 percent declare that an extramarital affair is wrong.

Homosexuality, another issue of our times, does not get such widespread denunciation. While eight out of ten clergy across the nation reject homosexual relations between consenting adults as sinful (Southern Baptists and conservative evangelicals hold this unanimously), among theological liberals better than one out of four disagree.

The clergy also appear more conservative than the public on divorce. The dominant position of ministers is that “divorce should be avoided except in an extreme situation.” On the other hand, the dominant view of the public is that “divorce is painful, but preferable to maintaining an unhappy marriage.” On this issue Catholic and Protestant clergy stand together. The strictest view on divorce is held by ministers under 30. Almost one out of five feel that “divorce should be avoided under any circumstances.”

What about remarriage after divorce? In the population at large, one out of three persons feel that “remarriage after divorce is always acceptable,” but only one out of ten clergymen agree with that statement. Thirty-seven percent prefer the alternative “remarriage after divorce is acceptable if reconciliation to the former mate is not possible, regardless of the reason.” Surprisingly, 22 percent of Catholic clergy endorse that position.

When asked what should be done about poverty in their community, two out of ten members of the public felt no obligation beyond paying taxes. Another two believed they should try to persuade church and government organizations to aid the poor. Three more were willing to contribute to such organizations. Only two out of ten felt they should be involved personally and directly. Members of the clergy contrast sharply with the public. One-third believed they should personally be involved with the poor, while an additional third felt a responsibility to persuade church, religious, and government agencies to help. Almost as many believed they should contribute to religious and community groups. Less than 1 percent of the ministers in the country felt that paying taxes alone was enough. More impressive, according to their answers, clergy involve themselves with the poor far more often than do the general public. They work personally with the poor, contribute to agencies that assist the poor, and persuade others to get involved. While 27 percent of the public confess they have done nothing about poverty in their community, only 1 percent of the ministers make such an admission.

Clearly, the CHRISTIANITY TODAY-Gallup Poll and members of the press don’t pose identical pictures of the American clergy. Ministers as a group hold much more conservative positions on theological and ethical questions than a newspaper reader might suspect. Nor do ministers live in steeples high above the pavement. In impressive numbers, they get involved at a personal level with needy men and women around them.

In the weeks to come this broad survey will be broken out into its separate parts and the thinking and actions of the clergy analyzed in detail. Through these studies church leaders today and historians of the future will have an accurate understanding of where ministers positioned themselves as the decade began.

Carl F. H. Henry, first editor of Christianity Today, is lecturer at large for World Vision International. An author of many books, he lives in Arlington, Virginia.

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