Catholics don't see contraception mandate as threat to religious freedom

c. 2012 Religion News Service
WASHINGTON (RNS) A vocal contingent of Republican presidential candidates and
church leaders are railing against the Obama administration's "war on religion,"
but most Americans can't seem to find the fight.

A majority (56 percent) of Americans say religious liberty is not threatened
in the U.S., according to a new poll released Thursday (March 15) by the Public
Religion Research Institute, which conducted the survey in partnership with
Religion News Service.

The poll, which asked a wide range of questions, also found significant
support for same-sex marriage.

Even though Catholic bishops are leading the charge that the new White House
mandate requiring insurance plans to cover birth control for employees is a
threat to religious liberty, Catholics reject -- by a 57 to 38 percent margin --
the idea that religious liberty is under siege.

What's more, nearly two-thirds of Catholics support the contraception
requirements for publicly held corporations (65 percent), compared to 62 percent
of all Americans. A strong 60 percent of Catholics say religiously affiliated
colleges should have to comply, compared to 54 percent of Americans in general.

Catholics would not have seemed supportive of the Obama policy had they been
asked a different question, argued Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"If you were to ask, 'Should the government force churches to violate their
religious beliefs?', you'd get different results," she said. "This is an issue
of religious freedom, not one of access to contraceptives, which are ubiquitous
and relatively inexpensive."

The mandate, the bishops say, tramples on religious liberties by forcing
church-affiliated universities and hospitals to provide a service that Catholic
teaching deems sinful.

And though a majority of Americans generally disagree with the bishops on
the morality of using contraception, a significant minority (39 percent) does
worry about religious freedom.

"The argument made by Catholic bishops and other religious leaders that
religious freedom is being threatened is likely to resonate with a minority of
the public," said Daniel Cox, PRRI's research director. "But not because of the
contraception issue."

When those who perceive a threat were asked how religious liberty was being
threatened, only 6 percent mentioned the new contraception mandate specifically
-- a number Cox found startlingly low given how often the issue has headlined
the news in recent weeks.

The most frequent response was that religion is being removed from the
public square (23 percent), followed by a concern about general governmental
interference in religion (20 percent).

Among those who felt religious liberty is less than secure, unsolicited
responses included:

-- "I think we should have prayer in school and display the Ten Commandments
and no one should take it down if we chose."

-- "Working people are not allowed to say Merry Christmas."

-- "The government is poking their nose into people's religion and telling
them what they should and should not do."

Pollsters also asked the flip side of the religious liberty question: Is the
principle of the separation of church and state threatened in the United States
today?

Americans divided on this question, with 45 percent agreeing that it was
threatened, and 48 percent saying it was not.

Who is worried about religious liberty in America? White evangelical
Protestants, the only major religious group in which a majority (61 percent)
believes religious liberty is in trouble, according to the study.

That makes sense to Kenneth P. Minkema of Yale Divinity School.

"Evangelicals historically have tended to see conspiratorial forces at
work," said Minkema, who teaches American religious history. "It comes in part
from this sense that there's a constant struggle between the forces of light and
darkness, that something is either an agent of God or the devil. It contributes
to a sense of religion being under attack."

The poll also confirmed upward trends in attitudes toward gay Americans.

Last year, surveys detected for the first time that a majority of Americans
support legalizing same-sex marriage. This latest poll again pins that number
above 50 percent, as well as support for gay couples adopting children.

Among the findings:

-- Of the 52 percent who favor gay marriage, 22 percent strongly favor and
30 percent favor it.

-- Of the 44 percent who oppose gay marriage, 19 percent oppose it and 25
percent strongly oppose it.

-- Most Americans (54 percent) believe gay and lesbian couples should be
allowed to adopt children, while 40 percent are opposed.

The poll also found that a slight majority of Americans (52 percent) believe
birth control should be generally available to teenagers 16 or older without
parental approval; 46 percent disagree.

The survey of 1,007 adults has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5
percentage points.