Most religious groups oppose denying services to gays
Study: ‘Ambivalence’ among evangelicals
The decision by businesses that refuse to serve gays and lesbians for religious reasons turns out to be an unpopular position even among most religious groups, according to a new survey by PRRI, a non-partisan research group specializing in faith and public policy issues.
The group found in a survey of 40,000 Americans that 61% of Americans oppose allowing businesses to deny services to gays and lesbians, though it has increasingly become a rallying cry of the religious right. The Supreme Court is mulling whether to take the case of a Colorado baker who refuses on religious grounds to make cakes for samesex couples.
The new survey found not a single major U.S. religious group in which a majority of members support denying service to samesex couples. Fifty percent of white evangelical Protestants supported such service denial, but the numbers drop from there: 42% of Mormons, 34% of Hispanic Protestants, 25% of black Protestants and 25% of Jehovah’s Witnesses say businesses should be allowed to deny services to same-sex couples.
The finding is part of a major shift in views of same-sex marriage across the country, where support is growing.
Roughly six in ten (58%) Americans support same-sex marriage, compared with 53% in 2015, the group found. Though 61% of white evangelical Protes- tants oppose gay marriage, even that group is split by age: 51% of evangelicals under the age of 30 say they support gay marriage.
Evangelicals show “much more ambivalence” about denying service to gays and lesbians than they do about opposing gay marriage in general, said Robert P. Jones, the CEO of PRRI.
“One of the key things driving these changes are relationships,” Jones said. “One of the strongest predictors of your views on samesex marriage or anything on gay rights is whether you have a close friend or family member who is out as gay or lesbian.”
Those relationships tend to trump traditional church teachings on homosexuality, Jones said.