Through a Haaretz article by Amir Tibon I learned of a new Pew Research Center Poll: U.S. Public Has Favorable View of Israel’s People, but Is Less Positive Toward Its Government
One might hope that the title alone of the results of that survey will go some way towards demolishing the slur that criticism of Israel’s governments’ respective policies is a subtle form of anti-semitism.
Disappointingly predictable was the finding that Christians (notably the evangalical side of Christianity) are more likely than Jews and the “religiously unaffiliated” to approve of Trump’s hardline stance in support of Israel’s policies (presumably towards Palestinians).
Overall, it showed that 48 percent of Christians – including 61 percent of Evangelicals – have a favorable view of the Israeli government. However, a plurality of Catholics – 49 percent – have a negative view of the Israeli government, and so does a big majority – 61 percent – of Christians who belong to the historically black church. (Tibon)
Evangelical Protestants are more likely than non-evangelicals to express a favorable opinion of Israel’s government (73% of evangelical Republicans vs. 55% of non-evangelicals) (The Report)
As I’ve experienced in other areas, more Catholics than fundamentalists are on the side of liberalism, social justice and support for oppressed populations, and the support for Trump’s position towards Israel is less among Catholics than among fundamentalists and evangelicals. Bring on Armageddon, I can hear the latter half-silently hoping. “God will bless those who bless the descendants of Abraham!”
- Among Evangelical Christians, 72 percent think Trump’s policy strikes the “right balance,” and only 15 percent think he is too favorable to Israel.
- Among Catholics, 34 percent think he is too favorable to Israel, and 51 percent think he has the “right balance.”
- In addition, 33 percent of the respondents who belong to the “historically black” church said that Trump’s policies are too favorable to Israel, and 40 percent of them said it has the right balance.
Interesting that American blacks even today appear to continue to identify in some sense with the Palestinians. (That notion of identification on the part of American blacks has been a controversial question in the past.)
Jews are not quite as totally gung-ho:
Among Jewish respondents, 42 percent said that Trump’s policies were too favorable to Israel. Only 6 percent said that his policies were too favorable to the Palestinians, while a plurality of 47 percent said the policy struck the right balance. Among Christian respondents, meanwhile, only 26 percent said Trump’s policies were too favorable to Israel, while 59 percent said the 45th president has the ‘right balance.’
The sample size was about 10,500 and error margin estimated at 1.5%.
Neil Godfrey
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off topic amazing story sorry if it’s already been posted
Missouri megachurch pastor Dave Gass stepped down from his position after 40 years and renounced his Christian faith, reported the Christian Post.
“After 40 years of being a devout follower, 20 of those being an evangelical pastor, I am walking away from the faith. Even though this has been a massive bomb drop in my life, it has been decades in the making,” he tweeted.
The tweets have since been made private, but a screenshots of the tweets were posted on Reddit.
“When I was in 8th grade and I was reading Greek mythology, it dawned on me how much of the supernatural interactions between the deity of the Bible and mankind sounded like ancient mythology. That seed of doubt never went away,” he added.
It went on to explain that even though he was a committed Christian that it could not help or save his marriage.
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“I was fully devoted to studying the scriptures. I think I missed maybe 12 Sundays in 40 years. I had completely memorized 18 books of the Bible and was reading through the bible for the 24th time when I walked away,” he wrote.
“As an adult my marriage was a sham and a constant source of pain for me. I did everything I was supposed to – marriage workshops, counseling, Bible reading together, date nights every week, marriage books – but my marriage never became what I was promised it would be,” he said.
He then added that the church was a place of abuse for him, and that church people are “sh*tty” people.
“The entire system is rife with abuse. And not just from the top down, sure there are abusive church leaders, but church leaders are abused by their congregants as well. Church people are just sh*tty to each other,” he tweeted.
Adding, “I spent my entire life serving, loving, and trying to help people in my congregations. And the lies, betrayal, and slander I have received at the hands of church people left wounds that may never heal.”
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/05/church-people-are-shtty-megachurch-pastor-gives-up-on-christianity/
I’ve posted that a couple of places today. I bet he’s ready to retire and has a cozy nestegg.
It’s a “great” story — so familiar to me, so close to my own experience. Yes, this is not right place for it. Keep it in mind and repost when you do see the appropriate post here.
As for the OP, this is difficult to evaluate without more context. Would be useful to see similar polls for other countries. I suspect this same pattern would hold for pretty much every country on earth.