An extensive survey has found that most US religious groups now support gay marriage, but white evangelicals still oppose it. It also found that in no major religious group do adherents believe businesses should refuse services to LGBT customers because of their religion.
The findings come from the 2016 Public Religion Research Institute survey, in a study published this month titled 'Who Sees Discrimination? Attitudes on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Race, and Immigration Status'.
The study explored contrasting perspectives on the discrimination of different groups, by different social, religious and ethnic groups in America.
Most US religious groups, the survey says, support gay marriage – but white evangelical protestants, by and large, do not.
The study said: 'A majority of white mainline Protestants (63 per cent), Catholics (62 per cent), and Orthodox Christians (59 per cent) favor same-sex marriage. At least two-thirds of Hindus (67 per cent), Jews (73 per cent), the religiously unaffiliated (78 per cent), and Buddhists (85 per cent) favor same-sex marriage. Equal numbers of black Protestants favor (45 per cent) and oppose (45 per cent) same-sex marriage.
'Similarly, Muslims (44 per cent vs 41 per cent, respectively) and Hispanic Protestants (41 per cent vs. 46 per cent, respectively) are about as likely to support same-sex marriage as oppose it.'
The majority of Mormons, Jehova's Witnesses and white protestant evangelicals however, do not support gay marriage. The latter showed the greatest opposition at 61 per cent, while 31 percent of evangelicals support same-sex marriage.
White mainline protestants have seen the biggest shift in their views: 63 per cent now support gay marriage, but in 2003 just 36 per cent said the same.
Following this pattern, the study also found that 'There is no religious group in which a majority favors allowing small business owners to refuse services to gay and lesbian people.
'Only half (50 per cent) of white evangelical Protestants and fewer than half of Mormons (42 per cent), Hispanic Protestants (34 per cent), black Protestants (25 per cent), and Jehovah's Witnesses (25 per cent) believe small business owners should be granted permission to refuse services to gay and lesbian people.'
High-profile cases in both the US and UK involving religious businesspersons citing their religion or conscience for not serving LGBT persons have raised questions about the proper balance of civil liberties and religious freedom.
In 2015, most white evangelical protestants (56 per cent) were in favour of refusing service according to religious beliefs, but in 2016 that had fallen to just 50 per cent.
