Acceptance of homosexuality amongst members of the American Christian community is rising according to research on U.S. religious beliefs and practices.
The Pew Research Center reveals a survey showing that 54 percent of U.S Christians now claim that homosexuality should be accepted rather than confronted and corrected. This figure points out a ten percent increase in population of people for accepting homosexuals when put side by side with a similar research done back in 2007.
The trend is seen as a result of younger members in churches becoming more accepting of homosexuality when compared to elders in communities. 51 percent of evangelical protestants in the Millennial generation, for instance, have subscribed to the thought of accepting homosexuals, while only a third of Baby Boomers in the evangelical sect would agree to do so.
Another major factor to the wider acceptance is the passing of government laws allowing same-sex marriage and prohibiting discrimination of the members of the LGBT community. Many churches also see this as an opportunity to be more inviting to lesbian and gay communities to join the body of Christ.
However, the low incidence of more accepting members amongst older generations in evangelicals is still much higher compared to the 25 percent recorded in 2007, meaning there has still been a rise in incidence.
Other denominations in the Christian body have also seen a rise in incidence as well, such as Catholics, of whom seven out of ten would accept that homosexuality is not a disorder - a 12 percent increase since 2007. Protestantism has also seen an increase of ten percent, and the historically-black Protestant group has seen an increase of 12 percent.
While relatively higher than before, this figure is still much lower compared to the 83 percent of non-religiously affiliated population and 76 percent of people from other non-Christian religions who accept homosexuality as a normal incident in society.
