According to a recent Gallup poll, Americans’ confidence in organized religion and other institutions is down across the board compared to last year. Of those surveyed, only 46 percent said they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in church/organized religion — one percentage point from being the lowest in Gallup’s history since 1973.
Among Christians, the Gallup poll found that Protestants are more likely to express confidence in the church compared to Catholics. Confidence in the church or organized religion has dropped from 53 percent in 2004 to 39 percent today among Catholics. Among Protestants, confidence increased from 60 percent in 2004 to 63 percent in 2006 and then dropped to 57 percent today.
What Americans expressed the most confidence in was the military, reported christianpost.com, with 69 percent saying they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence. Americans are also more likely to have confidence in small business (59%) and the police (54%) than the church. The largest drops in confidence between 2006 and 2007 are seen in ratings for banks (41%), the presidency (25%), television news (23%) and newspapers (22%). Americans show the least confidence in Congress with only 14 percent — the lowest in Gallup’s history — expressing confidence.
“These low ratings reflect the generally sour mood of the public at this time,” stated the Gallup report.
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