<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:tahoma, new york, times, serif;font-size:10pt"><div style="RIGHT: auto"><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto">It is still three times higher then their confidence in Congress or humanity. </SPAN></div>
<div style="RIGHT: auto"><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto"></SPAN> </div>
<div style="RIGHT: auto"><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto">Donovan J. Arnold</SPAN></div>
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<DIV style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #ccc 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 0; MARGIN: 5px 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; HEIGHT: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 0px; BORDER-TOP: #ccc 1px solid; BORDER-RIGHT: #ccc 1px solid; PADDING-TOP: 0px" class=hr contentEditable=false readonly="true"></DIV><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">From:</SPAN></B> Art Deco <art.deco.studios@gmail.com><BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">To:</SPAN></B> vision2020@moscow.com <BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sent:</SPAN></B> Wednesday, July 18, 2012 7:37 PM<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Subject:</SPAN></B> [Vision2020] U.S. Confidence in Organized Religion at Low Point<BR></FONT></DIV><BR>
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<DIV class=yiv632641900date>July 12, 2012</DIV>
<H1><SPAN>U.S. Confidence in Organized Religion at Low Point</SPAN></H1>
<H2><SPAN>Catholics' confidence remains significantly lower than Protestants'</SPAN></H2>
<DIV class=yiv632641900authorDisplayLine1>by Lydia <SPAN id=misspell-0 class=mark>Saad</SPAN></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<div>PRINCETON, NJ -- Forty-four percent of Americans have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in "the church or organized religion" today, just below the low points Gallup has found in recent years, including 45% in 2002 and 46% in 2007. This follows a long-term decline in Americans' confidence in religion since the 1970s.</div>
<div align=center><IMG style="DISPLAY: block" class=yiv632641900imgBorder0 border=0 hspace=0 alt='Trend: "Great Deal"/"Quite a Lot" of Confidence in the Church/Organized Religion' src="http://sas-origin.onstreammedia.com/origin/gallupinc/GallupSpaces/Production/Cms/POLL/weq6dgaa40wjcnlrh8yqqg.gif" width=543 height=298></div>
<div>In 1973, "the church or organized religion" was the most highly rated institution in Gallup's confidence in institutions measure, and it continued to rank first in most years through 1985, outranking the military and the U.S. Supreme Court, among others. That began to change in the mid- to late 1980s as confidence in organized religion first fell below 60%, possibly resulting from scandals during that time involving famed televangelist preachers Jim <SPAN id=misspell-1 class=mark>Bakker</SPAN> and Jimmy <SPAN id=misspell-2 class=mark>Swaggart</SPAN>. Confidence in religion returned to 60% in 2001, only to be rocked the following year by charges of child molestation by Catholic priests and cover-up by some in the church.</div>
<div>The latest results are from Gallup's June 7-10 update of its annual "Confidence in Institutions" question. The same poll found Americans' <A href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/155258/Confidence-Public-Schools-New-Low.aspx" rel=nofollow target=_blank>confidence in public schools</A>, <A href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/155357/Americans-Confidence-Banks-Falls-Record-Low.aspx" rel=nofollow target=_blank>banks</A>, and <A href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/155585/Americans-Confidence-Television-News-Drops-New-Low.aspx" rel=nofollow target=_blank>television news</A> at their all-time lowest, perhaps reflecting a broader souring of Americans' confidence in societal institutions in 2012. Still, the church/organized religion ranks fourth this year among the 16 institutions tested, on par with the medical system.</div>
<div><B>Protestants More Confident Than Catholics</B></div>
<div>Currently, 56% of Protestants express a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the church/organized religion, compared with 46% of Catholics. This is in line with an average 12-percentage-point difference in the two groups' confidence, according Gallup polling from 2002 through 2012, with Protestants consistently expressing higher confidence. There are too few respondents of other specific religions to analyze separately; however, confidence among all other Americans combined is 29%, far less than either Protestants' or Catholics'.</div>
<div>Catholics' confidence dipped to a record low in 2002 and again in 2007. The 2002 result most likely reflected a high-profile child sex abuse case against a Massachusetts priest at the time, as well as charges of a cover-up by Boston Cardinal Bernard Law, who ultimately resigned over the matter. The drop in 2007 may have been part of a broader trend that saw <A href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/27946/Americans-Confidence-Congress-AllTime-Low.aspx" rel=nofollow target=_blank>confidence in most U.S. institutions drop that year</A>.</div>
<div align=center><IMG style="DISPLAY: block" class=yiv632641900imgBorder0 border=0 hspace=0 alt="Confidence in the Church/Organized Religion, by Religious Preference -- 2002-2012" src="http://sas-origin.onstreammedia.com/origin/gallupinc/GallupSpaces/Production/Cms/POLL/7ttbnxakyeuibbikjxbmaa.gif" width=546 height=292></div>
<div>Gallup did not record respondents' religious preference in its Confidence in Institutions polls for most of the 1990s. However, religion was routinely asked on surveys prior to that, and the earlier trends show that Protestants' and Catholics' confidence in religion was fairly similar from 1973 through 1979. Then, from 1981 through 1991, Catholics consistently expressed less confidence in religion than Protestants did, by an average of six points.</div>
<div align=center><IMG style="DISPLAY: block" class=yiv632641900imgBorder0 border=0 hspace=0 alt="Confidence in the Church/Organized Religion, by Religious Preference -- 1973-1991" src="http://sas-origin.onstreammedia.com/origin/gallupinc/GallupSpaces/Production/Cms/POLL/6ujx84_ipkkaf2ruj03eeq.gif" width=557 height=334></div>
<div><B>Bottom Line</B></div>
<div>Two major findings apparent in Gallup's confidence in the church and organized religion trend are, first, the long-term decline in Americans' confidence in this societal institution since 1973, and second, the suppressed confidence among Catholics relative to Protestants starting in 1981, and becoming more pronounced by 2002.</div>
<div>While various sex abuse scandals involving U.S. clerics have likely played a role in Americans' growing skepticism about the church and organized religion, the decline in confidence does not necessarily indicate a decline in Americans' personal attachment to religion. The percentage of Americans saying <A href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/145409/Near-Record-High-Religion-Losing-Influence-America.aspx" rel=nofollow target=_blank>religion is very important in their lives</A> has held fairly steady since the mid-1970s, after dropping sharply from 1952 levels.</div>
<DIV style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 3px; LINE-HEIGHT: 0.85em; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(245,245,245); PADDING-LEFT: 8px; PADDING-RIGHT: 8px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(116,118,119); FONT-SIZE: 0.9em; PADDING-TOP: 8px"><B>Survey Methods</B>
<div>Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted June 7-10, 2012, with a random sample of 1,004 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.</div>
<div>For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points.</div>
<div>Interviews are conducted with respondents on <SPAN id=misspell-3 class=mark>landline</SPAN> telephones and cellular phones, with interviews conducted in Spanish for respondents who are primarily Spanish-speaking. Each sample includes a minimum quota of 400 cell phone respondents and 600 <SPAN id=misspell-4 class=mark>landline</SPAN> respondents per 1,000 national adults, with additional minimum quotas among <SPAN id=misspell-5 class=mark>landline</SPAN> respondents by region. <SPAN id=misspell-6 class=mark>Landline</SPAN> telephone numbers are chosen at random among listed telephone numbers. Cell phone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods. <SPAN id=misspell-7 class=mark>Landline</SPAN> respondents are chosen at random within each household on the basis of which member had the most recent birthday.</div>
<div>Samples are weighted by gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region, adults in the household, and phone status (cell phone only/<SPAN id=misspell-8 class=mark>landline</SPAN> only/both, cell phone mostly, and having an unlisted <SPAN id=misspell-9 class=mark>landline</SPAN> number). Demographic weighting targets are based on the March 2011 Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older non-institutionalized population living in U.S. telephone households. All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting and sample design.</div>
<div>In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.</div></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV><BR></DIV>
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