A recent study revealed that more Americans, and particularly Christians, believe their religious freedom rights are in danger today than in the past.
One News Now reports that a recently published Barna Group study found that 41 percent of Americans believe that the state of religious freedom in the U.S. is worse today than it was a decade ago. Thiis up from 33 percent who believed that same thing when a study was conducted in 2012.
In addition to this, Christians were found to be even more concerned with religious freedom and its restriction. In fact, evangelicals were found to be more concerned with religious freedom than any other group.
Seventy-seven percent of evangelicals who are defined as “self-identified Christians who have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today and believe that when they die they will go to Heaven because they have confessed their sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior” believe that religious freedom is more restricted today than it was 10 years ago.
Sixty percent believed this same thing when the previous study was done in 2012.
One News Now notes that the heightened concern over religious freedom is in large part due to high profile cases such as that of county clerk Kim Davis who refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses based on her faith.
“When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2015 that same-sex marriage must be made legal in all 50 states, millions of Americans were eager to know the potential impacts of the decision on religious liberty,” the Barna study said.
The study also found that there was an increase in concern over religious freedom among the different generations; even among millennials, who, three years ago, seemed relatively unconcerned with religious freedom. The current study found that 34 percent of millennials are now concerned with religious freedom.
The study concluded that over the next few years, America will likely see more individuals like Kim Davis standing up publicly for their faith and religious freedom, since a greater majority of individuals have expressed their concern for this right.
Publication date: October 5, 2015
