Little change regarding belief in God. A new Gallup poll finds 92 percent of Americans say they believe in God, a figure that has dropped by only a few points since Gallup first asked the question in the 1940s. The percentage of Americans who respond that they believe in God now stands within six points of the all-time high in the 1950s and 1960s. About 12 percent of Americans say they believe in a universal spirit or higher power instead of “God” when given that option. The age group least likely to claim belief in God is 18-29-year-olds, at 84 percent, compared to 94 percent of older Americans.
No spits, no runs, no errors. Religious leaders hope to hit a home run in a campaign to get Major League Baseball players to ban tobacco use on fields and dugouts of the national pastime. Members of the Faith United Against Tobacco coalition wrote Michael Weiner, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, focusing on the hazards of smokeless tobacco. Leaders of Christian, Jewish and Muslim organizations see baseball players’ role-model status as the biggest risk for young people. Commissioner Bud Selig has proposed smokeless tobacco be banned in the major league, just as it has been in the minor leagues. Weiner has said the issue would be part of collective bargaining talks this year, but he has called smokeless tobacco a legal substance that does not have the secondary health risks of cigarette smoke.
Most Americans OK with Mormon candidate. About two out of three Americans say it makes no difference to them if a presidential candidate is Mormon, according to a new Pew Research Center poll, although evangelicals are more cautious. The poll found 68 percent of respondents said a candidate’s Mormon faith would not matter, while one in four said they would be less likely to support a Mormon. White evangelicals were most likely to care about a candidate’s Mormon faith, with one-third saying they would be less likely to support a Mormon candidate, compared to 24 percent of the religiously unaffiliated and 19 percent of Catholics and white mainline Protestants. The survey, conducted May 25-30, is based on a national sample of 1,509 adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Clerics should give advice, not rule, Egyptians say. Four months after the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, a new Gallup survey says most Egyptians want religious leaders to advise the nation’s officials, but they do not want a theocracy. About seven in 10 Egyptians said clerics should advise national leaders on legislation. In comparison, 14 percent said religious leaders should have full authority in creating laws, and 9 percent said they should have no authority. Even as they seek a limited advisory role for clergy, two-thirds of Egyptians (67 percent) want religious freedom as a provision in a new constitution. The findings are based on in-person interviews with about 1,000 people ages 15 and older in late March and early April, and have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 to 3.5 percentage points.
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