Thursday, June 19, 2008

"Clash of Civilizations?"

The most recent poll regarding religion and foreign policy shows that 61% of North Carolinians responded as born again Evangelical Christians. 59% of Evangelicals believe the Bible is the literal word of God and 96% believe in the 2nd coming of Christ. In this group, respondents were more likely to approve of Bush's handling of the War on Terror, were more likely to support the State of Israel and were more likely to view a clash of civilizations between the West and the Middle East. With respect to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, 40% of Evangelicals felt the Palestinians have not been treated unfairly, 61% sympathize with Israel, and 59% believe the U.S. should support Israel at all costs. 40% believe that the War on Terror is part of a larger war between Christians and Muslims. According to this poll, the "Clash of Civilizations" perception appears to be most evident among the Republican and Evangelical respondents. Overall, both Evangelicals and non-Evangelicals perceive a cultural rift between the West and the Islamic World. It is worth noting, that the poll's Evangelical numbers are high, thus some of the results could be skewed in favor of Evangelical attitudes; however, among non-Evangelicals, there is more division over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, religion shaping foreign policy, GWOT, and the U.N.

Full results here

Post by Jode Willingham, PPP summer fellow

No comments:

 
Web Statistics