Familiarity Can Breed Contempt Among Christians, Poll Shows

An opinion survey examining the deepening hostility between liberal and conservative Christians in the United States has indicated that increased contact and communication between the two groups--often thought to ease the animosity--usually only makes matters worse.

Greater knowledge, in other words, is more likely to lead to contempt than to sympathetic understanding between Christians on the left or right ends of the spectrum, according to a recently published Gallup Poll.

This “disturbing” finding contrasts with results from studies of racial and ethnic prejudice, which consistently show that interaction between differing groups tends to reduce unfair characterizations and animosity, said sociology professor Robert Wuthnow of Princeton University.

Wuthnow, who has analyzed the study, said the effect of greater contact was especially pronounced among conservatives. Strong anti-liberal feelings were expressed by 59% of conservatives who had a great deal of contact with liberals, whereas strong anti-liberal sentiment was felt by only 13% of the conservatives who had little or no contact with liberals, according to the study.

Real Differences

Part of the problem, Wuthnow said this week in a telephone interview, is that while racial stereotypes are usually untrue, there are real differences between religious liberals and conservatives:

“Conservative Christians are more likely to emphasize the simple truths of the Bible, the basic facts, as they would put it, of the Christian message, and liberals are more likely to look for broader meanings and express a little more uncertainty.”

In the survey, conservatives were often characterized as “overly strict on moral issues,” “closed-minded,” “intolerant of other religious views,” “fanatical about their beliefs,” holding “too harsh an emphasis on guilt, sin or judgment” and “too rigid and simplistic.”

‘Morally Loose’

Liberals, on the other hand, were often seen as “substituting social concerns for the true Gospel,” “too compromising with the world,” “morally loose,” “having a shallow knowledge of the Bible” and “too much influenced by secular humanism.”

The poll was commissioned by the Robert H. Schuller Ministries, mission arm of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove. George Gallup Jr., president of the polling organization, said in an interview that he suggested the study to Schuller, who has financed some previous Gallup surveys, during a meeting of church leaders in Chicago.

Referring to the liberal-conservative divisions that affect nearly every large Christian denomination, Gallup said, “It struck me as a terrible situation.”

The survey, in fact, found that 60% of those interviewed believe that there is “quite a lot” or a “fair amount” of tension between religious liberals and conservatives, and 68% thought greater understanding would be desirable.

Serious Division

Wuthnow said he believes that the ideological divisions are more serious now than they have been at any time this century.

The sociologist noted that fierce “fundamentalist-modernist” battles over doctrine and biblical interpretation were fought from about 1900 to 1930. But he said that they involved relatively few people.

“The liberals were mostly Boston and New York leaders in seminaries and a few clergy with little grass-root support. Most of the battle was fought out in theological terms and in denominational hierarchies,” Wuthnow said.

The solidly conservative South was untouched by the controversies then, whereas today the most visible ideological division is in the Southern Baptist Convention. That 14.4-million-member denomination has pitted fundamentalists against so-called “moderates,” although partisan fundamentalists claim that the moderate camp is rife with “liberals” as well.

Greater Harmony

The Gallup survey, in its analysis of answers, found that most respondents were neither left nor right in their religious views: Moderates totaled 47%, conservatives 18% and liberals 19%. Another 16% did not respond to the question.

(A recent nationwide survey by Los Angeles Times Poll, which asked respondents to classify their own positions on religious belief and doctrine, found that 29% said they were liberal, 27% conservative and 25% middle-of-the-road. Another 19% said they were not sure of or don’t pay that much attention to religious beliefs.)

Gallup, commenting on the implications of the survey in Emerging Trends, a newsletter published by his Princeton Religion Research Center, suggested that Christians might achieve greater harmony by focusing primarily on basic beliefs and broad church goals they share.

Relying on not only the survey but also his own experience in three Bible study groups, Gallup, an active Episcopalian, said he believes that increased contact and clarification of views will improve relationships when conducted in small fellowship groups.

Gallup said that each of his groups includes a range of liberals and conservatives. (The survey showed, however, that conservatives are three times as likely as liberals to be participating in Bible study groups.)

Wuthnow, interviewed separately, said the survey data indicated the possibility of improved relationships in small groups if participants were sufficiently motivated.

How Views Are Formed

He said the survey showed that most people formed their views of religious liberals or conservatives from family members, from their present or former churches, or from friends.

The highest anti-conservative feelings were registered by respondents whose information came by “reading about them” or via the “mass media.” Wuthnow said he believes that the mass media “aggravate these tensions.”

Nevertheless, the survey indicated that the more many Christians know about their ideological opposites, the more they dislike them.

Respondents were asked how much time they spent “trying to understand the teachings and traditions of denominations other than your own.”

“If making the effort to gain understanding actually resulted in greater understanding,” Wuthnow wrote in Emerging Trends, “then those who had spent a lot of time should have been the least prejudiced. Instead, they were . . . the most prejudiced.”