The poll of 1,010 adults in the continental United States found similar marks when asking whether those surveyed believed messages coming from places of worship contribute to negative views of gay and lesbian people. Forty percent responded to the question with “a lot,” 32 percent said “a little,” and 17 percent said “not at all.” Notably, of those surveyed, 44 said they personally believe sexual relations between two adults of the same gender is a sin while 46 percent said they don’t.
"It has been suggested by some that Christianity itself is to blame for these tragedies - and that is its own separate tragedy," commented Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, in an opinion piece for CNN coincidentally published on the same date as the poll's release.
"The train of thought goes like this: Churches and organizations like the one I lead, which believe Scripture places homosexual activity outside of God’s design for human sexuality, are responsible for the bullying of gay students and, by extension, their deaths. As provocative as that narrative may be, and it certainly has ginned up quite a lot of controversy of late, it is not accurate," he added.
The survey also found significant generational and partisan gaps on perceptions of the impact of messages about homosexuality from America’s places of worship. Nearly half (47 percent) of young adults (age 18 to 34) said messages from places of worship are contributing “a lot” to negative views of gay and lesbian people. Among Americans age 65 and older, less than one-third (30 percent) said religious bodies are contributing a lot to negative perceptions of gay and lesbian people.
