“RELIGION AND AMERICA’S ROLE IN THE WORLD”
ADDITIONAL KEY SURVEY FINDINGS

• Eighty percent of people who attend religious services regularly believe that America is blessed by God and that America should set an example to the world as a Christian nation (77% agree). Only 48 percent of people who attend services less regularly agree that America is uniquely blessed by God, and 49 percent of them agree America should set an example as a Christian nation.
  
  
• A substantial minority of Americans (41%) say they consider America’s culture to be better than others, agreeing with the statement “our people are not perfect, but our culture is superior to others” (21% strongly agree).
  
  
• The most important foreign policy priority across the religious spectrum is controlling the proliferation of nuclear weapons (80% of Americans, 86% of white evangelicals, 82% of Catholics, and 76% of mainline Protestants extremely/very important). It is harder to find support for objectives that would require a significant, long-term investment of resources, such as improving the standard of living in developing countries (49% of Americans, 47% of white evangelicals, 45% of Catholics, and 47% of mainline Protestants extremely/very important) or promoting democracy in other nations (39% of Americans, 48% of white evangelicals, 38% of Catholics, and 36% of mainline Protestants extremely/very important).
  
  
• Evangelical Protestants express the greatest support for an interventionist role on the part of the U.S., while more moderate religious groups such as mainline Protestants and Catholics take a less interventionist posture.
  
  
• Evangelicals and traditional Catholics are more likely to believe the US is a positive presence in the world (58% and 53% positive respectively) than liberal Catholics, mainline Protestants and Americans who attend religious services only irregularly (37%, 45%, and 44% positive, respectively).
  
  
• Young evangelicals have a broader definition of pro-life issues than older evangelicals. Sixty-three percent of young evangelicals (ages 18-29) agree that poverty, disease, and torture are pro-life issues, compared to 56 percent of older evangelicals

To view the complete survey results and for more information about RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY, please visit www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics.