Americans Rate Religious Groups, and Most Gain, Including Muslims

With all that’s been going on this last year like the presidential election and Trump’s travel ban, a new survey shows that Americans are actually feeling warmer towards people in every religious group – including Muslims – than they did 3 years ago. The survey was conducted by the Pew Research Center who polled 4,248 adults. Muslims and atheists – who have long been targets of prejudice in the US – received substantially warmer ratings on the scale than they did in a survey in 2014: Muslims rose to 48% from 40%, and atheists to 50% from 41%. Buddhism, Hinduism, and Mormons also increased in percentage. The only group that did not improve their standing from 3 years ago were Evangelical Christians. This is interesting since Evangelical Christians back up hundreds of senators in Congress. Another interesting point, is that after the presidential campaign, Muslims reported a wave of harassment on the streets and on their mosques. Jewish institutions reported the same. It seems as though the US is becoming a more pluralist society, however as we can see in many ways it is not. The fact that the survey showed that more Americans are feeling more ‘warmly’ to other religious groups is a positive thing, however, I hope their actions reflect that as well.