Religious leaders fared OK in a recent survey on Americans’ trust for public figures, but not as well as they used to.
Pew Research called the results in five areas of clergy trust “in general… positive,” but it is noteworthy that pastors are now in the middle of the pack with journalists. Heads of technology companies and members of Congress fared worse in the public’s estimation of their job performance and ethical behavior.
75% of U.S. adults say religious leaders do a good job providing for the spiritual needs of their communities “all or most” or “some of the time,” while just 23% say religious leaders do this only a little or none of the time.
Respondents said some, all, or most of the time, religious leaders:
>Provide spiritual care 76%
>Care about people like you 70%
>Handle resources responsibly 68%
>Provide fair/accurate info 63%
>Admit mistakes 50%
Better educated respondents and older people gave higher marks. People active in church life were mostly like to grade church leaders high, while those who were unaffiliated rated them lowest. For example, Do religious leaders do a good job providing for the spiritual needs of their communities? Responding some, most, or all of the time:
90% of evangelicals
65% of unaffiliated
Evangelicals reported higher approval of church leaders’ job performance in all five areas than did Christians overall, Mainline Protestants, or Catholics.
-Pew Research, Oct. 2019