2003

Study Released On Attitudes Of Jews In The Lehigh Valley

Jewish people are three times more likely than non-Jews to believe that there is too much religion in public life. Jews also prefer a stricter separation of church and state than their non-Jewish counterparts.

 Thursday, February 6, 2003 10:59 AM

Jewish people are three times more likely than non-Jews to believe that there is too much religion in public life. Jews also prefer a stricter separation of church and state than their non-Jewish counterparts. Those are among the findings of a new survey of attitudes and opinions of Jews in the Lehigh Valley.

The poll also indicated that two out of three non-Jews would like the United States to maintain an even-handed approach to dealing with Israel and the Palestinians, while two out of three Jews would prefer that the U.S. adopt a policy favoring Israel in its relationship with the Palestinians.

The study is a joint project of the Center for Jewish Community Studies (CJCS) in Philadelphia and the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion in Allentown. Dr. Alan Mittleman, chair of the religion department at Muhlenberg College, directs the “Jews and the American Public Square” project for the CJCS. Mittleman contracted Dr. Christopher Borick, director of Muhlenberg College’s polling institute, to conduct the survey.

A total of 2500 questionnaires were sent out to Jewish households in the Lehigh Valley. There were 525 responses between September 15 and November 1. These were compared to another survey of non-Jews from the Lehigh Valley, also done by the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion.

“This study was designed to provide insight into the views of Jews and non-Jews regarding a variety of contemporary issues, particularly those pertaining to the relationship between church and state,” says Mittleman. The study measured Jewish opinion in regard to religion in public life, Israeli-Palestinian relations, euthanasia, same sex marriages, capital punishment, cloning, tuition vouchers and recent lower court decisions involving the Pledge of Allegiance and the Ten Commandments.

Although the survey is local, Mittleman and Borick believe that the findings are typical of Jewish views across the United States. The survey produced 12 key findings:

1. Jewish respondents indicate a greater preference for government policies that maintain strict separation between church and state than their non-Jewish counterparts.

2. While a plurality of both Jews (51%) and non-Jews (36%) opposed the recent Supreme Court decision allowing tuition vouchers to be used at religiously affiliated schools, Jews are more likely than non-Jews to oppose the inclusion of religious schools within voucher programs.

3. While Jews are more likely than non-Jews to indicate that tuition vouchers would hurt the quality of public schools, there is agreement between Jews and non-Jews on the conditions necessary for a tuition voucher program to be put into effect.

4. A majority of Jews and non-Jews oppose lower court decisions removing “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance (57% Jews, 80% non-Jews) and forbidding the display of the Ten Commandments in government buildings (58% Jews, 83% non-Jews), yet Jews are significantly more likely to approve of these verdicts.

5. Jews are three times as likely as non-Jews (37% Jews, 12% non-Jews) to indicate a belief that there is too much religion in public life.

6. Support for policies such as same sex marriage, euthanasia and scientific research related to cloning is significantly greater among Jews than among non-Jews.

7. Jews and Catholics maintain similar positions on the use of capital punishment (32% opposition), with Protestants much les likely to support halting the use of the death penalty.

8. There is a high degree of uniformity between Jews and non-Jews regarding a proposal to allow faith-based organizations to apply for government funding to provide social services, with a majority of respondents from each group supporting this policy (50% Jews, 56% non-Jews).

9. Non-Jews are significantly more likely than Jews to have favorable views of evangelical Christians and Baptists. There is no statistical difference between Jews and non-Jews, however, in their general attitudes toward mainline Protestant groups and Catholics.

10. Jews are almost twice as likely as non-Jews to have a favorable view of atheists (74% Jews, 38% non-Jews).

11. While two out of three non-Jews would like the United States to maintain an even-handed approach to dealing with Israel and the Palestinians, two out of three Jews would prefer the U.S. adopt a policy favoring Israel in its relationship with the Palestinians.

12. A slight majority of both Jews and non-Jews support the use of military force to topple Saddam Hussein from power (52% Jews, 60% non-Jews).