Marriage Amendment Survey Finds Many Unaware, Many Lukewarm
by Jenni Parker
June 24, 2004
(AgapePress) - Although Senate Republicans are planning to open floor debate on the issue of the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) in mid-July, a new nationwide survey conducted by the Barna Research Group shows that more than a third of America's voting-age citizens have never even heard of the amendment.
According to the survey, 37 percent of the adults polled were completely unaware of the FMA, and certain segments of the population indicated even higher levels of unawareness. The researchers found that the groups most likely to be unfamiliar with the existence of the proposed amendment are adults not registered to vote (51 percent), non-whites (51 percent), members of non-Christian faiths (45 percent), parents of minor children (42 percent), and residents of the South (42 percent). Also, 41 percent of adults under age 40 and 40 percent of the women surveyed had not heard of the FMA.
At the same time, several demographic groups were keenly aware of the amendment, including homosexual adults (94 percent), Evangelicals (89 percent), Republicans and conservatives (each 77 percent), and people who indicated that they were likely to vote in the November election (76 percent). Also, among U.S. college graduates and California residents alike, 75 percent said they were familiar with the FMA.
When the proposed amendment was described to adults, their reactions to it were almost evenly divided, regardless of their previous level of awareness. In all, 46 percent were in favor of it, 44 percent opposed it, and 10 percent had no opinion. Among those people who had been completely unaware of the proposed amendment prior to the survey, upon hearing a description of it, 37 percent supported so amending the Constitution, 45 percent opposed the change, and 18 percent were still undecided.
Not surprisingly the strongest support for the FMA came from the Evangelicals surveyed, who were 83 percent in favor of it. Recently the Southern Baptist Convention even adopted a resolution supporting the proposed legislation. But the survey found that other Christian groups appear to be considerably more divided on the issue, with only 47 percent of non-evangelical born-against Christians -- and 49 percent of Protestants overall -- supporting the amendment. The implication is that, rather than a clear alignment with biblical truth, Christians were characterized by wide variance in their responses to the amendment.
Barna Research Group founder George Barna notes, "Atheists and agnostics, who reject the Bible as truth, contend that there is no moral legitimacy to defining marriage as the amendment would do. The remaining half of the population -- comprised of notional Christians and people associated with non-Christian faiths -- lean toward letting people make their own choices, without any legal limitations or parameters."
Inconsistency and Moral Relativism
People's opinions were found to be less divided on the topic of ordaining homosexuals priests and pastors, however. By a greater than two-to-one margin, the public opposes ordaining practicing homosexuals as clergy (60 percent), while less than a fourth of adults (24 percent) support the idea of ordaining actively homosexual clergy.
Still, the survey found a great deal of inconsistency between people's support for the FMA and their acceptance of the ordination of homosexual clergy. One out of every eight marriage amendment supporters also favored homosexual ordination, while almost half of the adults opposed to the FMA also opposed ordaining actively homosexual clergy.
Barna, who directed the study, believes the widespread lack of awareness and lukewarm response to crucial issues such as the definition of marriage and the ordination of homosexual clergy are rooted in the serious problem of moral relativism. He notes that even though most American adults believe that marriage should be defined as a relationship between a man and a woman, many consider the issue a moral "gray area" that is better left without strict legal definition.
The researcher finds similarity between these issues and the abortion debate. He notes that millions who oppose abortion for themselves and their families still feel that whether the act is right or wrong should be left up to individuals to decide for themselves. By the same token, many Americans -- including many born-again Christians -- who oppose homosexuality and the redefinition of marriage to include same-sex couples are not convinced that their moral beliefs should be codified into law.
"This is classic relativism," Barna says, "a philosophy that has taken the nation by storm in the last quarter century and is now restructuring every aspect of American society. The consequence is that many people are personally opposed to such behavior but feel compelled to allow that behavior to take place legally because they also contend that there are no moral absolutes."
Political Implications
The Federal Marriage Amendment has a long way to go, not only in terms of public awareness, but also in terms of legislative hurdles. Barna Research Group's survey showed that the adults most likely to vote in next November's elections favor the FMA by a margin of 52 percent to 43 percent. It remains to be seen, however, whether that margin will suffice to get the proposal passed by two-thirds of Congress and three-quarters of the states -- two obstacles that the amendment must overcome in order to be enacted into law.
In the meantime, Barna's research could have significant ramifications for both the Republican and Democrat candidates in the upcoming presidential election. For instance, the results of the survey suggest that President George W. Bush has more to gain from supporting the FMA and opposing the ordination of homosexual clergy than Democratic candidate John Kerry has to gain by opposing the amendment and supporting the ordination of homosexual clergy.
Although neither incumbent nor challenger is likely to voice his views on the ordination issue, 65 percent of those likely to support Bush in November strongly oppose ordaining homosexual clergy, while only 4 percent strongly support it. At the same time, among those likely to support Kerry, only 18 percent strongly favor homosexual ordinations, while nearly twice as many strongly oppose it.
