New Study Reveals Americans Want A Religiously Diverse Nation
The FIFA World Cup has brought the United States’ vast cultural, religious and ethnic diversity into the celebratory limelight.
Korean-American and Mexican-American soccer fans are engaging in what could only be described as a bromance — with fans from both sides buying each other drinks at pubs and watch parties. Some are even hoping the game between the two countries on Thursday results in a draw.
Meanwhile, members of both the Argentine and Algerian diaspora turned out in droves in Kansas City on Tuesday night for the match between the two teams, decked out in the colors of their home countries.
The multicultural excitement feels palpable in host cities across the United States. A new survey shows that most Americans want to keep the good vibes flowing. According to data from the Public Religion Research Institute, Americans prefer the U.S. to be a nation made up of people from all over the world (77%) rather than one primarily made up of people of Western European heritage (20%).
The wide-ranging study also tackled several other topics. The highlights include:
— 59% agree with the statement “President Trump is a dangerous dictator whose power should be limited before he destroys American democracy.” Also, 38% said Trump “is a strong leader who should be given the power he needs to restore America’s greatness.”
— Americans hold more favorable views of Pope Leo XIV than of President Trump (56% vs. 34%).
— Two-thirds hold unfavorable views of Trump’s handling of the war in Iran (66%), compared with 29% of Americans who hold favorable views. White evangelical Protestants (59%) and Christian nationalism adherents (60%) are the only groups where majorities hold favorable views of Trump’s handling of the war in Iran.
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Immigration and faith
The new data comes amid fierce national debate about who belongs in the U.S., and to what extent Americans should commit to the ethos of a poem, inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, that invites other nations to send America “your tired, your poor / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore/ Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me.”
Recent actions of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have brought that theoretical debate into the real world, with sometimes deadly implications. Just a 10-mile drive from the celebration-packed FIFA stadium in New Jersey, and less than a 30-minute drive and a short ferry ride away from the Statue of Liberty, sits Delaney Hall.
The now-infamous ICE facility in Newark has repeatedly made headlines for the poor living conditions, lack of medical attention for pregnant and elderly detainees and the facility leaders’ refusal to allow inspections by state health officials.
A hyper-local news outlet, The Jersey Bee, recently decided to start calling the facility a concentration camp.
“Concentration camps are places where groups of people targeted based on their identity are imprisoned in violation of their legal and human rights,” wrote the Bee’s Executive Editor, Simon Galperin. “Major 20th-century examples of concentration camps include Nazi camps targeting Jews and other groups in Europe …”
Galperin goes on to cite ICE data that shows three-quarters of detainees at Delaney Hall are Caribbean or Latin American men, and four in five have no pending criminal charges — showing the agency is allegedly targeting a group of people based on their identity.
Faith leaders have been on-site since Delaney Hall reopened, with several caught in the crossfire as tensions between protesters and the Department of Homeland Security agents rose last month.
Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster is the executive vice president of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility and stood between the demonstrators and agents as pepperballs were fired.
“I have been thinking about this call from the Holy One to redeem the captives,” she told Religion News Service. “It’s not just a good deed, but a commandment — a guiding force to free those who are unjustly held and reunite with their families.”
Many Americans are displeased with the ICE and DHS actions at Delaney Hall and throughout the country, with 58% of Americans rating Trump’s handling of immigration unfavorably, according to the study.
Of course, a multi-cultural nation would also likely mean a diverse religious landscape — and the 5,000 Americans polled in the PRRI survey seemed fine with that, too.
“Most Americans (64%) prefer the U.S. to be a nation made up of people belonging to a wide variety of religions,” the study found, “rather than one primarily made up of people who follow the Christian faith (34%).”
Cassidy Grom is the managing editor of Religion Unplugged. Her award-winning reporting and digital design work have appeared in numerous publications.