{"id":8220,"date":"2022-11-30T10:59:09","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T15:59:09","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-04-23T23:55:24","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T03:55:24","slug":"growing-share-of-americans-see-the-supreme-court-as-friendly-toward-religion","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2022\/11\/30\/growing-share-of-americans-see-the-supreme-court-as-friendly-toward-religion\/","title":{"rendered":"Growing share of Americans see the Supreme Court as \u2018friendly\u2019 toward religion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"The
The current justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. (Fred Schilling\/Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As the Supreme Court prepares to consider whether a Christian web designer<\/a> can refuse to make websites for same-sex weddings because of her religious beliefs, a September Pew Research Center survey<\/a> shows a jump in the share of U.S. adults who see the Supreme Court as \u201cfriendly\u201d toward religion.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

About a third of Americans (35%) now see the high court as friendly toward religion \u2013 nearly double the share who said this in a Center survey conducted in March and April of 2019 (18%). This increase follows a 2021-22 Supreme Court term that produced several decisions with implications for religion: the Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization case<\/a> that ended the constitutional right to abortion; a ruling that favored a high school football coach who led Christian prayers<\/a> after games; and another decision that allowed public funding for private religious schools<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although growing shares across a range of religious and demographic groups say the court is friendly toward faith, groups vary in the extent to which they feel this way. About half of religiously unaffiliated (51%) and Jewish (53%) adults in the new survey say they believe the court is friendly toward religion, while a much smaller share of Christians (27%) say the same. Self-described atheists are especially likely to view the Supreme Court as friendly toward religion: 74% now say this, up sharply from 43% a few years ago. A majority of Christians (57%), meanwhile, say the Supreme Court is neutral toward religion.<\/p>\n\n\n

How we did this<\/div>