Washington D.C., Apr 2, 2009 / 03:25 am
A new Gallup Poll reports that a strong majority of churchgoing Catholics do not think abortion is morally acceptable. However, it claims about half of churchgoing Catholics dissent from Catholic morality on matters of sexual morality, divorce and human embryo research.
The Gallup Poll, whose results were released on Monday, surveyed 3,022 adults and claims a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points among all adults. About 24 percent of poll respondents identified themselves as Catholic.
According to the results, only 24 percent of churchgoing Catholics thought abortion was morally acceptable, compared to 52 percent of non-churchgoing Catholics. Catholics from both groups approved of abortion slightly more often than their non-Catholic counterparts.
Sixty-three percent of churchgoing Catholics found divorce to be morally acceptable, compared to 77 percent of their non-churchgoing coreligionists and 46 percent of non-Catholic churchgoers.