Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

Most Mainline Protestants Say Society Should Accept Homosexuality

March 19, 2009

Members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, two mainline Protestant denominations, are considering whether to allow the ordination of non-celibate gays and lesbians as members of their clergy. The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life, finds that majorities of both denominations say that homosexuality is a way of life that should be accepted by society. Among mainline Protestants overall, 56% say homosexuality should be accepted, compared with only about one-in-four evangelical Protestants and four-in-ten members of historically black Protestant churches.

_{Data from Pew Forum U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, conducted in 2007, released in 2008. For question wording (pdf) and to see where other groups stand (pdf) on this question, see the full report.}