A greater number of Americans now believe that religion liberty is declining, and that the religious rights of Christians are being suppressed in the United States, according to a comparative study done in 2013 and 2015 by LifeWay Research.
The results of two studies conducted two years apart on 1,000 Americans were compared, which revealed that a greater percentage of Christians now say that intolerance has increased.
While only 50 percent of the Christians in the U.S. said in 2013 that religious freedom is in danger, the percentage of those agreeing with that statement increased to 63 percent in 2015. As many as 65 percent Americans of other faiths said that religious liberty is declining.
Among Christians, 82 percent of evangelicals, 74 percent of Protestants, 56 percent of Catholics, and 55 percent of non-evangelicals said that America is witnessing increasing intolerance.
The results were different in American South and the West. The southerners (69%) more likely than the westerners (57%) to believe that religious intolerance is increasing.
However, more non-Christians are saying that believers are complaining excessively about growing intolerance in the 2015 study than in the one done in 2013. In the earlier study, only 34 percent said that Christians were overstating the decline in religious liberty, but now about 43 percent thought so.
"Most people now believe Christians are facing intolerance, however, a surprising large minority perceives Christians to be complainers. Both of those facts will matter as Christians profess and contend for their beliefs without sounding false alarms around faux controversies. It won't be easy to strike that balance," said Ed Stetzer of LifeWay Research.
The breakdown by age showed that the older generation is more likely to say that religion faces persecution. About 62 percent (6 in 10) above the age of 25 said that there is a growing intolerance for religion in the society, as compared to 42 percent of those who were in the age group of 18-24.
"Christians are particularly sensitive to what they see as intolerance towards their faith," noted Stetzer. "But they share a common concern with people of other faiths-that religious liberty in general is declining. And this perception is growing rapidly."
