1 in 2 U.S. Christians Say Religious Freedom Integral to Foreign Policy

By Jennifer Riley, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, July 15, 2008

A little more than half of American Christians believe religious freedom should be an important factor in making decisions on U.S. foreign policy, according to a new survey released on Monday.

While 54 percent of U.S. Christians in general said they consider religious freedom an important factor in making decisions regarding U.S. foreign policy, the figure is higher among those who attend church most frequently (60 percent) and less among Christians who never attend church (40 percent).

Open Doors, a Christian ministry which serves persecuted Christians, had commissioned the study to try to understand how Christians in America feel about religious freedom.

The study found that 96 percent of respondents strongly believe that religious freedom is a basic human right. Moreover, eight in ten people believe it is a very important basic right.

Yet although respondents believe religious freedom is important to U.S. foreign policy, most opposed using direct intervention to ensure religious freedom overseas. Instead, they favored the U.S. government using indirect policies, such as economic sanctions and diplomatic measures to pressure regimes.

"The persecution of Christians in the world today is on the rise, with an estimated 100 million suffering some sort of repression and even death for their faith," said Carl Moeller, president and chief executive officer of Open Doors USA.

"The findings of this study demonstrate that senators McCain and Obama must address the issue of religious freedom in their foreign policy positions if they are intent on winning the vote of faithful Christians," Moeller said.

Among Christian groups, the strongest support for religion freedom consideration came from Baptists, non denominational/independent churches, Lutherans and charismatics. The weakest group support came from Catholics, Presbyterians and Episcopalians.

Wilson Research Strategies had conducted the research study for Open Doors USA on 1,000 Christian adults nationwide by phone May 27-29.