O'Donnell's Remarks on 'Radical Christianity' Largely Unnoticed
Nearly two months after talk show co-host Rosie O'Donnell made shocking comments, comparing radical Christianity to radical Islam, a Barna study found Americans were largely ignorant about the incident.
In a study conducted on over 1,000 adults in October, The Barna Group revealed that even most evangelical Christians were unaware of the controversial remark that aired on ABC's The View, days after the observance of September 11.
O'Donnell had shocked co-hosts and audiences when she said, "Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America where we have a separation of church and state. We're a democracy here."
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While some Christians spoke out in criticism both against O'Donnell and the ABC network for airing it, the Barna study showed that only 17 percent of Americans was aware of her remarks. A higher percentage of evangelical Christians (36 percent) have heard about the comments, but many other Christian groups remained more in the dark about the statement.
Only 17 percent of all other adults who consider themselves to be Christian but not evangelicals knew of O'Donnell's statement; and 18 percent of Catholics and 20 percent of Protestants were aware.
Even lower numbers were seen among non-Christian adults with only 10 percent of those who associate with a non-Christian faith and 14 percent of atheists and agnostics having been aware of her remarks. The gay and lesbian community, which O'Donnell is a part of, also showed little awareness.
Overall, about one out of every four Americans agreed to some extent with O’Donnell’s statement and two out of every three disagreed.
Evangelicals and revolutionary Christians indicated stronger disagreement compared to Protestants and Catholics.
The only groups that were more likely to strongly agree than disagree with the comments were liberals, gays and lesbians, atheists and agnostics, and those who do not associate with the Christian faith.
While evangelicals, conservatives and African-Americans largely disapproved of such comments being broadcasted on national television, upscale adults, atheists and agnostics, homosexuals, liberals and those not associated with the Christian faith were more approving of making such comments on nationally broadcast programs.
Despite the demand for an apology by some Christians, only 49 percent of Americans believes that O'Donnell owes the Christian public an apology. And only 25 percent felt she should be fired by ABC for her statement.
Research director George Barna drew several conclusions from the study.
“First, notice that relatively few people were even aware of Miss O’Donnell’s comments. That highlights the difficulty of cutting through the clutter of media noise to grab people’s attention and influence their thinking,” Barna stated. “Second, notice that a substantial portion of the adult population shares some level of agreement with Miss O’Donnell’s perspectives on Christianity. As churches and other ministries seek to advance the Christian message, progress will be made in an increasingly challenging, if not hostile environment.
"Finally, the fact that so few adults who consider themselves to be Christian felt that they were even owed an apology speaks volumes about the self-image of Christians and the centrality of their faith in their life,” he added.
