Poll shows Christians support equality
A new national opinion poll has found a majority of Australian Christians support same-sex couples being allowed to marry.
The Galaxy poll, released on the same day as right wing Christian groups rallied in Canberra, found that 53 percent of Australians who identify as Christian support same-sex marriage, while only 41 percent oppose it. Further, 67 percent of those with no religion were supporters.
The poll was conducted in early August using a sample of 1,060 respondents and had a calculated margin of error of plus or minus 2 percent.
Australian Marriage Equality (AME) spokesman Malcolm McPherson said the poll showed that church leaders who opposed same-sex marriage were not representing the views of most Australian Christians.
“Groups like the Australian Christian Lobby who oppose marriage equality are entitled to their views, but they do not represent the majority of Australian Christians”, McPherson said.
“Clearly most Australian Christians believe same-sex marriage is consistent with Christian values like love, compassion and fidelity, not opposed to these values.”
Previous polling has shown that three out of four Australians believe same-sex marriage will be legalised in Australia.
The news came a day after a group of prominent Australian Christian clergy made public their support for same-sex marriage.
The seven clergy from the Uniting, Baptist and Anglican churches made their statements to coincide with the launch of a new Christian campaign for marriage equality on Friday, through which more than 9400 Australian Christians have already sent letters to their MPs.
“As the founder of the Christians For Gay Marriage lobby group, and as someone who is an ordained minister with a same gendered partner, I strongly support the right of GLBTI people to marry,” Blackwood Uniting Church minister Leanne Jenski said.
“Be assured there are many Christians out there who stand in solidarity with us.”
Broadcaster, Exodus Foundation founder and Ashfield Uniting Church minister Bill Crews wrote, “Today in Australia we all live in a secular non-discriminatory society. Gay couples should be as free to marry as any other human couple.
“If people wish to be married within a religious or spiritual institution’s framework then they should accept the rites and rules of that institution. However it is the state that legitimises all marriages.”
Rowland Croucher of John Mark Ministries, one of the most influential Baptists in Australia, also back marriage equality for same-sex couples.
“How can I, a heterosexual who’s been very happily married for 50 years, tell anyone else they don’t have the right to form a loving, committed, lifelong union and enjoy the fruits of marriage as I have done?” he wrote.
“Marriage is not a club to be restricted to some – like the Gospel, it is a blessing to be shared.”
Other clergy to make statements of support were Lilydale Baptist Church pastor Matt Glover, Uniting Canberra minister Roger Munson, Fr Dave Smith of Holy Trinity Church at Dulwich Hill, and Tasmanian Uniting Church minister David Hunnerup.
The Unitarians, Quakers and Metropolitan Community Church support same-sex marriage at a denominational level in Australia, while the Council of Progressive Rabbis of Australia, Asia and New Zealand put their support for marriage equality on the record in June.
INFO: Read more at www.christians4equality.com.au
True Iain, I agree with you! I wish the article would be more specific about exactly which opinion poll it was and when was it done. Other than the census recently, Ive never filled in a survey.
Ed: Oliver, it is a Galaxy poll. They are a professional polling company. They are commissioned to carry out polls by a broad range of companies and organisations, most publicly voter preferences. Here’s a link to help you out. http://www.galaxyresearch.com.au/
Iain given your fundamentalist comments of gay hate in the past, I do not take anything you say seriously. You’re a known internet troll, who has been outed on other forums being a dole bludger living in a shed in remote Queensland. Your homophobia is based on your perception of how you never amounted to anything. Well you need to stop blaming us for that, and develop some self respect.
Get help, call Lifeline, or do some of the Uniting Church anti-homophobic programs.
Dave, can you provide which passages were used in the Bible to promote the white Australia policy and the specific people that used them please? Also, is there any more information regarding the sample demographic because it has obviously been targeted to create a desired outcome?
Sounds to me like 41% of those polled call themselves Christian, yet act in a very UNchristianlike manner.
Sounds to me like 53% of Aussie Christians need to be saved! How sad I was to read that stat.
The Bible was read for most of the European History in Australia to support the White Australia Policy, and not even to include Aboriginals as people. But some Christian leaders stirred against this misery demanding justice. Now we are seeing the same stirring for freedom.
The winds of change are blowing across Australia. Congregation after congregation is filled with people joining with us in the eloquent quest, for us to live as freely as the next person. Poll after poll shows the majority of Christians support us.
In times to come, you will be watching 3d documentaries of these times we live, and many people will simply not understand the message of hate and intolerance against the Civil Rights of GLBTI people, that is promoted by fundamentalist cults such as the ACL. They will look with fascination and say as my Bishop said “How could people of been so cruel towards good and decent people?”.
To quote from a great man who understood discrimination:
“To penalise someone because of their sexual orientation is like what used to happen to us; to be penalised for something which we could do nothing [about] — our ethnicity, our race. I would find it quite unacceptable to condemn, persecute a minority that has already been persecuted.” Nobel Peace Prize winner and Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
David… are you being sarcastic, dude?
If this poll is to be believed, then what it indicates is that Christian pastors and ministers have not done a good job with their preaching, since the Bible is crystal clear that God is absolutely opposed to active same sex relationships.
A majority of Australians support marriage equality for same-sex couples? Let’s get on with it then, Julia!
I have to admit to being a little teary-eyed at this. I didn’t think for a second we’d see Christians behind this cause. WOW.