Gay Sex as Sin: Dubious Polls as New Weapon of the Religious Right

Well, it turns out that I can’t be totally silent today. There’s one news item that, in my view, does demand some attention, because it’s already being latched onto by right-wing “Christian” websites.

Yesterday, the Times (London) reported the results of a recent survey by the British polling agency ComRes which found that 81% of British Protestants believe gay sex is a sin (see www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4412975.ece). ComRes says that the poll is based on a sample of 517 British Protestants—I’ve seen no breakdown of the kind of Protestants polled, if, indeed, the poll did employ such fine-tuned analysis.

I have to say that I’m rather suspicious about this poll. Its release is clearly timed to coincide with the Lambeth Conference now underway in England. Indeed, the date of release seems timed to overlap with recent announcements at this worldwide Anglican conference of a report of senior bishops discouraging the ordination of gay bishops.

To see if I could get more specific data about the poll, I went to the ComRes website at www.comres.co.uk. Interestingly enough, I can’t locate a single reference to this poll on the ComRes website.

Why, I wonder? There are more recent announcements of other polling results. Why would this particular poll be either well-nigh impossible to find on the website, or totally overlooked by the polling company that undertook the survey?

What I do find on the website is interesting, however. ComRes regularly conducts polls for an organization calling itself the Christian Institute. This organization’s “Who We Are” statement by Director Colin Hart notes,

The Christian Institute exists for "the furtherance and promotion of the Christian religion in the United Kingdom" and "the advancement of education".

The Christian Institute is a nondenominational Christian charity committed to upholding the truths of the Bible. We are supported by individuals and churches throughout the UK.

We believe that the Bible is the supreme authority for all of life and we hold to the inerrancy of Scripture. We are committed to upholding the sanctity of life from conception (www.christian.org.uk/news).

The Christian Institute is, in other words, a right-wing Christian political activist group akin to American groups such as Focus on the Family. Much of its energy in recent days has been spent in fostering discontent with court decisions in England that permit gay unions or adoption of children by gays. This is a group seeking to foster anti-gay sentiment for political ends.

The website avows the overt political intent of the organization. An FAQ section of the website notes that the organization pursues its ends through strategic briefings; conferences, recordings and books; media releases; influence of public policy; and assistance provided to individuals facing discrimination because of their faith. Among the latter is Lillian Ladele, a registrar in Islington who has refused to perform same-sex union ceremonies on religious grounds, though performing these ceremonies is part of her job description.

I’m apparently not the only person raising critical questions about the methodology of recent ComRes polls conducted on behalf of the Christian Institute. On 21 May, a blogger with the username Manic posted at Bloggerheads.com, noting that a recent Christian Institute-ComRes poll on abortion needed to be examined from the standpoint of the size of the sample polled (in this case, 1014 people), (b) the wording of questions asked, and the interpretation and presentation of data www.bloggerheads.com/archives/2008/05/nadine_dorries_5.asp). Manic subjects the Christian Institute’s presentation of the poll results re: this particular issue to a scathing analysis.

Another blogger, Susan Russell at Walking with Integrity, notes today that her group had conducted its own informal survey in Canterbury after the ComRes results were released, and had found that of 21 random folks wandering the streets, three out of four did not believe being gay should be a bar to ordination, and a significant percentage believed the church would benefit from being more inclusive (http://walkingwithintegrity.blogspot.com/2008/07/family-feud-lambeth-version.html).

Russell also subjects to critical analysis the notion that polls representing majority viewpoints necessarily lead to sound moral conclusions. As she notes, if a survey about the justifiability of segregation had been done in Topeka, Kansas, in the 1950s, it’s highly unlikely that a majority of Topeka residents would have found segregation anything other than morally justifiable. Russell concludes, “I do not remember ‘Blessed are you who have complied with the will of the majority to exclude the minority’ in any of the Beatitudes.”

Indeed. Now that the results of this poll have hit the mainstream media, I have no doubt that it will accomplish its purpose, which is to suggest that a majority of Christians, even in nations that now afford extensive rights to gay citizens, condemn homosexuality.

I also doubt that, as the poll results are used, they will be subjected to careful critical analysis.

More’s the pity. I’d surely like to know more about this particular poll and why a report of it seems impossible to find today on the ComRes website. I'd also be very interested to know more about any financial connections the Christian Institute might have to similar right-wing "Christian" political activist groups in the U.S.