Scandal Damages View of Clergy, Poll Says
The Roman Catholic sexual abuse scandal has sent the public’s view of clergy spiraling to its lowest point ever -- 12 points lower than last year’s rating -- according to a new Gallup poll.
Asked to rate the honesty and ethics of 21 professions, just 52% of Americans gave high marks to clergy, down from 64% last year. Ratings reached their peak, at 67%, in 1985. Overall, however, the clergy still ranked fourth among professions, behind nurses, military officers and high school teachers.
Catholics gave lower honesty ratings to their clergy than did Protestants, according to the poll. Just 50% of Catholics gave high ratings, compared with 57% of Protestants. Both ratings are down from five years ago.
Gallup pollsters said clergy ratings also dropped between 1992 and 1994, the last time the Catholic Church wrestled with a sex abuse scandal.
The telephone poll of 1,017 adults has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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