Survey reveals public’s skepticism about pastors

What do pastors think about social or political issues? Americans don’t particularly want to know.

Only 8 percent of adults say they are interested in hearing pastors teach about issues such as same-sex marriage, LGBT rights, abortion, guns, tax policy, climate change, drug policy, or religious freedom, according to the Barna Group’s The State of Pastors report.

The State of Pastors—commissioned by Pepperdine University, an independent Christian university—surveyed more than 14,000 pastors from 40 Protestant denominations across the theological and political spectrum, both online and by phone, according to the full report. It also includes data from surveys of all U.S. adults and of people in the millennial generation, those born between 1984 and 2002.