Americans Back Religious Rights But Lose Confidence in Government Protection

Americans strongly support preservation of religious freedoms, although fewer believe their rights will be protected by the government, a survey says.

Moreover, not all Americans are enthusiastic about giving Islam full religious liberty protections.

Eight in 10 Americans say it is very important or extremely important for people like themselves to be allowed to practice their religion freely, said the survey of some 1,000 people released Wednesday by The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

However, the survey showed that people’s confidence that the U.S. government would protect their religious freedoms has fallen steeply: An AP-NORC poll in 2011 found that 75 percent of Americans thought the government was doing a good job defending religious liberty.

Only 55 percent said the same in the poll taken Dec. 10-13.

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, said Wednesday that religious liberty issues will loom large in 2016, with “new alliances” — such as atheist groups and Satanist groups — already forming to attack Christians.

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