WHITE evangelical Christians are having an increasing influence on US politics and are also the religious group least likely to vote for the re-election of President Clinton. But he has strong support from Catholics and black Christians.
These are some of the findings of an important nationwide survey of religious identity and political opinion released yesterday.
The white evangelical group has also grown more than other Christian groups and is now at 23 per cent compared with 22 per cent for white non evangelicals, 20 per cent for white Catholics and 9 per cent for black Christians, who belong to the three main groups but are treated separately in the survey.
A majority of all Christians (54 per cent) now say that churches should express views on social and political matters. But for white evangelicals the figure rises to 70 per cent. Catholics are evenly balanced. But asked if it was right for clergy to discuss political candidates or issues from the pulpit, only 29 per cent of all the groups agreed.
The high percentage of Catholics and black Christians who say they will vote for Mr Clinton will come as a relief to the Democratic campaign which regards the Catholic vote as vital. But the strong attack by the Pope and the US bishops on Mr Clinton's refusal to veto the Bill banning partial abortions had put a question mark over the support he could expect from Catholics.
Mr Andrew Kohut, the director of Pew Research Centre which coordinated the survey, says "the conservatism of white evangelicals is the most powerful political force in the country."
The survey, based on a 2,000 adult sample, shows clearly that the white evangelicals are the most conservative on both moral and certain secular issues. For example, only 13 per cent would favour allowing gay marriages compared with 31 per cent of Catholics and 27 per cent of white non evangelicals.
A professor of the sociology of religion at Hartford seminary, Ms Nancy Ammerman, commented that evangelicals are growing nationally because a greater number within mainline Protestant denominations are calling themselves that as a means of making a statement about their beliefs. This is especially so among the 15 million Southern Baptists.
On religious practices and beliefs, 94 per cent of white evangelicals have an "absolutely certain belief in God", compared with 71 per cent of white Catholics and 89 per cent of black Christians. Some 75 per cent of the white evangelicals receive religious broadcasts.
. The US Supreme Court has given President Clinton a temporary reprieve in the sexual harassment civil suit taken against him by a former Arkansas state employee, Ms Paula Corbin Jones. The court has accepted to hear the plea by Mr Clinton's lawyers that a president should not have to defend himself against a civil action because of the burdens of the presidency.
But as the court is rising this week until next October, there is no chance that it will rule on the issue until after the presidential election on November 5th. If the decision this week had gone against Mr Clinton, the case for $350,000 (£221,225) damages on claims of emotional distress and defamation could have begun the preliminaries and provided unwelcome publicity during the campaign.