Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

One In 10 Christians Say Their Pastors Said Negative Things About Jews

(JTA) — Thirty-nine percent of American Christians who attend church have heard their clergy speak out about Jews, and 9 percent have heard them say something negative.

That’s according to a new study published Friday by the Pew Research Center on religion and public life.

The survey found that American Jews were ambivalent toward the role of religion in public life.

Some other numbers among the churchgoing Christians:

  • 20 percent have heard their clergy speak positively about Jews.
  • 8 percent have heard both positive and negative things from clergy.
  • 1 percent have heard mostly negative things.
  • 9 percent have heard neither positive nor negative things from their clergy about Jews.

The survey included responses from 6,384 adults, including 3,886 Christians and 290 Jews. The overall margin of error was 1.7 percent overall, 2.1 for Christians and 8.9 for Jews.

Here are some Jewish numbers:

  • 47 percent Jews say religious organizations do more good than harm, 31 percent say they do more harm than good, and 21 percent say they “don’t make much difference.”
  • Most Jews — 81 percent — believe religion’s influence is declining in American life. Thirty-five percent of American Jews say that’s a bad thing and 25 percent say it’s a good thing.
  • 58 percent say religion has too much influence over American politics. Sixty-nine percent say houses of worship should stay out of politics.

Christians are more supportive of religious influence in public life: 67 percent say religious organizations do more good than harm, 58 percent say declining religious influence is a bad thing and 21 percent say religion has too much influence on politics.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.