Standing in the God gap

New study shows Republicans and Democrats alike misunderstand faith | Joel Belz

Not that I've heard of any such people, of course. But if, after their November "thumpin'" some smug and arrogant Republicans still suppose that God's favor rests uniquely on them as a political party, new statistical data from pollster George Barna might be a convincing silencer.

The Barna Group released a survey last week exploring the so-called "God gap" between the two major political parties, analyzing 32 different measures of religious commitment. Not at all surprising was the discovery that Republicans still attract a higher percentage of those people who Barna says qualify as being "born again"—by a 51 percent to 38 percent margin. Quite surprising was how close Democrats are on both that and a variety of other scales.