Doing research on prop 8, its failure is religious, and gender based

[Peacetrain]

more than anything else. The AA population is by far the most religiously involved population with 90% plus being proclaimed Christians. The higher numbers of people opposing prop 8 would naturally be AA because of religious affiliation. But the general population in and of itself.. 83% of Americans proclaim to be Christian.

Women are more religious than men,... so what you are looking at is a gender/religious opposition.

Information is power. Knowing your target audience is power. The best way to approach women is not in confrontation, but in information. As a woman I can testify to that.






Religion in the U.S. vs. the World:
United States World
Christian 83% 33
No religion 13 15
All non-Christian religions 4 52

This poll used an open-ended question to gauge religious affiliation: "What if anything is your religion?" Most of the 50 affiliations cited are Christian denominations, ranging from the Assembly of God to the United Church of Christ. Added up they show that 53 percent of Americans are Protestants, 22 percent Catholics and 8 percent other Christians, such as Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses.

Protestant Groups

The largest group within the ranks of American Protestants is unaffiliated: Nineteen percent of Americans say they're Protestants, but don't cite a specific denomination. They account for more than a third of all Protestants.

Another 15 percent of Americans identify themselves as Baptists or Southern Baptists, meaning this group accounts for nearly three in 10 Protestants. No other Protestant denomination comes close in size.

Baptists are especially prevalent among black Americans: Nearly half of blacks, 48 percent, say they're Baptists, making it far and away their No. 1 denomination (next are nondenominational, at 15 percent of blacks, and Methodist, at 8 percent of blacks). Among whites, 22 percent are Catholics, another 22 percent are nonaffiliated Protestants and 13 percent are Baptists.

Blacks, who are overwhelmingly Christian, are also more likely than whites to have any religion: Just 3 percent of blacks say they have no religion, compared to 13 percent of whites. ("No religion" includes people who describe their religion as atheist or agnostic.)

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/beliefnet_poll_010718.htm


he largest gender differences are on charitable involvement, a 10-point difference in high scorers (20 percent of women and 10 percent of men); religious commitment, a 9-point spread (30 percent of women and 21 percent of men); and religious engagement, a 6-point gap (22 percent of women and 16 percent of men). Six-point gender differences also are evident on equanimity (25 percent of women versus 19 percent of men) and ecumenical worldview (16 percent of women and 10 percent of men).

Women are also more likely than men to pray (75 percent versus 62 percent) and to score high on religious/ social conservatism (18 percent versus 13 percent) and being on a spiritual quest (27 percent versus 22 percent).

When it comes to gender differences in high scorers within racial groups, the largest gap is evident for African Americans on religious commitment, an 18-point difference (53 percent of women vs. 35 percent of men). The 13-point gender difference in the percentage of African Americans who are high scorers on religious engagement (36 percent of women vs. 23 percent of men)


http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/7540

[Captain Hilts]

1. I'm not aware of information saying women oppose gay rights disproportionately...

compared to men.

[Peacetrain]

4. women are more religious than men.

If the opposition is based in the religious community,(and I think we probably can all agree on that one at this juncture) and religious community is supported by women. Then knowing that gives a person a place to start.

[EFerrari]

11. But, there are other factors, too. Do women vote as often as men?

Do those women vote "with" their husbands?

There are fewer women in church leadership, too. Men tend to craft the message?

I really like your point, though, that the productive use of this kind of analysis is to target a demographic for outreach. :)

[TheWraith]

13. Actually women tend to vote a little more often than men.

Not a huge difference, but a little more often.

[EFerrari]

17. Interesting. Wasn't there a big flap in 2004 about getting single women

out to vote -- or, was that another red herring the Republicans used?

I personally agree with the OP that we need outreach to women in minority communities. But, that's a belief I have, not something fact-based that I know.

/oops

[TheWraith]

20. There was a flap because there wasn't much of a gender gap.

Most of the time, a majority of women vote Democratic. In 2004 that advantage was a lot lower than it has been at other times.

[Peacetrain]

15. When I think about who takes children to church.. it is usually

women. I know that was true in my own household growing up. The women took the kids to church.

Men do craft the message, but women are the ones sitting in the pews, taking those little boys with them.

If a message of family and family unity is foremost, you will get those women.

That is why they are in church in the first place. Even more than a spiritual experience it is about solidifying the family unit.

I think a message, a media campaign even, on the importance of the family unit in the gay community will speak to those members.

Understanding who you are trying to talk to, their concerns and what you have in common is half the battle :hi:

[Captain Hilts]

18. Good point. Religions - all of them - are run by men. They craft the message. nt

[Captain Hilts]

16. As an issue, women just aren't as homophobic as men. nt

[KittyWampus]

2. Oh, so very wrong. The Far Right is behind this. They have been buying off pastors in the black

coummunity for a while now.

And the Far Right uses Religion as a front for their political aims. They intentionally use the trappings of religion to dupe people.

Sadly, it seems there have been pastors and 'leaders' in the black community willing to make a deal with the devil for some money, power, fame.

[Peacetrain]

5. Again you are dealing with the religious community..

That is where the opposition is, no matter what color the pastor.

[tbredbeck]

3. I missed something

Does this actually relate to prop 8?

Have you read the analysis that suggests prop 8 was more impacted by generational views than by race or gender?

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/11/prop-8-myths.html

[Peacetrain]

6. Generationally, women outlive men.. again..women in the

religious community is where you want to place outreach.

[TexasObserver]

7. The more religious the person, the more judgmental the person, generally speaking.

Sure, there are many exceptions, but the more religious a person is, the more they tend to view life through the lens of their religion. That means things which are normal human behaviors are often characterized as "sins."

The problem with Prop 8 is not a male-female problem, however. It's a bigotry problem. Bigotry is almost essential to religion, because religion relies upon telling people they need THIS religion more than they need other religions, more than they need a new home, or a new car, or a trip to Cancun.

If religion doesn't make its adherents think it is better than the other religions, it cannot survive. It must close the sale, and to close the sale, it appeals to ego. Religion must convince its followers they are better than those who are not in the religion. It is this inherent lack of humanity that fuels religion, not concern for fellow man and woman. Religion is, first and foremost, a trade, where the religion gives the parishoner ego gratification, and the parishoner gives the religion loyalty and economic support.

[Peacetrain]

8. Texas, I am going to agree with you 100% that religiousity makes us judgmental

1000% in fact. Especially how religion is being politicized today. Take a look at the KKK , they burn crosses and sign hymns while spewing the vilest of hate.

But is not the faith, but the interpretations. Most people who profess to be Christians are not. They could not even begin to live the values expressed.

It is also gender, because women are more church going than men. So if a larger number of the faith community is one gender over another, than you have a gender issues as well as a religious issue.

But knowing that 83 % of the entire population claims religion informs their values, then how do you approach that?

If the larger portion of that 83% are women, than how do you approach that?

[TexasObserver]

19. I agree with your assessment that more women voters mean more religious voters.

Your math is correct. If you turn out more women, who tend to be more religious, you're turning out more religious voters.

This may not be readily accepted, but the truth is that religion for some women is a replacement for a relationship. They may have a man in their life who is less than wonderful, and religion provides some of the qualities a better spouse might provide - the emotional support aspect, for example.

Let's face it, in churches it's often the women dragging the men to church. When the men won't go, the women go by themselves, usually taking the children. Religion tries to help women who have sorry husbands get by emotionally. It's a symbiotic relationship, but it's also religion exploiting women who are in bad marriages.

How to reach such women? Education and Ostracizing. Scorn of the bigoted works, if the scorned want approval of others. I believe many religious women could be reached by media aimed at attacking the unfairness of discrimination against gays, showing mothers of gay children, talking about the discrimination their children must face, talking about how they had to allow their motherhood and humanity to override religious doctrine.

I agree with you that these women can be reached by selective marketing of a quality message.

[gollygee]

9. Do you have anything that specifically shows women's voting vs. men's voting on this?

Because you're making some big assumptions. Such as that if religious people voted yes on 8 more, and more women are religious than men, that you can infer that more women voted for 8 than men. That's a leap. It's possible that more religious women voted no than religious men, and/or that more non-religious women voted no than non-religious men.

I don't know one way or the other but your logic isn't that great on that issue. I'd need to see a poll that specifically showed how women vs. men voted to know.

[Peacetrain]

10. Logic.. if we accept that the opposition was religious based.

(if you have churches sending in large amounts of money etc,) I think you can probably safely assume that.

If then you look at statistics and see that larger portions of the population who are faith based are women, then I think you can see a pattern there also.

There was a lot of heat about the AA community voting in prop 8, when the AA community is by far the most faith based community, and that if the religious communities are working 24/7 against you then you can safely say, a higher portion of the AA community would vote one way over another in prop 8 due to religious affiliations.

Again women make up a larger portion of those communities.

[gollygee]

12. You're still making a leap of logic

You're assuming that women making up 30% vs 21% of one thing means they make up 30% vs 21% of the other. If it were like 70% vs 10% it would mean more. But you'd still need a poll specifically about how women vs. men voted, and I can't believe there isn't a poll that specifically asks that. Did you not check for that?

[EFerrari]

14. Catholics, not Baptists, carried the Yes vote.

You seem to be confusing a per centage of a demographic with the actual numbers in that demographic.

The reason there was "heat" about the black community was because they are a very small per centage of the CA vote.