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The Pew Charitable Trust, an organization which "informs the public on key issues and trends, as a highly credible source of independent, non-partisan research and polling information" has released their latest report on public opinion on the issues.  Here are some interesting snippets:

Religion and Politics:

Both the Democratic and Republican Parties receive considerable criticism for being too beholden to ideological constituencies within the parties. Just as many believe that non-religious liberals have too much control over the Democratic Party (44%) as believe religious conservatives have too much control over the Republican Party (45%).

Only about three-in-ten (29%) see the Democrats as friendly toward religion, down from 40% last August. Meanwhile, a solid majority (55%) continues to view the Republicans as friendly toward religion.

There is an even more widespread perception  held by two-in-three Americans that liberals are going too far in trying to keep religion out of schools and the government….Overall, 56% of Democrats say liberals have gone too far in trying to keep religion out of schools and government, and moderate-to-conservative Democrats are twice as likely as liberal Democrats to express this view (67% vs. 33%, respectively).

Creation Evolution:

Overall, about half the public (48%) says that humans and other living things have evolved over time, while 42% say that living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time. Fully 70% of white evangelical Protestants say that life has existed in its present form since the beginning of time; fewer than half as many white mainline Protestants (32%) and white Catholics (31%) agree.

Despite these fundamental differences, most Americans (64%) say they are open to the idea of teaching creationism along with evolution in the public schools, and a substantial minority (38%) favors replacing evolution with creationism in public school curricula. While much of this support comes from religious conservatives, these ideas ­ particularly the idea of teaching both perspectives ­ have a broader appeal. Even many who are politically liberal and who believe in evolution favor expanding the scope of public school education to include teaching creationism.

There’s more out there, including some stats on gays in the military and funding of faith-based programs.  Enjoy

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