Ideological Conflict between Protestant Clergy and Laity on Civil Rights

A report on 2 surveys designed to obtain data on the ideological conflict between Protestant clergy & laity on civil rights. The data on the clergy were obtained in 1965 by a questionaire of 524 items on civil rights sent by mail to 10, 000 clergy of 6 major Protestant denominations (Amer Baptist, Amer Lutheran; Episcopalian; Methodist; Missouri Synod Lutheran; & Presbyterian, US). 7, 441 returns are utilized here. Data on the public's response to clergy involvement in civil rights were gathered for the author in 1967 by the Nat'l Opinion Res Survey's AMAL- GAM SURVEY by personal interviews with a representative nat'l sample of 1, 504 R's (200 Negro R's were eliminated as not applicable here). From data offered in 4 tables, it is concluded that: (1) clergy are, as a group, sympathetic towards the movement for soc justice for Negroes; (2) they are not, however, unanimous: the older & theologically conservative are less favorable than the young & theologically liberal; (3) laymen, as a group, are less favorable to civil rights than clergy; (4) extent of involvement in church activities of laymen does not affect their views on race; (5) non-attenders are more favorable than attenders; & (6) laymen generally believe that the clergy should speak out on moral issues but not get themselves involved in the civil rights struggle. I. Langnas.