U.S. adults are evenly divided on the degree of conflict in the nation based on religious differences, according to a Pew Report on diversity and division published Oct. 13.
Respondents were presented with the question, “In your opinion, in the U.S., are the conflicts very strong, strong, not very strong or are there not any conflicts between people who are religious and people who are not religious?”
A majority (52%) said there are very strong (15%) or strong (37%) conflicts, while 45% said “not very strong,” 3% “there are not conflicts” and 1% didn’t respond.
At 57%, South Korea had the highest number of respondents say there is very strong (18%) or strong (39%) conflict, followed by France at 55% (22% very strong; 33% strong), with the U.S. ranking third. In no other nation surveyed did a majority of citizens say there is very strong or strong conflict in the county.
At 14%, Taiwan had the lowest number of respondents say there is very strong (3%) or strong (11%) conflict, with Spain having the second lowest at 19% (4% very strong; 15% strong).
Asked to respond to the same question regarding “people who practice different religions,” 49% of U.S. adults said there are very strong (13%) or strong (36%) conflicts, while 47% said “not very strong” and 4% “there are not conflicts.”
This was the third highest percentage to say there is conflict, trailing only the 61% of adults in South Korea (15% very strong; 46% strong) and the 56% in France (23% very strong; 33% strong).
Taiwan (3% very strong; 9% strong) and Spain (6% very strong; 13% strong) again had the lowest levels of perceived conflict.
This data was obtained as part of Pew’s American Trends Panel (ATP) survey, which has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.7%.
The full report is available here. The topline results are available here.