44 years after Loving v. Virginia ended interracial marriages bans across the country, there are still people who think marrying someone of a different race is a bad idea.
And you’ll *never* guess which group is most against it:
Christianity Today remarks on a Pew poll from February that shows White Evangelical Christians are the group most opposed to interracial marriage:
Evangelicals may have the most negative view of interracial marriage, but there is also opposition among white mainline Protestants (13 percent) and Catholics (10 percent). Statistically, the percentages in these traditions who saw interracial marriage as bad for society were about the same as for evangelicals.
The views of white Christians stand in stark contrast to two other groups: black Protestants and those with no religion. Only three percent of either group said interracial marriage was bad for society. Eight-in-ten respondents said the trend “doesn’t make much difference.” Those who are not religious were more optimistic, with 38 percent saying it was good for society.
Of course, it’s not surprising for evangelicals (as a whole) to be behind the curve when it comes to civil rights. (No doubt they’ll eventually be the last demographic against gay marriage, too.)
It’s things like this that make me proud to be free of religion. As a group, the religiously “unaffiliated” are always in front of the pack when it comes to letting people do whatever makes them happy (provided it’s not hurting others). It’s the religious groups that wrongly think they know what’s best for everybody else.
As the CT article notes, it wasn’t until 2000 that Bob Jones University finally removed its ban on interracial dating.
…
Side note: I’m trying to find the raw data for the graphic above, but the Pew report the CT article refers to (PDF) doesn’t mention this religious breakdown. Am I missing something?
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