‘Woke’ According to a poll, church leaders and their congregations are not in agreement on important political issues such taxation and market role.
While more than half – 51 per cent – of the clergy support the imposition of high taxes to redistribute wealth, only 34 per cent of regular churchgoers feel the same way.
While only 30% of clergy say they are trustworthy with large multinational corporations (compared to 73% for their flocks), that number is higher than that of the rest.
Dr Richard Turnbull, director of CEME, pictured, said: ‘Church leaders are out of touch with Christian opinion’
The poll, conducted by Savanta ComRes for the Centre for Enterprise, Markets and Ethics (CEME), is likely to reinforce the perception that Left-wing ‘woke’ clergy are out of touch with worshippers.
Church leaders were also more in favour of ‘wage-shaming’ well-paid business leaders, with 82 per cent backing publicising the pay gap between businesses’ highest-paid and lowest-paid employees; but just 66 per cent of regular churchgoers support the idea.
Additionally, 89% of leaders of the Church want business to be involved in combating climate change, as opposed to 64% of their congregation.
This poll also shows a generational gap in attitudes towards business. 88% of over-55s consider wealth-creation to be their key role, while only 66% of 18-to-24-year-olds believe it is.
Dr Richard Turnbull, director of CEME, said: ‘Church leaders are out of touch with Christian opinion.
Christians stand apart from each other socially during the Easter Sunday service at Christ the King in the Balham region of London. According to the poll, 89% of leaders of churches want their businesses to be involved in combating climate change. This is compared with 64% of congregations.
The leaders of churches lack a basic understanding of how business works, rely heavily on taxation, and lack trust in the government.
‘A message is being preached that is not believed by most of its recipients. A number of important aspects of the society, market and business are more favorable to those who attend church regularly.
This tells us then that church congregations may have a more informed view of business than those that purport to teach them.’
Savanta ComRes interviewed ten Anglican, Catholic and Catholic bishops between May and Aug 2021.