Religious lobbying in Washington has increased fivefold in 40 years study finds

[cleanhippie]

he number of organizations engaged in religious lobbying or religion-related advocacy in Washington, D.C., has increased roughly fivefold in the past four decades, from fewer than 40 in 1970 to more than 200 today. These groups collectively employ at least 1,000 people in the greater Washington area and spend at least $390 million a year on efforts to influence national public policy. As a whole, religious advocacy organizations work on about 300 policy issues. For most of the past century, religious advocacy groups in Washington focused mainly on domestic affairs. Today, however, roughly as many groups work only on international issues as work only on domestic issues, and nearly two-thirds of the groups work on both. These are among the key findings of a new study by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life that examines a total of 212 religion-related advocacy groups operating in the nation’s capital.

The study also found:

that about one-in-five religious advocacy organizations in Washington have a Roman Catholic perspective (19%) and a similar proportion are evangelical Protestant in outlook (18%), while 12% are Jewish and 8% are mainline Protestant. But many smaller U.S. religious groups, including Baha’is, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, also have established advocacy organizations in the Washington area. In fact, the number of Muslim groups (17) is about the same as the number of mainline Protestant groups (16). And the largest category today is interreligious: One-quarter of the groups studied (54) either represent multiple faiths or advocate on religious issues without representing a specific religion.

This report is based on a systematic examination of the websites, mission statements, tax documents and other public records of religious advocacy groups spanning the years 2008-2010. Researchers also relied on responses to a written questionnaire that was sent to 148 separate, active groups included in the study and completed by 61 of them. Additionally, lead researcher Allen D. Hertzke conducted in-depth interviews with leaders of 36 groups and observed the advocacy efforts of many other groups at congressional hearings, lobby days, press conferences and other Washington-based events.

http://www.goddiscussion.com/85190/religious-lobbying-in-washington-has-increased-fivefold-in-40-years-study-finds/

[laconicsax]

1. Not to worry...I've been told that this isn't anything to worry about.

Creeping theocracy is just an illusion.

[cleanhippie]

2. Of course, we are just wallowing in religious cesspools and this is not indicative of what is really

happening.

[NMMNG]

3. Scary

But not surprising.

[MarkCharles]

4. In a nation where the Constitution guarantees religious freedom to everyone, why...

would religious organizations need or even be allowed to have any influence over the nation's government?

This, of course, only makes sense to those who are believers. They need to stick their faith and beliefs into the law-maker pie.

But isn't it ironic that religions now operate like corporations rather than like individual human beings, human beings who have absolutely NO such lobbying structures?