Robert P. Jones, the research group’s founder and president, said during a March 6 telephone briefing that the survey showed that Episcopal Church and UCC clergy were “really staking out more progressive views” than the rest of the clergy who responded.
The two denominations also led the list of those clergy who said they believe the U.S. government should do more to solve social problems (UCC clergy were at 90 percent, Episcopal clergy 87 percent)….
On Episcopal stances about specific issues, the survey showed that:
* 73 percent of Episcopal clergy said that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, compared to 51 percent of all clergy surveyed.
* 49 percent approved of same-gender marriage and another 38 percent supported allowing gay couples to enter into civil unions, compared with 33 percent and 32 percent, respectively, of all clergy surveyed.