Religion And Same-Sex Marriage - Should Officials Follow The Law When It Violates Their Religious Principles?

It's been more than a year now since the Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional for states to deny same-sex couples the right to marry. At that time, many religious Americans, especially the born-again evangelicals, were horrified and urged public officials to refuse to perform those marriages -- and in a few states (Kentucky, Texas, etc.) some officials did try to refuse. They were slapped down by the courts, and now same-sex couples are able to get a marriage license all across the country.

With a year behind the Supreme Court decision, the Reuters / Ipsos Poll queried Americans on whether they now thought public officials should issue same-sex licenses when it violated their religious principles. They questioned 7,987 adults between June 30th and September 30th, and the results are shown in the chart above.

They found that overall about 56% of Americans said those officials should obey the law and issue the licenses, while only 31% thought they shouldn't. Most religious groups agreed -- including Methodists (+15), Baptists (+1), Presbyterians (+22), Lutherans (+4), Catholics (+38), Mormons (+2), Jews (+24), other religions (+17), and those with no religion (+60). The only group disagreeing were the "born-again" christians (-17).

It looks like most Americans have gotten used to the new reality, and want their officials to follow the law -- including most religious people.