Trust in clergy lower after sex abuse crisis

By William Wan

After a bruising year for the Catholic Church, a new survey shows that trust in clergy has decreased worldwide. The 2010 "Trust Index" was released today by the German-based marketing research group GfK with some revealing tidbits for religious leaders. Highlghts below:

* "Following the abuse scandals in the Catholic church, which received international attention, the clergy's image has deteriorated markedly in almost all countries. Just 58% of the (global) population in total have confidence in the group, which is 8% less than in the prior year.

* "The standing of the clergy in Germany, where much of the Catholic sex abuse scandal has emanated from this year, has worsened considerably. Whereas its members still inspired confidence in 72% of Germans last year, this figure has now dropped back to just under 55%. And the clergy is judged particularly poorly by the French, at 33%."

* In the U.S., firefighters are trusted most with 93%, while the military enjoys the second highest level of popularity at almost 85%. Journalists -- already low last year at 44% -- sank a little lower at 42% this year. But no one's worse than the politicians dead last at 16.4%.

For more stats on the GfK trustability pdf charts.

By

William Wan

 |  June 10, 2010; 4:23 PM ET  |  Category:  God in Government Save & Share:                 
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