Gallup has conducted an Honesty and Ethics survey since 1976. The survey has been conducted on an annual basis since 1991. Nurses were added to the list of professions included in the survey in 1999 and have been rated as the most honest and ethical every year since except 2001. Shown below in the form of a bar graph are the results of the 2010 survey:
So What?
In 2010, clergy ranked 7th among the professions surveyed. Just over half (53%) of all respondents rated the honesty and ethics of clergy as high or very high, which is up only slightly from the lowest percentage ever of 50% in 2009. Last year’s low score prompted a visual consideration of how the ratings have changed over the last three decades:
Even among those who self-identify as Christian, clergy receive relatively low percentages. In the 2009 survey, 55% of Protestants and 56% of Catholics selected one of the top two choices for honest and ethical behavior for clergy.
- If given the opportunity to rate the honesty and ethics of clergy (as a group), would you opt for the choice of very high, high, average, low, or very low? Why?
- If you think back to an earlier stage in your life and had been asked to answer the same question, would your rating be the same, higher or lower? If it would change, to what do you attribute your difference in opinion?
- What can clergy do over the next several years to regain trust and increase the percentages of Americans who view them as honest and ethical?