Catholicism means pope, not God to many

Thursday, March 19th, 2020

If asked about Catholicism, most people think of the pope, a Pew Research Center survey has found.

The survey, published on Tuesday, found over half the respondents (4 percent) said “the pope,” “Pope Francis,” or “Pope John Paul II” when asked who they thought of first when they heard the word “Catholic.”

Of those, 47 percent just said “the pope,” and only five percent said “Pope Francis.”

Eighteen percent of respondents named a figure from the Bible when asked what came to mind when they heard the word “Catholic”.

Of that percentage, 12 percent said “Jesus,” and five percent said the Virgin Mary. Two percent said “God.”

Six percent of respondents cited themselves or a Catholic family member as the first person to come to mind.

Thirteen percent either refused to answer or said they could not think of anyone.

Pew also asked people to name the first person who came to mind for other religions.

For evangelical Protestantism, the person who was named the most was televangelist Billy Graham, who was named by 21% of respondents.

Forty-six percent of respondents refused to answer or said they did not know, in relation to this question.

Fifty-five percent of respondents said “Buddha” was the first person who came to mind when they heard the term Buddhism.

Just over a quarter of respondents said “Mohammad” was the first person who came to mind for Islam.

About half the respondents cited a figure from the Bible as the first person they thought of when they thought about Judaism.

Twenty-one percent said “Jesus,” followed by 13 percent saying “Moses.” Eight percent said “Abraham.”

Asked about the term “atheism,” the four most cited people were Richard Dawkins, Madalyn Murray O’Hair, physicist Stephen Hawking, and television host Bill Maher.

Madalyn Murray O’Hair was one of the founders of American Atheists, and brought several cases to the Supreme Court against prayer in

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