With the consecration of its first openly lesbian bishop, the U.S. Episcopal Church has reignited controversy among conservative members of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Religious Landscape Survey, conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life in 2007, finds, however, that fully 70% of Episcopalians in the United States say that homosexuality is a way of life that should be accepted by society. Among mainline U.S. Protestants overall, 56% say homosexuality should be accepted, compared with only about one-in-four evangelical Protestants and four-in-ten members of historically black Protestant churches. Read More

Russell Heimlich  is a former web developer at Pew Research Center.