A statue of Billy Graham stands outside the Southern Baptist Convention’s Nashville headquarters.Americans like Southern Baptists more than Mormons and Muslims but less than Methodists, according to a poll released this week seeking to gauge public perception of Southern Baptists.
Southern Baptist Convention President Bryant Wright, an Atlanta-area megachurch pastor, asked for the poll after launching a task force this year to consider changing the denomination’s name. That group asked denomination-affiliated LifeWay Research to poll public opinion about the denomination.
Researchers discovered 62 percent of Americans have a favorable view of Methodists, while only 53 percent have a favorable view of Southern Baptists. About 40 percent of Americans have a negative impression of Southern Baptists, the lowest rating among traditional denominations.
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