Social Issues

Abstract Catholics have a long history of engaging with social issues and doing the work of social justice, and attitudes about social issues—those concerning how people interact with each other—are critical for understanding who Catholics are today. Social issues can be highly controversial because they often invite evaluations of how people should interact. Thus, attitudes about social issues can say a great deal about deeply held beliefs that define individuals and that affect decision-making. This chapter explores Catholic attitudes regarding significant contemporary social issues and shows that white and Latino Catholics agree on most social issues, including gender roles, economic inequality, suicide, and capital punishment. However, Catholics differ in their levels of generalized trust: white Catholics are more likely than Latino Catholics to express high levels of trust. White Catholics and white mainline Protestants have notably similar views of social issues