From my (Australian) Churches of Christ mate, Alan Matheson (who's a better prophet than punctuator, but I've left it as it came):

(My comment, FWIW: the secular press and entertainment industry have done an excellent job in skewing public perceptions about clergy).

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Hi Rowland

Thought the following might be of interest.

WHO CAN YOU TRUST,IF NOT YOUR MINISTER!

That source of all wisdom,the Reader's Digest,has just released,it's survey of,"Australia's most trusted professions 2008".(Reader's Digest June 2008). Clergy are not in the top 10 of the most trusted,nor in the top 20. In fact they come in at 28,just above taxi drivers (32),sexworkers(37), and telemarketers(40); and well below ambulance officers(1),doctors(6),electricians(17),hairdressers(21) and bartenders(26).

Such surveys have regularly been done over the past decade or so.

In 1997,for example, 55% thought clergy could be trusted because of their ethics and honesty(Herald Sun 28.6.97), and in 1999,when asked to rank professions for "honesty and integrity",58% thought clergy were OK. (Canberra Times 3.7.1999), By 2001,the Roy Morgan poll,ranked clergy as 10th,with nurses(1) at the top,and car salesmen at the bottom(27).(Australian 4.4.01).

The Reader's Digest, at the same time,ranked the church at number 11 (of 23) in terms of trusted institutions.(Reader's Digest August 2001).Surveys in other countries,in contrast, show religious institutions ranked number 2 in the USA,just below the military, 6 in Japan,and 7 in the UK.(Westbrook on the line,No.7).

The 2002 Roy Morgan poll saw clergy ranked 11,below nurses (1) and pharmacists(2),and the least trusted professions , real estate agents (27) and car salesmen(28). (Age 20.12.02). By 2004,the Morgan poll,had clergy ranked 12,with 48% respondents thinking they were honest and ethical,with journalists (26) and car dealers(28),ranked at the bottom. (Age 8.1.04). In 2005,the Reader's Digest,"Who do you trust Australia?" survey,ranked clergy 16,below bus drivers (12), police (9) and ambulance officers(1);but above cleaners (17), life coaches (20),CEOs(24) and politicians at the bottom (30).(Reader's Digest June 2005). There was little or no change in the 2006 rankings.(Reader's Digest July 2006).

Commenting on the Reader's Digest 2007 survey rankings, the demographer Bernard Salt noted, the "people trust people who show or place human compassion ahead of monetary gain". In this survey clergy (26) ranked below ambulance officers(1),marriage celebrants(13),counsellors(20) and cleaners (25), but above financial planners(28),psychics(37) and telemarketers(40). (Reader's Digest June 2007).These rankings,incidentally,were very similar to the New Zealand polling,with the exception that politicians replaced telemarketers as the least trusted profession.(Reader's Digest NZ May 2007).

One other interesting aspect of these rankings is that "lawyers ranked the 9th least trusted profession, but the 9th most wanted profession, parents wanted their children to pursue".

A couple of things to note. The data does not distinguish between bishops,pastors or chief imagineers (as one denomination calls its executive officer),nor between denominations.Sydney Anglicans,Hillsong's happy clappers and the UCA radicals all sit together in such surveys.

The Editor in Chief,of the Digest,commenting on the 2005 findings,suggested that it was clear "that many of Australia's most trusted individuals and professions share a generosity of spirit,while on the flipside,those with a low trust ranking, are perceived to be motivated by self interest". According to Allan Pease, "weight played a part.We tend to trust large people less,we trust them 50% less than medium weight people.....really thin people are also less trusted than medium sized people.......smiling also was an important indicator of trust that was hard wired into the Brain"( SMH 17.5.05).

Ah if it all was as simple as that.

Crikey.com on the other hand, dismissed the 2008 Digest survey,as "close to the dopiest survey we have seen".(19.6.08)

Nevertheless,whatever one's view of such surveys and their significance,the continued low level of trust of clergy should not so easily be dismissed without some deeper digging around and analysis.

Alan Matheson 20.6.08