More Americans now want churches to become more involved in politics, based on a recent Pew Research survey.

The survey found that those who want churches to share their political opinions increased to 49 percent from the previous 43 percent.

However, those who want churches to stay out of the political arena decreased to 48 percent from the previous 52 percent, as reported by the Washington Times.

Like Us on Facebook

On one hand, the survey found increasing support for public religious clamor and the outspokenness of religious leaders about political issues. On the other hand, non-religious people are more likely to maintain the separation of the church from politics.

The percentage of Americans who want houses of worship to endorse specific candidates climbed up to 32 percent from 24 percent. However, 63 percent is still against churches backing political candidates.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State spokesman Rob Boston gave an insight into this trend. He said people are delighted when the opinion of the church is aligned with theirs.

"...People are less enthusiastic about churches getting involved with politics when the political view clashes with their own," Boston explained.

Additionally, Pew Research found that 72 percent of U.S. citizens think religion's influence on politics is slipping down, while 22 percent think otherwise. Although the poll suggested the decline could have been caused by Americans' desire for religion to have more influence on politics, experts in that area said it might be the result of the changing public opinion.

More than three decades ago, abortion and gay rights were taboo, but now there are more laws being pushed to promote rather than suppress them, according to Baylor University political science professor Andrew Hogue.

Brenda Norton, another political expert from the Baylor University, said the new percentages were not surprising, but admitted that the shift in public opinions depend on the current important issue is for the U.S.

Pew Research conducted the poll among 2,002 adult U.S. citizens from September 2 to 9. The survey's margin of error is around 2.5 percentage points.

Tagssurvey, politics, church involvement, americans, Pew Research