Everybody has an opinion about Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Denver and the Occupy movement as a whole. And while well over half of all Americans approve of the multi-city protest, it certainly has it detractors as well.
Count the right-wing religious group Family Research Council as one of the detractors. From Right Wing Watch:
Last week the Family Research Council prayed that God would hinder the Occupy Wall Street movement and “prevent these radical organizers from stirring revolution and distracting voters from the elections and keeping watch on our elected leaders,” but (Wednesday) they have ratcheted up the rhetoric against the protest movement. In today’s prayer alert, the FRC vehemently attacked the protesters and asked God to “quell the anger of this sad collage of people” and make the protests “backfire.” While many faith leaders have joined the protests, the Religious Right group went on to pray that God will “send believers to bring Good News to these people and lead many to faith and peace in Christ.”
Of course, even in the religious community, opinion is mixed, with many churches and members of the clergy offering support. From television station New York 1:
Chanting as they marched around the perimeter of Zuccotti Park, an interfaith coalition of Muslims, Jews and Christians carried a golden reproduction of the “Wall Street” bull, symbolizing greed and the biblical “golden calf” that was idolized as a false god.
“This is a symbol of our spiritual poverty in this country, of how far we’ve come from the basic principles of what we are supposed to be doing in this country,” said the Reverend Michael Ellick of Judson Memorial Church.
Business analyst Harrison Schultz and professor Hector R. Cordero-Guzman from the Baruch College School of Public Affairs in New York, Wednesday released a study based on a survey of 1,619 visitors to the occupywallst.org site.
Fastcompany notes that about a quarter of those surveyed have also attended occupation events.
In a nutshell, the survey shows that more than 60 percent of those visiting the website were 33 years old or younger and 20 percent were over the age of 45.
Twenty-seven percent are students. Half of them have full-time jobs. Thirteen percent are unemployed.
Financially, they look like the rest of America, with about 30 percent earning more than $50,000 a year and 2 percent earning more than $150,000. Seventy percent say they are not affiliated with any political party, with most of the rest calling themselves Democrats.
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