Poll: 53% of Israelis think religion becoming more powerful

Jerusalem, Israel - More than half of Israelis believe the country is undergoing a "process of religious radicalization" a poll released by Channel 2 news Wednesday has revealed.

According the poll, which was conducted by Geocartography Group president Prof. Avi Degani, 53 percent of the public in Israel think the country has swung towards the religious end of the pendulum, where the prohibition of women serving in the IDF, gender segregated buses and a complete theocratic hold on civil society is the norm.

Among the groups 500 respondents, only 23% said they thought that the status quo between secular and religious society remains status quo. An additional 13% think the country is becoming more secular.

10% of those polled said they had no opinion on the issue.

As for the issue of gender segregation in pubic space, 41% of respondents said they felt the media covered the subject objectively, showing the ultra-Orthodox opinion as well.

According to Channel 10, most of those surveyed did not think the media joined a secular campagin on the subject of female exclusion, or covered the story "just to sell papers."