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Study finds Americans fluid in their religious affiliation
Posted on Mar 2, 2008 10:14am CST.By ADELLE M. BANKS Religion News Service
A new study of more than 35,000 adult Americans by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life captures the depth and breadth of religious America -- 78.4 percent Christian, 4.7 percent members of other faiths and 16.1 percent unaffiliated.
Believing but not belonging
Why are young people dropping out of organized religion? Why do a third of cradle Catholics leave the church? Does marriage affect one's religion? Researchers from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life examine these questions. Listen.
The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, released Feb. 25, estimates the religious makeup of the country’s 225 million adults in groups as large as evangelical Protestants (26.3 percent) and as small as Unitarians (0.3 percent).
Study finds Americans fluid in their religious affiliation
By ADELLE M. BANKS
Religion News Service
If you’re Buddhist in the United States, you’re most likely a white convert who lives in the American West.
If you’re a Jehovah’s Witness, you’re likely to be a white Southerner, but almost half of your fellow believers are either African-American or Hispanic.
And if you’re a Midwesterner, you’re living in the region that best reflects the religious diversity of America.
Protestants close to losing majority status
By AMY GREEN
Religion News Service
The United States is firmly 78 percent Christian but barely 51 percent Protestant, according to a survey released Feb. 25.
The findings, part of the sweeping U.S. Religious Landscape Survey produced by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, reaffirm a decades-long decline toward minority status for the family of churches that long steered American politics and culture.
Hindus thrive as Buddhists struggle to pass on the faith
By ANDREA USEEM
Religion News Service
In a study that highlights the fluidity of religious affiliation in America today, Hindus stand out as the group with the most stable religious identity, while Buddhists struggle hardest to pass the faith from one generation to the next.
Ninety percent of Hindus marry within their own faith, and eight-in-ten Hindus who were raised Hindu remain so as adults, according to the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, released Feb. 25 by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
Hindus thrive as Buddhists struggle to pass on the faith
By ANDREA USEEM
Religion News Service
In a study that highlights the fluidity of religious affiliation in America today, Hindus stand out as the group with the most stable religious identity, while Buddhists struggle hardest to pass the faith from one generation to the next.
Ninety percent of Hindus marry within their own faith, and eight-in-ten Hindus who were raised Hindu remain so as adults, according to the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, released Feb. 25 by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
Catholics lose more faithful than any other group
By GREG TROTTER
Religion News Service
In the marketplace of American faith, Catholicism is the big loser.
Catholics have lost more members to other faiths, or to no faith at all, than any other U.S. religion, according to the new survey released by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
The survey, based on interviews with 35,000 U.S. adults, found that 31 percent of Americans were raised Catholic, but only 24 percent still identify as Catholic.
‘Unaffiliated’ represent biggest change among U.S. faith groups
By LILLY FOWLER
Religion News Service
Americans who aren’t part of a religious organization or who identify as an atheist or an agnostic represent the biggest change among U.S. religious groups, according to a study released Feb. 25 by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey estimates that about 16 percent of America’s 225 million adults are unaffiliated with a religion.
Study shows racial diversity across U.S. faiths
By BRITTANI HAMM and ADELLE M. BANKS
Religion News Service
A new detailed study of American religion reveals not just a diversity of faiths, but also a range of racial and ethnic membership within those faiths.
Of the country’s estimated 1.6 million adult Buddhists, for example, only one-third are Asian -- despite the religion’s roots in Asia -- while a slim majority (53 percent) are white.
