Times Writers Group: Many
know little of others' faiths
St. Cloud (MN) Times• April 7, 2010
by Derek Larson
Religion plays a large and important role in
American society, as the news and opinion pages of
this newspaper have demonstrated in recent weeks.
That role is changing though, and trends suggest
the assumptions many make about their neighbors'
religious beliefs are increasingly inaccurate.
The best information available on American
religious practices today comes from the Pew Forum
on Religion and Public Life. Among its most recent
surveys, one can find many fascinating statistics:
26 percent of Americans are identified as
evangelical protestants, 23 percent Catholic, and 18
percent mainline protestants.
16 percent – the next largest group – are the
"unaffiliated" which includes atheists and agnostics.
Jews (1.7 percent), Buddhists (0.7 percent), Muslims
(0.6 percent) and Hindus (0.4 percent) are among
the largest of the non-Christian groups.
44 percent of adults have left the religion in which
they were raised, either for another or none at all.
Fully 25 percent of young adults (ages 18-29) are
unaffiliated with any religion.
71 percent of all unaffiliated Americans are under
age 50.
While 31 percent of Americans today were raised
Catholic, only 24 percent remain so.
37 percent of married couples are of different
religious faiths.
There are also major variations between states:
At the extremes of the poll, 91 percent of
Mississippians believe in God while only 54 percent
of those in Vermont/New Hampshire report the
same.
Arkansas is only 5 percent Catholic; New Jersey is
42 percent Catholic.
Alaska and Oregon are among the least religious
states, each with 27 percent unaffiliated with any
religion.
Alabama and Mississippi are among the most
religious, with only 8 percent unaffiliated.
Minnesota ranks 29th for "belief in God" and 35th
for frequency of prayer, well below national
averages.
Political and social views also vary within and
across denominations:
33 percent of all Catholics reported they were
Republican or "lean Republican."
48 percent of all Catholics reported they were
Democratic or "lean Democratic."
Mormons reported the highest incidence of
Republican affinity at 65 percent.
Members of "historically Black churches" reported
the highest incidence of Democratic affinity at 78
percent.
Catholics were the most likely of the major groups
to believe that "homosexuality should be accepted
by society" at 58 percent; Mormons were least likely
to accept this statement at 24 percent.
62 percent of members of mainline protestant
churches felt that "abortion should be legal in all or
most cases;" among Catholics 42 percent felt the
same as did 27 percent of Mormons.
It is overwhelmingly clear from the data that the
religious lives of Americans are more complex than
many assume, and the traditional stereotypes about
beliefs, practices and their consequences are often
not supported by the data.
We know comparatively little about the specific
religious beliefs of Americans before the late 20th
century when private polling organizations began to
ask personal questions of individuals, in part
because the federal government only formally
collected data from religious groups between about
1850-1946.
What is obvious from any glance at the existing
data, however, is that the American religious
landscape has always been much more diverse than
many assume today. A total of 186 different
denominations were counted in the 1906 Census of
Religious Bodies, for example, and even then they
ranged from Adventists to the Vedanta Society,
Baha'i to the Society for Ethical Culture.
Taken as a whole, these data suggest that those who
react to growing religious diversity with fear are
missing the fact that the United States has always
been diverse. The lack of a state religion and the
religious freedoms enshrined in our founding
documents and legal culture ensure it will remain
so. Rather than fear those who are different, it might
be more sensible to talk with them and seek out
common ground.
If that's too much to ask, then those who rely so
often on handy stereotypes might at least take the
time to learn how much diversity there is within the
ranks of their own faiths.
-Dr. DRL
