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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
 Posted - 02/28/2008 : 11:19:20
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This is a survey worth checking out. The Pew Forum on Religion in Public Life has done an extensive survey, which they plan to do again and again in the future to track the movement of the religious landscape in America. Happy news for fellow religious skeptics is that Protestantism has heavily declined and will likely become a minority, and that the number of non-affiliated people is increasing.
| Based on interviews conducted in English and Spanish with a nationally representative sample of over 35,000 adults, the survey provides estimates of the size of religious groups that are as small as three-tenths of 1 percent of the adult population. The report also describes changes in religious affiliation and analyzes the relationship between religious affiliation and various demographic factors, including age, ethnicity, nativity, educational and income levels, gender, family composition and regional distribution (including state breakdowns). |
http://www.foxbusiness.com/article/pew-forum-religion-public-life-releases-results-landmark-survey-religion_493124_1.html
I found the bit about Catholics and immigrants interesting. Basically native-born American Catholics are diminishing, but are replaced by Catholic immigrants, so the Catholic population in America remains steady. This maybe explains why Catholicism has been becoming more conservative in the USA (which my liberal, Catholic mom complains about) and it also sort of explains something I witnessed at the American Humanist Association conference in 2006. Here I was at a conference of mostly old liberal atheists, and during a Q and A session with Stephen Pinker, this woman in the audience asked this random, paranoid question about immigrants. Basically she was concerned that all these immigrants from Latin American countries were going to make America more religious, and therefore shouldn't we prevent them from getting into the United States. (I just love religious bigotry, especially when combined with ethnic bigotry!) Stephen Pinker mostly looked confused and embarrassed for the woman, responded in a vague and polite manner, and moved on.
And if you have an hour to listen, Radio Times here in Philly did a good interview with a half hour of call-ins. (I tried to call in, but the show ended before I got on the air. *pouty lip*) I was surprised by how many callers were agnostics and atheists who wished they had religious faith. Not a single representative of a positive atheistic worldview. Very disappointing. | America's changing religious landscape. We talk with GREG SMITH one of the principal authors of the latest "U.S. Religious Landscape Survey" by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Some of the trends it found include: Protestants are becoming a minority, Catholicism is becoming heavily Hispanic, and more people are saying they're not affiliated with any religion. |
http://www.whyy.org/91FM/radiotimes.html
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"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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Pew Survey of the Religious Landscape in America
