Pew in the Pews

A survey on American belief overturns some scholars' theories
By ALAN WOLFE
The Chronicle of Higher Education
From the issue dated March 21, 2008

Released to the public late last month, the findings of the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life's survey on the American religious landscape became instant front-page news. Based on more than 35,000 interviews with Americans over 18, it is one of the most extensive surveys to date. A bare majority of Americans (51.5 percent) identify themselves as Protestant. Close to a majority (44 percent) have switched faiths at least once in their lives. One in three native-born Roman Catholics has left the church, which is increasingly dependent on immigrants to maintain its 23.9 percent of the American population. The percentage of those with no distinct religious preference is now 16.1. Nearly one in four Americans (37 percent) are intermarried.

The remarkable fluidity of American belief is not especially surprising to scholars; social scientists and demographers have long noted the degree to which Americans, rather than having their religion determined for them by their births, choose their faiths in an open and competitive market. In some ways, the major achievement of the Pew study is to bring to the attention of the public what is conventional wisdom among academics.

Yet other findings in the study shed new light on issues around which there has been no scholarly consensus. Three in particular are worthy of attention: the size and composition of minority faiths, the winners and losers in the religious marketplace, and the potential prospects of the religious right. Some scholarly thinking — and rethinking — is clearly in order.

It’s all here …and some interesting points are excerpted below.

A second finding of the Pew survey important to scholars of religion concerns which religions gain and which ones lose in the marketplace. For many years now, it has been received wisdom that mainline, politically liberal Protestant churches have been the losers and conservative evangelical churches have been winning. That assumption, too, will have to be rethought.
<snip>
Nor is it quite the case that conservative Protestant churches are the winners. According to the Pew survey, mainline Protestant denominations, including Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians, were all losers, but that does not mean that evangelically oriented denominations were winners. ...
<snip>
One theory that has gained widespread adherence among sociologists of religion is that the strict teachings of conservative churches, by demanding more of their members, appeal to those seeking something more meaningful than the bland and easy-to-swallow theology of mainline religion. ... Most likely there was a movement in the direction of conservative religions a generation ago. It may have been the result of the attraction of stricter churches, although not all sociologists of religion agree about that. But whatever the case in the past, there is no strong evidence of strict churches attracting a disproportionate share of members now.
<snip>
Political scientists interested in American religion, such as John C. Green, Clyde Wilcox, and Kenneth D. Wald, believe that the influence of the religious right may have peaked. The Pew survey provides strong evidence that they are right. If the religious world of adults in the United States is diverse and in constant flux, the religious affiliations of young Americans, who will be tomorrow's voters and citizens, are even more so. Three times as many Americans under 30 as those over 70 are not religiously affiliated. Mainline Protestants tend to be elderly, but so do evangelical Protestants; the differences in age distribution are minimal, suggesting that both groups are having problems attracting the young.