[lbo-talk] Re: People Who Attend Church More Than Once A Week

[Timothy Francis-Wright]

Michael Pollak wrote:
> 
> On Sun, 28 Dec 2003 Yoshie Furuhashi quoted a Jim Wallis NYT op-ed that
> said:
> 
> > "[A]ccording to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press,
> > people who attend church more than once a week vote Republican by 63
> > percent to 37 percent; people who seldom or never attend vote 
> > Democratic by 62 percent to 38 percent"
> 
> ATTENTION: NUMERICAL SLEIGHT OF HAND IN PROCESS.  Offhand, I'd say the
> number of people who attend church an *average* of *more* than once a 
> week is very small -- and the number of people who seldom or never 
> attend is  very big.  Especially when you that consider "seldom" 
> includes all the Easter/Christmas Christians, which is the overwhelming 
> majority of Christians I've ever met.
> 

I can't get my hands on the survey that Wallis is citing.  The most 
recent study on this subject at the Pew web site
(http://pewforum.org/docs/index.php?DocID=26) does
have a few interesting tidbits, though.  

"[S]ignificant numbers of Americans say they would be reluctant to vote
for a presidential candidate ­ even if generally well-qualified ­ if the 
candidate was a member of a specific faith. Nearly four-in-ten (38%) 
say they would not vote for a well-qualified Muslim for president, and 
15% express concern about voting for a well-qualified evangelical 
Christian. Far fewer say they would not vote for a Jewish (10%) or
Catholic (8%) candidate. But fully half say they would not vote for a
well-qualified atheist."

There go my presidential ambitions.  

For what it's worth, a 2000 survey
(http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=32) reports that
45% of respondents attend church at least once per week, and 61% attend 
at least once per month.  These figures are self-reported, so they
probably include a bit of wishful thinking on the part of respondents.

--tim francis-wright