Joanna
ThatRogersWoman wrote:
>Statistical revelation: Religion going strong
>Baylor poll also shows nearly 20% in U.S. see God as on America's
>side
>
>By RICHARD VARA
>9/12/06 Houston Chronicle
>
>WACO Religion is not on the wane in the United States, according to
>a national survey on faith released Monday. The American Piety in the
>21st Century survey found that previous studies incorrectly counted
>10 million people as having no religion.
>
>It also revealed that nearly a fifth of Americans believe God favors
>the United States in world affairs.
>
>In what Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion researchers
>described as one of the most comprehensive studies of the U.S.
>religious landscape, the survey found that 89 percent of Americans
>attend a local congregation or affiliate with a denomination.
>
>The finding rebuts other national surveys showing that 14 percent or
>more of Americans were "religious nones" people with no religious
>backgrounds.
>
>"We find that barely one in 10 truly have no religious affiliation in
>America," said Kevin Dougherty, Baylor University assistant professor
>of sociology. "Prior national surveys have concluded that 10 million
>people are not religious who actually are in church every Sunday
>praying, believing in a God; 10 million Americans counted as
>religious nones."
>
>The earlier findings led some scholars to theorize that the increase
>in religious nonaffiliation signaled a rise of secularization
>comparable to that in Europe, Dougherty said.
>
>Baylor researchers went beyond asking people to identify their faith
>or denomination and asked for names and addresses of any worship
>centers they attend, he said.
>
>"We find that just asking about religious preference, 33 percent of
>respondents said, 'I don't know about my religion,' " Dougherty said.
>"But five questions later, they gave us the name of their
>congregation."
>
>The confusion stems from the rise of nondenominational churches, he
>said.
>
>"Denominations don't mean as much as they used to," he said.
>
>"People don't think of themselves as good Southern Baptists; they
>tend to think of themselves as good members of a particular
>congregation."
>
>And many of those congregations today do not include their
>denomination in their name.
>
>
>'Evangelical' confusion
>Among the 10.8 percent of Americans unaffiliated with any religious
>group, only 37.1 percent do not believe in God, according to the
>survey.
>
>The rest believe in God or some higher power.
>
>The survey found 33.6 percent of Americans, or roughly 100 million
>people, are evangelical Protestants by affiliation.
>
>However, it also discovered that "evangelical" is not a term that
>believers used to identify themselves even if they were members of
>evangelical denominations such as Southern Baptist. Most described
>themselves as Bible believers, born again or other terms.
>
>"Barely 15 percent of the population identifies with that label even
>though they are sitting in churches which researchers and reporters
>alike would clearly define as evangelical," Dougherty said.
>
>Evangelical Protestants are consistently supportive of conservative
>political issues such as military spending, allowing school prayer
>and government promotion of values. Half of Southerners are
>identified as evangelical Protestants.
>
>Contrary to the impression given on the campaign trail, Americans do
>not believe God favors one political party over another.
>
>Overall, only 4 percent believe that God favors a political party.
>Among evangelical Protestants, 8.1 percent hold that belief.
>
>However, nearly a fifth (18.6 percent) of respondents believe God
>favors the United States in world affairs. Among evangelicals, 26
>percent think God is on the side of the United States.
>
>The survey, which drew 1,721 responses in late 2005, is the first of
>biennial examinations aimed at developing a comprehensive national
>database on American religion, institute co-director Byron Johnson
>said. It had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
>
> http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4179413.html
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