The main distinction that is of interest to leftists who are thinking about the question of rebuilding a Left is not one between Catholics and Protestants but one between the churched and the unchurched: the latter are far more likely to be male, single-never-married, etc. than the former.* Americans who join religious congregations and regularly attend church, mosque, synagogue, etc. are _less individualist_ than religious Americans who don't and secular Americans who don't have any comparable institutions that they sustain themselves.
As leftists, we ought to be more interested in Americans who have and are developing capacities to join others in common endeavor, religious or otherwise, than those who haven't and aren't.
Religious organizations in the United States -- especially those of Islam, Judaism, and Protestantism and to a lesser extent those of Catholicism -- are essentially the only large-scale exercises in self government in this country. As most leftists who disagree with Robert Fitch say, without dues checkoff, most trade unions in the USA, realistically, are almost certain to shrink drastically and perhaps vanish into nothingness rather than to overcome their clientelism, business unionism, etc. which is Fitch's intent in arguing against the checkoff (unlike trade unions in France, which, without dues checkoff and at a very low level of unionization, continue to wield power, due to France's singular revolutionary political tradition and labor and other laws that extend unions' gains to the non-unionized). *The ability to govern themselves collectively is the most important ability for workers to develop.* Organized religion in the USA, as well as in many other countries, should be understood as institutions through which many workers gain and develop that most important ability.
* <http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=Topic&TopicID=38> Definition
The following is how we define an unchurched adult for our research: an adult (18 or older) who has not attended a Christian church service within the past six months, not including a holiday service (such as Easter or Christmas) or a special event at a church (such as a wedding or funeral).
How Many?
* There has been a 92% increase in the number of unchurched Americans in the last thirteen years. In 1991 there were 39 million unchurched Americans compared with 75 million currently. (2004)
Who?
* Although they comprise slightly less than half of the national population, men constitute 55% of the unchurched. (2006) * The average unchurched person is 41, which is younger than the national norm of 45. (2006) * One-fifth of American adults (21%) are single-never-married, whereas nearly one-half of the unchurched fit that definition (48%). (2006) * The highest concentration of unchurched adults is in the West where 43% of adults are unchurched and the Northeast (40%), compared to 28% residents in the South and Midwest who are unchurched. (2006)
Spiritual Commitment
* More than three out of five (62%) unchurched adults consider themselves to be Christian. (2006) * 44% claim they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today. (2006) * In a typical week, 19% of unchurched people read the bible compared to 47% of all adults who do so. (2006) * In a typical week, 66% of unchurched people pray compared to 84% of all adults who do so. (2006) * Three-fifths (61%) of the churched population has accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, compared with one out of every five unchurched adults (21%) who has done so. (2006)
Beliefs
* 64% of the unchurched say that Satan is not a living being but is a symbol of evil. (2006) * 63% of unchurched adults state that a good person can earn his or her way into Heaven. (2006) * Slightly less than half (48%) of the unchurched define God as the perfect, all-powerful, all-knowing Creator of the universe who continues to rule His creation today. (2006) * 51% of the unchurched assert that when Jesus Christ lived on earth, He committed sins. (2006) * 27% of the unchurched firmly believe that the Bible is totally accurate in all that it teaches. (2006)
-- Yoshie