Religious Americans are far more diverse,
tolerant, and compassionate than the image of an
evangelist upsurge would suggest.
Peter Steinfels October 21, 2010 The American Prospect
American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, by Robert D. Putnam and David E. Campbell, Simon & Schuster, 673 pages, $30
American Grace is a scrupulously researched, extensively documented, and utterly clear book filled with findings that should rattle the assumptions of anyone, religious or secular, who cares about religion in American public life.
Findings like these:
"The evangelical boom that began in the 1970s was
over by the early 1990s, nearly two decades ago. In
twenty-first century America expansive
evangelicalism is a feature of the past, not the
present."
"Cohorts of whom barely 5 percent say they have no
religious affiliation are being replaced by cohorts
of whom roughly 25 percent say they have no
religion, massively increasing the nationwide
incidence of nones."
"The more often you say grace, the more likely you
are to find a home in the Republican Party, and the
less likely you are to identify with the Democrats."
"Most Americans today are religious feminists."
"There is little overt politicking over America's
pulpits and, to the extent it happens, it is more
common on the political left than the right."
"Religious Americans are, in fact, more generous
neighbors and more conscientious citizens than their
secular counterparts. On the other hand, they are
also less tolerant of dissent."
"Regular churchgoers are more likely to give to
secular causes than nonchurchgoers, and highly
religious people give a larger fraction of their
income to secular causes than do most secular
people."
"A whopping 89 percent of Americans believe that
heaven is not reserved for those who share their
religious faith. Americans are reluctant to claim
that they have a monopoly on truth."
American Grace is not, however, a collection of believe-it-or-not findings about American religion.
Full: http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=changing_faiths