American Religious Landscape

Much is being made of the new Pew Center Report on religion in America (http://pewforum.org/) and rightly so. The survey got responses from more than 35,000 people across the country so that a better picture of the nature of the American religious landscape can be seen.

Most of the news reports about the survey that I have read zero in on the shifting religious affiliation of the American people. Respondents to the survey were asked to identify in what faith group they were raised as a child and what their current religious affiliation is. There were clear gainers and losers in this. The two groups that had the most significant net loss are the Catholics, with a 7.5% loss, and the Baptists, with a 3.7% loss. The two groups with the largest net gain are the Unaffiliated, with a gain of 8.8%, and the non-denominational, with a gain of 3.0%. This puts the Unaffiliated segment as the fourth largest 'religious' group in the country.

I am still reading the survey, so I reserve the right to comment on it again, but I do wonder what any of you who may be reading this think about these trends and whether you have 'switched' religious affiliation.

My previous attempts at generating 'audience participation' on this blog have been wildly unsuccessful. Yet, hope springs eternal and all that, so I invite comments - operators are standing by.