[Buddha-l] Demographics of religions in the United States of America

[Richard P. Hayes]

On Thu, 2005-06-30 at 22:34 -0600, Richard P. Hayes wrote:

> If we are going to speak sociologically, then the dominant world view in
> the USA is secular humanism. Far more Americans are secular than
> Christian, and that is just plain fact.

That is a fascinating claim, but like most fascinating claim, it is
completely false according to what I have been able to discover on the
Internet (which allows on truth to be published, right?). US census
figures on religious affiliation in the United States show the actual
breakdown is as follows: people who claim to be Christian make up 77% of
the US population. People who claim to be secular make up 13%, and
people who claim to be Humanists make up 0.02%. (I confess it amazes me
that only one in every 5,000 Americans can think straight. I had thought
the number would be closer to one in every 3,000.) Here are some (but by
no means all) of the statistics. First column is religion, second is %
of USAmericans claiming to follow that religion, and the third is % of
change between 1990 and 2000:

Christianity, 77%, +5%
Secularism, 13%, +110%
Judaism, 1.3%, -10%
Islam, 0.5%, +109%
Buddhism, 0.5%, +170%
Hinduism, 0.4%, +237%
Unitarian-Universalism, 0.3%, +25%
Humanism, 0.02%, +69%

As for beliefs, Skeptical Inquirer magazine reports a Harris poll taken
a couple of years ago. Adults were asked which of various things they
believed in. Some of the findings are given below (where column 1 is
what people claim to believe in, and column 2 is the percentage of
adults holding that belief):

God, 90%
miracles, 84%
heaven, 82%
resurrection of Jesus, 80%
birth of Jesus from a virgin mother, 77%
astrology, 31%
reincarnation, 27%

In all of those categories, the percentage of women holding the belief
was significantly higher than the percentage of men, and the percentages
declined in direct proportion to their level of education. And in all
but one category (reincarnation) the percentage of believers increased
with age. Far more people under than age of 30 than over 60 believe in
reincarnation. (That's because old people are smarter about some
things.) 

Among some of the surprises noted by Harris pollsters were that about as
many non-Christians believed in the virgin birth and resurrection of
Jesus as Christians who claimed not to believe in them--something around
5% in both categories. Also interesting is that more than 50% of adults
in the US say they believe in hell, but only 1% believe they are going
to be sent there. (I guess hell is mostly populated by foreign devils.)

American Demographics magazine ran an article in Jan 2002 showing that
when people were asked "What is your religion?" the results were about
what the 2000 census showed. It then goes on to say this:

\begin{quote}
But who practices their religion? Three-fourths of respondents say their
outlook is either religious or somewhat religious; only 16 percent
define themselves as secular or somewhat secular. Among those who
consider their worldview strictly "religious," certain demographic
differences stand out. Just 27 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds say they
are religious, compared with 47 percent of seniors age 65 years and
older. And while nearly half of blacks say their outlook is religious
(49 percent), only 37 percent of whites, 30 percent of Hispanics and 28
percent of Asians agree.

When it comes to church membership, however, Americans' behavior falls
short of professed belief. While 8 in 10 respondents identify with a
religion, only 54 percent live in a household where either they or
someone else belongs to a church, synagogue, temple or mosque, according
to the survey.

Overall, fewer people practice or preach at all. One of the most
dramatic changes recorded by the survey is the sharp increase in the
number of Americans who do not subscribe to any religion (a category
that includes atheists, agnostics, humanists, secularists and those who
do not identify with any religion). Their number has more than doubled
from 14 million in 1990 (8 percent of the total population) to 29
million in 2001 (14 percent), and seems to be trending further upward.
Of those professing no religion, 35 percent are between the ages of 18
and 29, while only 8 percent are over the age of 65. Looks like the next
generation isn't only choosing their religion, their losing it as well.
\end{quote}

> There is nothing offensive in being wrong. What is offensive is
> insisting that one is right when all the evidence shows that one's
> position is problematic. (We have a president who does that. It would
> be pathetic if his citizens followed him in this unfortunate
> proclivity.)

I was mistaken. Dramatically. This just shows how hazardous it is to
assume that one's friends are representative of the population as a
whole. About 98% of my friends and colleagues are Unitarian-
Universalists, Buddhists, secularist, humanists or all of the above.
(This statistic by the way is completely meaningless, since I only have
about seven friends and maybe ten colleagues.)

> So we agree that the majority of those who think of themselves as
> Christians are deluded in this belief and that it would be offensive if
> they were to continue making that claim for themselves when their
> actions bely their professions.

> The key phrase there is "who practice a religion." The majority of
> citizens of the USA do not practice any religion at all, unless
> consumerism, unjust war and blind patriotism count as religious
> practices.

Apparently, 54% of Americans belong to a family in which at least one
member of the family belongs to a church, synagogue, temple or mosque.
That does not, of course, mean they practice a religion there, nor does
not belonging to a religious organization mean that one does not
practice a religion. So there is no way of knowing on the basis of any
of the evidence I have available whether a majority of adults in the USA
do or do not practice a religion. I do, however, feel pretty confident
that a majority of citizens of the USA practice consumerism.

> If one is bad at being a Christian, then one is not in fact a Christian
> at all. That principle was invoked repeatedly by the Puritans who
> founded this nation.

Alas, quite a few of these Puritan bozos were my ancestors. They thought
the Roman Catholic church was the Whore of Babylon. I disagree with them
on quite a few important issues, and I hate the culture that has grown
out of their enthusiasms. But that is my own personal prapanca. Working
to overcome that hatred is my principal task as a Buddhist. It has
proven to be the work of a lifetime.

> My jokes are meant to hurt people's feelings.

That, of course, is not true. Generally I try very hard to avoid hurting
people's feelings (although I discover often enough that I hurt people's
feelings anyway.) What I should have said, in the name of accuracy, was
that my jokes are meant to hurt Republicans' feelings. But that is a
quixotic task, I fear, since most Republicans don't have feelings.

One last statistic: 17% of African-American Protestants voted for George
W. Bush in 2004.

-- 
Richard Hayes