[Buddha-l] new survey of religion in the USA -- the irreligious vs the evangelicals

[Curt Steinmetz]

The full report includes Buddhists, but does not count Wiccans 
separately at all - rather they are lumped in with New Religious Movements.

Unlike past ARIS reports, Hindus are also not counted separately - but 
rather are lumped into "Eastern Religions", along with Zoroastrians, 
Taoists, Shintoists, Bahais, Sikkhs AND Buddhists. (That is, Buddhists 
"appear" twice - once in our own separate category, a privilege not 
granted to Wiccans and Hindus - and once under "Eastern Religions".)

Curt

Dan Lusthaus wrote:
> Since this list frequently muses over such surveys, here is the latest.
> Notice Buddhists were not mentioned (nor were Jews), but Muslims, Mormons
> and Wikkans are.
>
> From the Washington Post.
>
> Dan
>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/08/AR2009030801967.html?hpid=topnews
> or
> http://tinyurl.com/d3em7n
>
> [excerpts -- go the url to get all the details]
>
> 15 Percent of Americans Have No Religion
> Fewer Call Themselves Christians; Nondenominational Identification Increases
>
> By Michelle Boorstein
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Monday, March 9, 2009; Page A04
>
> The percentage of Americans who call themselves Christians has dropped
> dramatically over the past two decades, and those who do are increasingly
> identifying themselves without traditional denomination labels, according to
> a major study of U.S. religion being released today.
>
> The survey of more than 54,000 people conducted between February and
> November of last year showed that the percentage of Americans identifying as
> Christians has dropped to 76 percent of the population, down from 86 percent
> in 1990.
> [But note:]
> Those who do call themselves Christian are more frequently describing
> themselves as "nondenominational" "evangelical" or "born again," according
> to the American Religious Identification Survey.
>
> [skipping ahead, music to Richard's ear]
>
> The only group that grew in every U.S. state since the 2001 survey was
> people saying they had "no" religion; the survey says this group is now 15
> percent of the population. Silk said this group is likely responsible for
> the shrinking percentage of Christians in the United States.
>
> Northern New England has surpassed the Pacific Northwest as the least
> religious section of the country; 34 percent of Vermont residents say they
> have "no religion." The report said that the country has a "growing
> non-religious or irreligious minority." Twenty-seven percent of those
> interviewed said they did not expect to have a religious funeral or service
> when they died, and 30 percent of people who had married said their service
> was not religious. Those questions weren't asked in previous surveys.
>
> [and we now have a new Christian "mystery"]
>
> The survey reflects a key question that demographers, sociologists and
> political scientists have been asking in recent years: Who makes up this
> growing group of evangelicals? Forty-four percent of America's 77 million
> Christian adults say they are born again or evangelical. Meanwhile, 18
> percent of Catholics also chose that label, as did 40 percent of mainline
> Christians.
>
> "If people call themselves 'evangelical,' it doesn't tell you as much as you
> think it tells you about what kind of church they go to," Silk said. "It
> deepens the conundrum about who evangelicals are."
>
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