[Buddha-l] iNTERESTING US MAP GRAPHIC SHOWING %AGE OF THE VARIOUS RELIGIONS

[Scott A. Mitchell]

Hi all,

I hate to be persnickety (who am I kidding? I love being persnickety!) but while this map is super fun to play with, it should be noted that the data underlying the map are flawed, especially when it comes to U.S. Buddhism. The flaws of the Pew Report on Religious Life as regards Buddhists are three-fold: 

(1) the survey did not include Hawai'i which has a disproportionate number Buddhists
(2) the survey was only conducted in English and Spanish thus potentially missing a large number of Asian-American Buddhists who may not be fluent in those languages and
(3) the survey was conducted via landline telephones potentially missing younger Buddhists who (ironically, also according to Pew) are using landlines less and less

These flaws are alluded to in Shannon Hickey's piece in the 2010 issue of the Journal of Global Buddhism, and were discussed at some length over on that other Buddhist email list (H-net) back when the survey was first published. But to my knowledge no one's really taken the survey to task. 

I would add that there's also an inherent bias in the survey in regards to categories of religious identification in such a way that obscures folks who have some relationship to Buddhism, have influenced by it, or hold "dual identity." But that's another rant for another day.

At any rate, long story short, I'd hazard a guess that (a) there are more Buddhists (or Buddhist-affiliated types) in the U.S. than 1% and that (b) there are more along the Eastern seaboard, as Joanna suspects.

I missed J. Gordon Melton's presentation at the AAR that Franz refers to. Perhaps he can summarize? Were there differences between what Melton reported and what we get from the Pew Report? Would be interesting to know.

Scott


____________________________________

Scott A. Mitchell
Core Faculty, Institute of Buddhist Studies
at the Graduate Theological Union
Editorial Committee, Pacific World
BIE Program Coordinator


On Mar 29, 2012, at 8:55 AM, Jo wrote:

> Hi Frantz,
> 
> It's a Pew product. I only got a hyperlinked phrase, as I posted. 
> Suggest searching for Pew religion distribution map --interactive.  See if
> that gets you a real link. 
> 
> Joanna
> ---------------------------------------------------
> Dear Joanna,
> 
> The link?
> 
> At the AAR in San Francisco, last November, there was a great provisional
> report by J. Gordon Melton on Buddhist demographics in the United States as
> reflected in the 2010 census. I wonder if this graph comes from that data.
> 
> Franz
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