Religion in a Free Market: Religious and Non-religious Americans : Who, What, Why, whereFrom the pulpits to the op-ed pages, several messages about religion in the U.S. are heard again and again: It's said that Americans are flocking to churches and other religious institutions in greater numbers than ever before, that non-Christian faiths are growing rapidly, and that a new religious fervor among the young is filling up the pews. All of these frequently heard messages are incorrect, according to this book. The book, by professors Barry A. Kosmin and Ariela Keysar of Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., is based on a major national survey which they conducted. The U.S. Census is prohibited from asking questions about religion, so this survey, the American Religious Identification Survey, contains the most complete and reliable source of data on religion in America today. This book argues that religion in America can best be understood as a product on offer in the marketplace of ideas. It says that "religious ferment in America is as strong as it has ever been, so whatever you learned about religion in the U.S. a generation ago is out of date." |
Contents
ONE American Religion Religious Brands and Markets | 1 |
TWO The National Profile of Religious Identification | 20 |
THREE Belief Belonging and Behavior | 38 |
FOUR Religious Switching | 56 |
FIVE Who Are the Religious and NonReligious? | 65 |
SIX Household and Family Characteristics | 89 |
SEVEN Geographic Distribution of Religions | 105 |
Groups | 115 |
TEN Patterns of Consumption of Modern Technologies | 165 |
TWELVE Membership Patterns among Specific | 184 |
THIRTEEN Religion and Political Party Preference | 206 |
FOURTEEN Race and Ethnicity in Religious Identification | 235 |
FIFTEEN Profile of the American Muslim Population | 260 |
SIXTEEN Current and Future Trends | 269 |
Methodological Appendix | 287 |
| 296 | |
Common terms and phrases
adherents adult population African-American aged 18 agree strongly American religion ARIS data Asian Asian Americans Assemblies of God Baptist belief Buddhist Catholic CB/S Census Census Division Chapter Churches of Christ Congregational Membership cultural Democrats demographic East South Central Eastern Religions economic Episcopalian estimates ethnic Evangelical Evangelical/Born faith families females Figure gender gion gious grad Hispanics identifiers independent Jehovah's Witnesses Jewish Jews Know/Refused Lutheran Mainline Christian major males marital status marriage married member non-member membership rate Methodist million adults Mormon Muslim Native Americans Non-denominational non-Hispanic North Central overall patterns Pentecostal Pentecostal/Charismatic political party preferences Presbyterian profess no religion proportion Protestant Denominations region reli religious affiliation religious congregation religious groups religious identification religious institutions religious traditions Republicans Respondent by Congregational sample secular outlook self-identified Seventh Day Adventist social society socioeconomic South statistics sub-sample survey tend tion trend U.S. Total weight women