A survey conducted by Forbes magazine indicates that top corporate executives are more religious than the American population at large.
Forbes asked the heads of the nation’s 100 largest corporations to list their religious preference and to indicate how “observant” they are of their religion. Of those responding, 65 percent said they and their families “regularly attend church or synagogue.” The corresponding figure for the population at large is about 40 percent.
Presbyterians and Episcopalians constitute a much larger percentage among corporate heads than they do nationally. Presbyterians, representing 2 percent of the U.S. population, make up 25 percent of the survey respondents. Episcopalians, 3 percent of the U.S. population, make up 19 percent of the corporate leaders.
The proportion of Methodists, Roman Catholics, and Jews in CEO offices roughly equal their percentages in the general population. Catholics, 28 percent of the U.S. population, made up 29 percent of the survey respondents. Methodists, 9 percent of the population, are found in nearly 8 percent of the CEO offices. Jews represent less than 2 percent of the population and the same percentage of the chief executives.
However, Baptists are much more scarce among the CEOS polled. Representing 20 percent of the U.S. population, Baptists make up only 6 percent of the Forbes survey respondents.
