New Poll Offers Big Picture of Religion in America

A recently released survey on America’s religious identity, billed as the biggest, most revealing poll in decades, actually does more to confirm previously held ideas than break any new ground, say experts on the religious life of America.

The National Survey of Religious Identification, released in April by two researchers from the City University of New York (CUNY), shows among its findings that about 87 percent of Americans, or about 150 million, claim to be Christian; 1.8 percent, or about 3.1 million, say they are Jewish; about 500,000, or .5 percent, say they are Muslim; about 1.2 million say they are agnostic; and about 13 million claim “no religion.”

The study projects that there are 46 million American Roman Catholics (about 26% of the entire population) and about 105 million Protestants (about 60% of the population).

The new survey sampled 113,000 adult Americans, compared to the 1,000 to 3,000 usually sampled in Gallup or other polls. CUNY professors Barry Kosmin and Seymour Lachman, who conducted the study, say the large sampling provides a more telling picture of America’s religious landscape, compared to some denominational polls. “They’ve got the snapshot, we’ve got the movie,” Kosmin says.

The basic picture, however, is familiar, say other experts. “It’s no different at all,” in terms of basic results, than the previous findings of the Gallup Organization, says Princeton sociologist Robert Wuthnow. For example, Catholic and Protestant figures coincide closely with Gallup Poll figures from 1988–89, which projected 56 percent of Americans as Protestant and 27 percent as Roman Catholic.

Because of its large sampling, the survey does provide more raw data, making it easier to draw more conclusions about smaller religious groups, such as Wiccans, says Wuthnow. According to the survey, there are 8,000 Wiccans in America. “We can further break this study down and ask, ‘Are male Wiccans different from female Wiccans?’ ” Wuthnow says.

For some, one survey finding might be surprising: a relatively small number of people—20,000—actually claim “New Age” as their religion.

George Gallup, Jr., questions that number. “The [CUNY] figure is low because many people who would not identify themselves as such are nevertheless drawn to various key New Age beliefs, advertently or inadvertently,” he says.

Wuthnow says the findings prove the New Age movement is blown out of proportion. “I always thought the alarmist [comments] about the New Agers taking over the world was just a whole lot of hype that told us more about fundamentalists and evangelicals than the New Age,” he says.

Among its other findings, American Hindus and Jews are the most highly educated religious group, with 47 percent and 46.7 percent respectively having graduated from college; Baptists, Pentecostals, and Jehovah’s Witnesses are the least educated, with 10.4 percent, 6.9 percent, and 4.7 percent respectively having graduated from college.

Presbyterians are the oldest, with an average age of 48.2 years. Lutherans have the largest white population (97%). Presbyterians have the smallest households, at 2.6 people per house. Mormons are the most Republican group (almost 50% identify with the party), while Jews and Baptists have the highest percentage of Democrats, at about 43 percent.

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