The Shifting American Religious Landscape

I listened with interest on Tuesday to a report I heard on NPR about the changing religious landscape of America. The Pew Forum interviewed more than 35,000 people on their religious experiences—the largest study of its kind. They studied individual religious groups as well as the shape of faith in America as a whole.

0.7% of Americans are Buddhist; 0.6 are Muslim, and 0.4% are Hindu. 1.7 % are Jewish and 23.9 % Roman Catholic. The remaining 51.3 are Protestant. There are more Evangelical Protestants than “mainline” (the usual historic categories of Methodist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Lutheran, etc): 26 percent vs 18 percent. That difference could give us pause for thought to see what we have to learn. There was a time when most of Americans were part of mainline churches; not so any longer! The results about the Episcopal Church are not so surprising. More of us are older than are younger; 19 percent more of us are over 50 than are under 50, with just 11% being 18-29. We also learn other pieces of trivia: 26 percent of Episcopalians surveyed lived in the Northeast, but 40 percent lived in the South. 24 percent of us have one or two children at home, and 27 percent have attended graduate school. Nothing earth shattering there.

What’s interesting, though, is how fluid the American religious landscape has become. In the old model of religiosity, you were born into one thing and you stayed that one thing, and there wasn’t much diversity of experience within traditions. But now, 44 percent of Americans have changed their religious affiliation since they were children, and 12 percent of Americans are unaffiliated with a religious tradition. That’s remarkable! What is compelling about a shifting landscape is that it shows a society that is very much open to what we have to offer. If 12 percent of the people you know are not affiliated with a church, why not share yours? We can have the best website and prettiest garden, but most people come to church because someone has invited them personally.

I think that this cultural fluidity can be a good challenge for us. We have a lot to learn from each other’s experiences and questions; when new people come through our doors, it’s our job to listen. Just from talking to each of you, I know that your lives have been formed by a variety of contexts, and you’ve come to Christ Church for a variety of reasons. That makes for a strong community that can accommodate many points of view and life stories. Yesterday at our “Connect” course, we talked about how, in the feeding of the five thousand, no one knew where the food came from or who the other eaters were. This was a pretty shocking situation in a purity code/kosher law-conscious culture where “you are what you eat” was equally true as “you are WHO you eat with.”

But that’s the story of Jesus; God inspires us to sit down and eat with people who are different from us. That’s the reason people are willing to try new faith communities and find a place that is comfortable and challenging in the right ways. I would be mortified if I were expected to wave my hands in the air or speak in tongues just as a young Pentecostal woman in Texas would be bored to tears at the thought of the Episcopal hour of stand, sit, kneel, stand, sit, kneel, stand. We don’t have to be the same or force ourselves into a certain mold—maybe our religious realities are only now catching up to that.

O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen (BCP)

For the Globe article on this study, visit: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/02/26/us_religious_identity_is_rapidly_changing/

For the Pew Trust’s original report: http://religions.pewforum.org/reports