Seven in ten Americans are either very religious (40 percent) or moderately
religious (29 percent). Consistent with other surveys, Gallup
found women to be more religious than men; blacks are more religious than
whites; religious identity increases with age; Southerners are the most
religious; those in the northeastern and northwestern corners are the least
religious; Republicans are more religious than Democrats; and the U.S. is still a
largely Christian nation.
With regard to the latter category, 77 percent of Americans are Christian, and
an amazing 94 percent of those who have a religious identity are Christian.
Thus does the multicultural argument collapse. Indeed, all the talk about the U.S. being so
diverse that we have no common religion anymore is pure bunk (and wishful
thinking). This needs to be said at Christmastime more than ever: those who
attempt to neuter the holiday rely on the false premise of multiculturalism.
Frank Newport’s excellent analysis comes up short on the issue of women. “The
fact that women are more religious than men is discordant with the fact that
large religious groups in the U.S.
prohibit women from being clergy,” he says. “These groups, including Catholics
and Southern Baptists, may find themselves in a gender crisis of sorts, with
the increasing chance of losing their most fervent members to religious groups
more formally open to women at all levels of service to the church.”
If what Newport
says were true, we surely would have evidence by now that Catholic and Southern
Baptist women are migrating to the mainline Protestant denominations. In point
of fact, mainline Protestants are precisely the ones losing the most members.
Moreover, it is not the “most fervent members” which are the most likely to
bolt—it is the most liberal among them.
More on this at a later date when I obtain a copy of God Is Alive and Well: The
Future of Religion in America.