American Piety In The 21st Century - Baylor ISR

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION Rethinking the American Religious Landscape Are Americans losing their religion? Prior national studies with questions on religion, such as the General Social Survey and National Election Study, show an increase in the percent of the population with no religion over the past quarter century. For example, the 1988 General Social Survey reports that eight percent of the population have no religion. By 2004, the percentage had risen to 14.3%. This growth in “religious nones” is often used by academics and the press to indicate growing secularization in the United States. But are Americans really that detached from organized religion? Most surveys determine the religious affiliation of respondents by asking them to select their religious family or denomination from a list. This has become increasingly problematic over the years as more and more Americans are losing a strong denominational identity. The rising number of non-denominational congregations as well as congregations that minimize their denominational ties compound the problem. The declining importance of denomination, however, does not mean that religion itself is on the wane. Rather, Americans may simply be more likely to connect with religion at the local level. Consider the case of popular Southern California megachurch, Saddleback Church. Do the people who attend Saddleback realize that they are denominationally Southern Baptist? They know that they attend Saddleback with Pastor Rick Warren, but they may not know of the ties to the Southern Baptist denomination. To detect religious affiliation today, it is time to look beyond denomination. In addition to presenting respondents with a standard list of denominations, the Baylor Religion Survey asks respondents to give the name and address of their place of worship. Combining these three measures of religious belonging enables us to more thoroughly and accurately sort persons into broader religious traditions. As Figure 1 demonstrates, this more accurate method of Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion - American Piety in the 21st Century – September 2006 7

determining religious preference reveals that the unaffiliated are currently at 10.8% of the population, as opposed to the 14% percent claimed by other surveys. This three to four percent difference is significant. Based on the current population, it means that researchers have previously over-counted the religiously unaffiliated by 10 million Americans, and may have overlooked as many or more Americans who are actually affiliated with Evangelical congregations and denominations. Barely one in ten Americans (10.8%) is NOT affiliated with a congregation, denomination, or other religious group (see Figure 1). Fewer than five percent of the U.S. population claim a faith outside of the JudeoChristian mainstream (see Figure 1). Fully a third of Americans (33.6%), roughly 100 million people, are Evangelical Protestant by affiliation (see Figure 1). Figure 1: U.S. Religious Affiliation Unaffiliated, 10.8 Catholic, 21.2 Other, 4.9 Jewish, 2.5 Black Protestant, 5.0 Mainline Protestant, 22.1 Evangelical Protestant, 33.6 Note: N 1687; 34 individuals did not provide sufficient information to be classified into a religious tradition. 8 Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion - American Piety in the 21st Century – September 2006

Religious traditions represent historic theological groupings. It is the beliefs and culture of the religious group that determines how individuals are categorized. The descriptions to follow represent some of these religious traditions. Black Protestant: A strand of American Protestantism borne out of and specifically linked to the African American experience in the United States. Prominent denominations are African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion, Christian Methodist Episcopal, Church of God in Christ, and National Baptist Convention of USA. Evangelical Protestant: Protestant groups that emphasize the authority of the Bible, salvation through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, personal piety, and the need to share the “Good News” of Jesus Christ with others (i.e., to evangelize). A long list of theologically conservative denominations define this tradition, such as Anabaptist, Assemblies of God, Bible Church, Brethren, Christian Church, Christian and Missionary Alliance, Christian Reformed, Church of Christ, Church of God, Church of the Nazarene, Free Methodist, Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, Mennonite, Pentecostal, Presbyterian Church in America, Seventh-day Adventist, and Southern Baptist. Mainline Protestant: Historic Protestant denominations that are more accommodating of mainstream culture, including American Baptist, Congregational, Disciples of Christ, Episcopal/Anglican, Evangelical Lutheran Church, Presbyterian Church USA, Quaker, Reformed Church of America, United Methodist, and United Church of Christ. Catholic: The form of Western Christianity promoted by Roman Catholic and National Catholic churches stressing papal authority and apostolic succession. Jewish: Religious organizations tied to one of the three major branches of Judaism (Conservative, Orthodox, or Reform). Other: A collection of non-Christian and smaller Christian groups that do not fit in any other category. Representative groups include Buddhist, Christian Science, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), Hindu, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslim, Orthodox (Eastern, Russian, Greek), and Unitarian Universalist. Unaffiliated: Persons without a religious preference, denomination, or place of worship. Demographic Patterns Table 1 provides a breakdown of religious traditions by standard demographic indicators. Persons aged 18-30 are three times more likely to have no religious affiliation (18.6%) than are persons aged 65 or older (5.4%) (see Table 1). Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion - American Piety in the 21st Century – September 2006 9

10 The Eastern United States is the only region of the country where Protestants account for less than half (44.1%) of the population. Catholics are the best represented religious tradition in this region; claiming 35.1% of the population (see Table 1). The West has the highest percentages of religiously unaffiliated people (17.6%) and people in other religious traditions (10.3%) of any U.S. region (see Table 1). Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion - American Piety in the 21st Century – September 2006

Table 1: Religious Affiliation by Demographic Characteristics Black Protestant Evangelical Protestant Mainline Protestant Catholic Jewish Other Unaffiliated 5.0% 33.6% 22.1% 21.2% 2.5% 4.9% 10.8% Male 2.8% 30.0% 22.1% 23.8% 2.5% 6.0% 12.8% Female 6.9% 36.7% 22.1% 18.9% 2.4% 3.9% 9.0% White 0.0% 35.4% 24.1% 22.8% 2.6% 4.3% 10.8% African American 62.5% 9.5% 7.7% 5.0% 3.7% 6.0% 5.7% 18-30 3.8% 39.0% 20.1% 10.1% 2.7% 5.7% 18.6% 31-44 5.4% 34.9% 17.6% 23.0% 1.9% 5.8% 11.4% 45-64 3.9% 31.3% 22.5% 23.7% 2.7% 4.8% 11.1% 65 7.3% 33.1% 28.1% 19.9% 2.9% 3.5% 5.4% High School or less 5.0% 45.4% 18.0% 22.0% 2.3% 2.1% 5.2% College or more 3.0% 23.5% 29.0% 21.4% 3.6% 6.7% 12.8% 35,000 or less 9.9% 39.3% 20.3% 15.2% 2.2% 3.1% 9.9% More than 100,000 0.0% 26.9% 22.0% 27.7% 5.1% 7.7% 10.7% East 5.0% 13.1% 26.0% 35.1% 4.7% 4.6% 11.6% South 7.2% 50.3% 19.3% 11.5% 1.9% 2.7% 7.1% Midwest 5.6% 33.7% 26.0% 22.1% 1.4% 3.0% 8.3% West 1.3% 31.7% 17.7% 19.2% 2.2% 10.3% 17.6% Religious Affiliation Total Sample * Gender Race Age Education Household Income Region * Numbers are rounded to one decimal place in all tables in this document. For example, 41.18 would be rounded up to 41.2 and 31.02 would be rounded down to 31.0. The cumulative effect of such rounding occasionally results in column or row totals slightly smaller (e.g. 99.9) or larger (e.g. 100.1) than 100%. Note: Differences in percentages across religious groups are significant for all demographic characteristics. Sample interpretation: Five percent of people in the Eastern United States are affiliated with Black Protestantism. Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion - American Piety in the 21st Century – September 2006 11

Unaffiliated But Not Unbelieving What makes someone religious? Is it a set of beliefs? Is it participation in specific rituals? Is it membership in a religious group? The Baylor Religion Survey contains questions on all these aspects of faith. Examining religious beliefs and practices reveals that for the 10.8% of Americans unaffiliated with organized religion (see Rethinking the American Religious Landscape) some traditional forms of faith persist. The majority of Americans not affiliated with a religious tradition (62.9%) believe in God or some higher power (see Figure 2). Almost a third of those unaffiliated with organized religion (31.6%) pray at least occasionally (see Figure 3). Religiously unaffiliated people are unlikely to attend church. Nine out of ten report never attending religious services (see Figure 4). At least one in 10 religiously unaffiliated Americans has no doubt in the existence of God (11.6%), believes Jesus is the son of God (11.0%), and prays daily or more (10.1%) (seeTable 2). The highest and most consistent levels of belief and practice are found within Black Protestant and Evangelical Protestant religious groups (see Table 2). Figure 2: Beliefs about God Among Those Unaffiliated with a Religious Tradition Beliefs about God Don't believe 37.1 Believe in higher power 44.5 Sometimes believe 2.1 Believe with doubts 4.8 Believe, no doubts 11.6 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Percent of Unaffiliated Americans 12 Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion - American Piety in the 21st Century – September 2006 45 50

Percent of Unaffiliated Americans Figure 3: Frequency of Prayer Among Those Unaffiliated with a Religious Tradition 100 80 68.4 60 40 20 11.1 10.4 10.1 Certain occasions Daily Daily 0 Never Frequency of Prayer Figure 4: Frequency of Religious Service Attendance Among Those Unaffiliated with a Religious Tradition Percent of Unaffiliated Americans 100 89.3 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10.7 10 0.0 0.0 Weekly Weekly 0 Never Monthly Frequency of Religious Service Attendance Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion - American Piety in the 21st Century – September 2006 13

Table 2: Religious Beliefs and Practices by Religious Tradition Black Protestant Evangelical Protestant Mainline Protestant Catholic Jewish Unaffiliated No doubts that God exists 100.0% 86.5% 63.6% 74.8% 42.9% 11.6% Don't believe in anything beyond the physical world 0.0% 0.4% 0.7% 1.1% 7.2% 37.1% Jesus is the son of God 95.1% 94.4% 72.2% 84.9% 9.6% 11.0% Jesus is a fictional character 0.0% 0.0% 0.9% 0.2% 2.3% 13.7% Literally true 40.6% 47.8% 11.2% 11.8% 8.9% 1.0% Ancient book of history and legends 1.5% 6.5% 22.0% 19.8% 52.6% 82.3% Once a day or more 74.1% 67.1% 44.1% 46.1% 32.8% 10.1% Never 3.7% 3.6% 11.6% 6.9% 16.6% 68.4% Weekly or more 54.4% 42.1% 16.0% 7.1% 1.4% 1.5% Never 3.7% 9.3% 21.9% 33.1% 27.0% 67.3% Weekly or more 43.1% 45.2% 24.3% 32.8% 7.3% 0.0% Never 10.6% 11.8% 13.5% 9.3% 28.9% 89.3% Religious Affiliation Belief about God Belief about Jesus Belief about Bible Pray Read Scripture Attend Religious Services Note: Differences in percentages for all beliefs and practices are significant across religious traditions. Sample interpretation: Three-fourths of Catholics (74.8%) have no doubt that God exists. 14 Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion - American Piety in the 21st Century – September 2006

By Any Other Name: Religious Labels in America Sorting people by where they attend worship is one way to create religious groups. Another way is to ask people to sort themselves. We give respondents this option. From a list of 14 religious terms, we ask respondents to select the terms which describe their religious identity and which label is the best description. It turns out that there is a clear disconnect between how the media and academics identify American believers and how they identity themselves. Nearly half of Americans (47.2%) identify themselves as “Bible-believing” (see Table 3). Only 15 percent of the population use the term “Evangelical” to describe their religious identity and barely two in 100 Americans say it is the best description (see Table 3). Just a third of persons in Evangelical Protestant congregations and denominations (32.6%) refer to themselves as “Evangelical” (see Table 4). Persons with household incomes of more than 100,000 a year are twice as likely to describe themselves as “Theologically Liberal” than are persons with household incomes of 35,000 or less a year (Table 4). “Born Again” is the favored religious label for those with ties to Black Protestant and Evangelical Protestant religious groups, while “Mainline Christian” is the term of preference for Mainline Protestants and Catholics (see Figures 5B and 5D). More people in Mainline Protestant denominations describe themselves best as “Evangelical” than do persons affiliated with Evangelical Protestant denominations (see Figure 5C). Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion - American Piety in the 21st Century – September 2006 15

Table 3: Percent of Population Identifying with Selected Religious Labels Percent Identifying with Labela Percent Indicating Label as Best Description of Their Religious Identity Bible-Believing 47.2% 20.5% Born Again 28.5% 18.6% Mainline Christian 26.1% 12.9% Theologically Conservative 17.6% 5.3% Evangelical 14.9% 2.2% Theologically Liberal 13.8% 9.1% Moral Majority 10.3% 1.7% Seeker 8.5% 3.9% Religious Right 8.3% 1.2% Fundamentalist 7.7% 1.0% Charismatic 7.3% 0.3% Pentecostal 5.8% 1.7% --- 21.8% Religious Identity Labels None of these a Respondents answered Yes/No to each label. Categories were not mutually exclusive, therefore, reported percentages do not add to 100. 16 Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion - American Piety in the 21st Century – September 2006

Table 4: Religious Identity Labels by Religious and Demographic Characteristics Do the following terms describe your religious identity? Bible Believing Born Again Theologically Conservative Evangelical Mainline Christian Theologically Liberal 47.2% 28.5% 17.6% 14.9% 26.1% 13.8% Black Protestant 69.5% 57.3% 7.3% 16.0% 14.8% 7.3% Evangelical Protestant 68.6% 62.4% 27.3% 32.6% 23.1% 5.6% Mainline Protestant 48.1% 16.8% 14.5% 12.3% 44.3% 20.5% Catholic 38.4% 4.7% 21.0% 2.8% 34.9% 13.9% Male 41.7% 23.6% 21.1% 12.1% 28.1% 14.7% Female 52.0% 32.8% 14.6% 17.3% 24.4% 13.0% White 45.7% 27.2% 18.5% 15.3% 27.5% 13.8% African American 63.0% 43.9% 11.0% 13.7% 17.4% 12.6% High School or less 54.9% 33.7% 13.4% 11.8% 19.5% 6.1% College or more 41.5% 22.9% 20.6% 15.2% 31.0% 22.2% 35,000 or less 49.9% 34.4% 12.4% 12.9% 20.6% 9.4% More than 100,000 37.8% 20.5% 22.9% 14.1% 32.6% 21.7% East 36.4% 14.5% 13.1% 8.5% 27.3% 16.3% South 52.8% 43.9% 20.7% 19.2% 24.8% 11.5% Midwest 54.2% 28.3% 19.2% 17.3% 30.0% 13.5% West 42.9% 22.0% 16.5% 12.8% 22.6% 14.9% Total Sample Religious Tradition Gender Race Education Household Income Region Note: Differences in percentages are significant for all demographic characteristics, except where noted by plussign ( ). Sample interpretation: Half of persons with a household income of 35,000 or less (49.9%) report “Biblebelieving” as a term that describes their religious identity. Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion - American Piety in the 21st Century – September 2006 17

Figures 5A-D: Label Best Describing Religious Identity Among Those Affiliated with Major Christian Traditions Figure 5B 50 50 45 45 40 40 35 30 27.3 24.9 23.8 25 20 16.7 15 Percent of Population Percent of Population Figure 5A 30 25 20 15 10 5 5 0 0 Evangelical Protestant Mainline Protestant 41.8 35 10 Black Protestant 46.0 Catholic 9.1 1.8 Black Protestant Evangelical Protestant Bible-Believing 50 50 45 45 40 40 35 35 Percent of Population Percent of Population Figure 5D 30 25 20 15 30 25.4 25 21.8 20 15 10 10 4.6 3.1 5 0.5 0.0 7.6 1.3 0 0 Black Protestant Evangelical Protestant Mainline Protestant Evangelical 18 Catholic Born Again Figure 5C 5 Mainline Protestant Catholic Black Protestant Evangelical Protestant Mainline Protestant Mainline Christian Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion - American Piety in the 21st Century – September 2006 Catholic

The Religious Marketplace The Baylor Religion Survey includes a topical module on the consumption of religious goods. Respondents were asked how much they spend on religious goods, the type of religious goods they purchase, which religiously themed television shows and movies they have seen, and which popular, religiously based books they have read. Approximately one-fifth of the U.S. population have read a book in the Left-Behind series (19.0%) and/or the Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren (19.0%). More than a quarter (28.5%) have read The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (see Figure 6). The most widely seen television show or movie related to religion was Touched By an Angel, seen by more than half (56.9%) of respondents. Slightly less than half of Americans (44.3%) have seen Passion of the Christ (see Figure 7) Of those who spend more than 50 a month on religious products, more than half (54.0%) are Evangelical Christians (See Figure 8). African Americans are more likely to have seen the Passion of the Christ (52.6%) than whites (42.9%) (see Table 5). Figure 6: Consumption of Books Related to Religion in the United States 28.5 Percent of Population 30 25 20 19 19 17.5 15 10 6.7 5 1.2 0 Any book in Left Behind Series Purpose-Driven Any book by Life James Dobson The Da Vinci Code The Celestine Prophecy God's Politics by Jim Wallis Books Related to Religion Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion - American Piety in the 21st Century – September 2006 19

Figure 7: Consumption of Movies and Television Shows Related to Religion 56.9 Percent of Population 60 50 44.3 40.3 40 30 30 24.5 20 6.7 10 0 The Passion of This is Your Joan of Arcadia the Christ Day with Benny Hinn VeggieTales 7th Heaven Touched by an Angel Movies and Television Shows Figure 8: Religious Tradition of Those Spending More than 50 a Month on Religious Products 2.1 4.8 1.6 13.8 5.3 18.5 Catholic Black Protestant Evangelical Protestant Mainline Protestant Jewish Other None 54.0 Sample interpretation: Of those who spend more than 50 a month on religious products, 18.5% are mainline Protestants. 20 Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion - American Piety in the 21st Century – September 2006

Table 5: Percent of Population that Have Read or Seen Selected Religiously Themed Movies and Books by Selected Demographics T

New Insights to the Depth and Complexity of Religion in the US Selected Findings from The Baylor Religion Survey September 2006 A Research Project funded by the John M. Templeton Foundation Conducted by The Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion and Department of Sociology, Baylor University Research Group Christopher Bader Kevin Dougherty .