Survey Confirms Shifting Sands of American Christianity

Christians in the United States are experiencing a "churn in American religion". Pew Report.

WASHINGTON (Catholic Online) - The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released their latest report, entitled, "Faith in Flux, Changes in Religious Affiliation in the U.S." A follow-up to their comprehensive 2007 Religious Landscape Survey, "Faith in Flux" offers a picture of an American faith culture that has changed affiliations early and often.

Most of those who stated that they have made a change in their affiliation did so by the time they were 24 years of age and also indicated that they changed more than once.

According to the survey, 16% of American adults report that they are currently unaffiliated with any particular religion while only 7% were raised unaffiliated.

One-in-ten adults are former Catholics with an even measure given between those who are now unaffiliated and those who are Protestant. In total, 68% of those who were raised Catholic are still in the Church. The survey reported 15% of former Catholics are now Protestants (9% are now Evangelicals and 5% Mainline Protestants) and 14% are unaffiliated. The Catholic Church has had an increase of 2.6% of those who converted from Protestantism.

Of those who left the Catholic Church and remained unaffiliated, nearly six-in-ten stated that they left due to dissatisfaction with the Church's teachings on abortion and homosexuality. About one-half of those surveyed indicated concerns with the Catholic position on birth control and four-in-ten had issues with the treatment of women.

Former Catholics who affiliated within Protestant denominations fell into two distinct camps with regard to reasons for leaving. Of those who became a part of evangelical Protestantism, 62% stated that no longer believed the Church's teachings and 55% cited they were unhappy with Catholic teachings about the bible.

Those who became a part of mainline Protestantism did so primarily because they married a non-Catholic (44%) or were dissatisfied with their local priest (39%). Only 20% cited issues with Catholic teachings and 16% specifically with teachings about the Bible.

Protestantism is in a similar position, with retention of 52% from childhood. Some (28%) chose to re-affiliate with a different Protestant group, 13% are now unaffiliated, 3% are Catholic, and 4% joined other religions.

The survey included more than 300 interviews with former Catholics who are now unaffiliated, former Catholics who are now Protestant, former Protestants who are now unaffiliated as well as those raised unaffiliated who now belong to a religious faith. The survey also included nearly 300 interviews with people who have gone from one denominational family to another within Protestantism and nearly 1,000 interviews with people who still belong to the group in which they were raised.

The "Faith in Flux" report highlights the significance of American shifting sand of faith.

"One of the most striking findings from the 2007 Landscape Survey was the large number of people who have left their childhood faith" researchers stated. "The 2007 survey found that more than one-in-four American adults (28%) have changed their religious affiliation from that in which they were raised.

"This number includes people who have changed from one major religious tradition to another, for instance, from Protestantism to Catholicism or from Judaism to no religion. If change within religious traditions is included (e.g., from one Protestant denominational family to another), the survey found that roughly 44% of Americans now profess a religious affiliation different from that in which they were raised.

"The results of the new survey offer a fuller picture of the churn within American religion and suggest that previous estimates actually may have understated the amount of religious change taking place in the U.S. Moreover, it is also clear that many people have changed religious affiliation more than once."

For the full report, visit the Pew Forum at http://pewforum.org/.

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Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online. He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church.

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