[Alex Murphy]

“The typical American adult pegs religious affiliation in the U.S. as follows: 24% Catholic, 20% Protestant, 19% unaffiliated, 9% Jewish, 9% atheist or agnostic, 7% Muslim, 7% Mormon, and 5% from all other religious groups. In reality, according to the 2008 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, Americans are right on target with the proportion of Catholics and the “all other” category, but way off target on the rest of the landscape. The typical American badly underestimates how many Protestants there are in the country, and way overestimates the presence of religious minorities such as Mormon, Muslim, and atheist/agnostic.”

“One thing that is clear from this research is that people tend to overestimate the proportion of their own faith group. Among people who identify with the Catholic Church, the average estimate is that 39% of the country is Catholic. Not only is this estimate much higher than it is among non-Catholics, it is far higher than the reality of 24%. Similarly, among people who identify with a Protestant faith perspective, the average estimate is that 27% of the population is Protestant. While this is far higher than the numbers among non-Protestants, it is still almost half the correct figure. Among people who identify as atheists or agnostics, the average estimate is that 16% of the American population is atheist or agnostic. As with Catholics, not only is this estimate far higher than among any other group, but it is much higher than the reality. Finally, among people who express no particular faith identification, the average perception is that 35% of Americans believe in God but have no actual religious preference. Again, this is nearly double the average American’s perception, and far higher than the real figure in the U.S.”

Per the charts in the article, the correct percentage of Evangelical Protestants in the USA is 26.3%, and the number of Mainline Protestants in the USA is 18.1%.

[GeronL]

found that most underestimated the size of Christianity and over-estimated the size of atheists, Muslims, and other

television.... how many identifiable Christians do you see in prime time as central characters? or in the movies?

[houeto]

What?!? So now, “Historically Black” is a religion in the United States.

[mamelukesabre]

The numbers that stun me are the mormon, orthodox, and jewish numbers. I thought those 3 religions were far larger than that.

[Crusher138]

Is it just me or do they seem to be trying to downplay the number of Protestants and total Christians? If you add together the Evangelical, Mainline, and Black Protestant churches, you get a figure of over 50%. That added to the Catholic number puts us at over 75% Christian, not including Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons. I would guess that a fair percentage of the “Unaffiliated” are actually Christians without a current church home, for whatever reason.

What kind of reaction would we get if on the front page of the NY Times the headline read, “Christians make up over 80% of the US population.”?

I think some liberal heads would explode.

[Tuanedge]

I would love to see an action movie where a badass Steven Seagal type character, has several scenes seeking guidance and strength in prayer, expresses humility, shows respect, and uses his tremendous skill with restraint, offering mercy to the misguided but giving no quarter and showing overwhelming power both in body and soul in the last fight against the truly satanic antagonist.

There has to be beautiful women in the movie. One of them could be a truly formidable female martial artist, who was working for the bad guys in the beginning, but ends up being on his side and trying to understand a complicated man and his faith.

And then afterwards he is shown withdrawing to an isolated place of contemplation where he kneels before his God and asks did I do right...did I misuse Your gift...heal me Lord of my anger and my pride. And finding peace.

End scene with him and his lady warrior friend sitting on the sand on the beach in Tonga, watching the sunset, finally able to just be a man and a woman together...with the impression that everything around them is beautiful but somehow evil lurks just over the horizon waiting it’s opportunity.

[Biggirl]

In other words, the USA is becoming more and more a new field for Christian missionary work by Christians from other countries, including Roman Catholics.