Just a caveat. These authors are liberals.
“”• Increasingly, it appears that Americans have been switching their religion to match their politics – rather than the other way around. Among the politically committed, the conservatives have migrated toward the most theologically conservative congregations, while liberals have become less religious and more secular.
• The third largest “religious” group in the United States is actually made up of the 17 percent of the population that has no religious affiliation at all – an astonishing historical development in this very religious nation. The “nones” now outnumber America’s longtime majority of mainline Protestants, who now comprise only 14 percent of the population.
• Most Americans want religion kept out of direct involvement in politics, but they want religious leaders to speak out on matters of broad public concern.
• Most Americans (including secular Americans) believe that people who are personally religious are more trustworthy and make better leaders.
• Abortion and same-sex marriage are highly effective rallying points for religious conservatives – but opposition to premarital sex is the very glue that holds together the Religious Right.
• Today’s young people of the Millennial Generation are more opposed to abortion than their Baby Boomer parents, despite being the most secular swath of the population, with a remarkable 25 percent having no religious affiliation. Whether secular or religious, however, young Americans are also highly accepting of homosexuality and same-sex marriage. Over time, it is difficult to see how the political “coalition of the religious” can stay together if secular voters have qualms about abortion and religious voters endorse same-sex marriage.
• Almost half of all Americans typically say grace before meals, while the other half almost never does. Saying grace turns out to be a strong predictor of political and social views, including how people vote.
• Religious Americans are better neighbors than secular Americans. They volunteer at much higher rates for both religious and secular causes, give more money to religious and secular charities, and are roughly twice as engaged in their communities as comparable secular Americans. And they do more everyday good deeds: they’re more likely to donate blood, help someone find a job, give money to a homeless person, or even let a stranger cut in front of them. The reason for this is not their theology, but the friendships they make through their congregations. Having religious
friends is more important than simply having friends and being religious yourself. In other words, religious networks are “supercharged” in their effect on neighborliness.
• One downside of religion’s effect on public life is that religious Americans are consistently less tolerant of dissent and less supportive of civil liberties than secular Americans. Secular Americans are more tolerant of fundamentalists than religious Americans are tolerant of atheists.
• Religious Americans, especially evangelicals, are more likely to have friends of a lower social class than are secular Americans. On the other hand, religious Americans are also less likely than their secular counterparts to favor public policies to address poverty and inequality.
• Church attendance among middle- and upper-middle-class American whites has increased, while it has decreased among working-class whites.
• Religiosity is not a predictor of racial attitudes. Just as religious Americans largely have come to accept working women, they have also overwhelmingly come to accept racial equality. However, religious Americans in the South from rural areas and small towns have significantly less progressive racial attitudes.
• Religion and ethnicity have long been, and continue to be, strongly linked, even among white Americans whose families have been here for generations. People who have a strong sense of religious identity also tend have a strong ethnic identity.
• African Americans are the second-most religious group in America (just behind Mormons), and overwhelmingly belong to a distinctive Black Protestant tradition. Black Americans are an anomaly, however, in that they are one of the very few religious groups who are strongly religious and consistently liberal in their political beliefs.
• Asian Americans are the least religious of all American racial groups, and also have a relatively weak sense of ethnic identity.
• Latinos (whether in the Catholic majority or Protestant minority) rank very high on the religiosity scale, and also have a strong sense of ethnic identity.
• While most American churchgoers belong to racially homogeneous congregations, the most racially diverse congregations are Catholic parishes (owing to the influx of Latinos) and Christian evangelical megachurches.””
Check out this in depth study done about religious people in America. It is a liberal Christian group, yet I have no reason to disagree with their survey results. On the other hand if I bought their book I would probably disagree with their analysis of their results.
iowamark posted most of the relevant results of the survey in comment #3, but I did find one portion of the survey that iowamark didn't paste here, and if true, it is a window into the way many Christian teachers are not teaching the truth about Jesus and his teachings. Not that it really surprises me though. The survey found that a very the high number of Christians believe that those of other religions will make it to heaven, 83%
This is the portion I read from the site that has the survey;
Eighty-nine percent of Americans – including 83 percent of evangelical Christians – believe that a person who is not of their religion can go to heaven. A large majority of Americans maintain this belief, even when the overwhelming majority who are Christian are specifically asked if non-Christians can go to heaven.I would say that this just backs up my assertion that a majority of Christian pastors are not teaching the truth about the teachings of Christ. There is but one way to heaven, that is through Jesus Christ. When asked by Thomas,
"Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?"John 14:5Jesus said to him;
"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him." John 14:6Then Philip asked Jesus to;
"Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." John 14:7To which Jesus said;
"Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works."John 14:8-9When I read that a person claiming to be a Christian believes that those of other religions can make it to heaven, I automatically go into teaching mode to correct them on their error. Just as Jesus used the moment to teach Thomas, Philip, and the rest of His disciples, so to must we use the moments we are given to teach those who are confused about how a person can gain eternal life. 83% is a very large portion of Christians to be misguided and and improperly taught about who Christ is and what He taught.
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