America’s Shifting Religious Demography

According to the Washington Post, a new study has revealed some dramatic changes in the sociological map of American religiosity. Here are some highlights, taken verbatim from the Post’s article:

  • Last year, for the first time ever, Protestants lost their majority status in an annual survey conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute. Only 47 percent of America identifies as Protestant, with rates as high as 81 percent in Mississippi and as low as 10 percent in Utah.
  • Seniors are three times more likely than young Americans to claim a religious affiliation… .
  • And white Christians are the minority in 19 states.
  • “Unaffiliated” was the most common religious group selected by residents in 13 states (and was tied for first in Ohio and Virginia). [The percentage of “unaffiliated” now equals the percentage of Catholic: 22%.]
  • …the most religious states were in the South, which was home to all but one of the top 12.

New Hampshire, where the publishers of this web site are located, is in the top percentages of the following disparate groupings: Unaffiliated (35%), Catholic (31%), Orthodox (1% — no other state has any higher percentage save Alaska, at 5%), Buddhist (1%), Hindu (1%), and, not surprisingly, Unitarian Universalist (with 2%, we beat out all other states, and Hosea Ballou would be proud). New Hampshire is also among the five states — the six New England states minus Rhode Island — with the lowest weekly religious attendance rates.

There is work to be done.