Pew Forum's "U.S. Religious Landscape Survey"

Yesterday the Pew Forum released a survey of the religious affiliations of those living in the United States.   Cathy Lynn  Grossman reports that "[t]he findings [from the survey] are being presented in two segments. One looks at religious affiliation (here used to mean identity) and demographic characteristics. The other, to be released in late spring, delves into beliefs, behavior and political views. "  I don't have time to explore the report this morning, but I want to let you know that the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and the Christian Science Monitor, among others, have stories covering the survey. 

Here are some key findings from the survey, as reported by USA Today:

•Faith is fluid: 44% say they're no longer tied to the religious or secular upbringing of their childhood. They've changed religions or denominations, adopted a faith for the first time or abandoned any affiliation altogether.

•"Nothing" matters: 12.1% say their religious identity is "nothing in particular," outranking every denomination and tradition except Catholics (23.9%) and all groups of Baptists (17.2%).

•Protestants are fading: 51.3% call themselves Protestant, but roughly one-third of this group were "unable or unwilling" to describe their denomination.

•Immigrants sustain Catholic numbers: 46% of foreign-born U.S. adults are Catholics, compared with only 21% of native-born adults. Latinos are now 45% of all U.S. Catholics ages 18-29.

There are a few more findings taken from the USA Today story below the fold.

•There are as many self-proclaimed pagans (0.3%) as there are Disciples of Christ, Orthodox Jews or Greek Orthodox.

•Nearly three in four U.S. Buddhists are converts; Buddhists (0.7%) are split evenly among Zen, Theravadan and Tibetan schools.

•Nearly 20% of all men and 13% of all women are unaffiliated. So are 25% of adults under age 30.

•The major Christian denominations are losing numbers fast. Only non-denominational churches showed growth outpacing losses. . . .

•The two groups that identified with "nothing in particular" now match or outstrip the two largest mainline Protestant groups.

The percentage of "secular unaffiliated" (6.3%) who say religion is unimportant to them is statistically the same as Methodists (6.2%). The "religious unaffiliated" (5.8%) who say they believe religion is at least somewhat important now outnumber Lutherans (4.6%).