Learnings From the Pew Forum Research

George Bullard is offering weekly leadership insights from the new research on U.S. Religious Landscape Survey 2008 from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life at www.pewforum.org

Each learning is coupled with specific implications for leaders of churches and leaders of denominations.

Learning # 1 - "Despite predictions the United States would follow Europe's path towards widespread secularization, the U.S. population remains highly religious in its beliefs and practices, and religion continues to play a prominent role in American public life." HT:Bullard

Learning # 2 - "More that one-quarter of American adults (28%) have left the faith in which they were raised in favor of another religion--or no religion at all. If change in affiliation from one type of Protestantism to another is included, roughly 44% of adults have either switched religious affiliation, moved from being unaffiliated with any religion to being affiliated with a particular faith, or dropped any connection to a specific religious tradition altogether."  HT: Bullard

Learning # 3 - "The survey finds that the number of people who say they are unaffiliated with any particular faith today (16.1%) is more than double the number who say they were not affiliated with any particular religion as children. Among Americans ages 18-29, one-in-four say they are not currently affiliated with any particular religion." HT: Bullard

Learning # 4 - "The United States is on the verge of becoming a minority Protestant country; the number of Americans who report that they are members of Protestant denominations now stands at barely 51%. Moreover, the Protestant population is characterized by significant internal diversity and fragmentation, encompassing hundreds of different denominations loosely groups around three fairly distinct religious traditions--evangelical Protestant churches (26.3% of the overall adult population), mainline Protestant churches (18.1%) and historically black Protestant churches (6.9%)."  HT: Bullard