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WASHINGTON, DC, July 23, 2008 (RNS and RPRS ): [HPI note: While the results of this telephone survey are representative of major tendencies in the USA, we remind our readers that telephone interviews tend to neglect non-native speakers, who can not or will not hold a fluent conversation on the phone. This could lead to an underestimation of groups such as Hindus.]
The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life today released its second report on the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, which finds that while many Americans are highly religious, most are not dogmatic in their approach to faith. “The fact that most Americans are not exclusive or dogmatic about their religion is a fascinating finding,” said Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum. “Most people will be surprised that a majority of adherents in nearly all religious traditions, including a majority of evangelical Protestants, say that there isn’t just one way to salvation or to interpret the teachings of their own faith.”
Based on telephone interviews conducted in English and Spanish with a nationally representative sample of more than 35,000 adults, it explores the social and political attitudes of religious groups, including members of many small religious traditions – such as Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists and agnostics – not typically analyzed in public opinion surveys.
“Many religions — maybe even most — can be perceived as having an exclusivity clause: We’re right and therefore everybody else is wrong,” said John Green, a senior fellow with the Pew Forum. “What we’ve found is that many Americans apparently don’t invoke the exclusivity clause. While Americans may have firm religious commitments, most are unwilling to impose them on other people,” Green said.
Some highlights are:
Seventy percent of Americans with a religious affiliation say that many religions – not just their own – can lead to eternal life. Most also think there is more than one correct way to interpret the teachings of their own faith. ore than half of evangelical respondents said that many religions can lead to eternal life, despite the central evangelical tenet that preaches otherwise.
This does not mean, however, that Americans take religious matters lightly. Most say they rank the importance of religion very highly in their lives.
More than nine-in-ten Americans (92%) believe in the existence of God or a universal spirit. Six-in-ten adults believe that God is a person with whom people can have a relationship; but one-in-four – including about half of Jews and Hindus – see God as an impersonal force. 29 percent of Catholics see God as an impersonal force, even though the Catholic Catechism teaches that “the faith of all Christians” rests on the belief in God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Almost two-fifths of Americans report meditating at least once a week. This practice is particularly common among Buddhists, but nearly half of evangelical Protestants and Muslims say they meditate at least weekly. About one-quarter of the unaffiliated report weekly meditation. These patterns may incorporate elements of both Christian and non-Christian traditions.
Religion is closely linked to political ideology. The survey shows that Mormons are among the most politically conservative groups in the population. Jews, Buddhists and Hindus, by contrast, are among the most likely to describe their ideology as liberal.
The margin of error for the overall sample is plus or minus 0.6 percentage points, but ranges widely for distinct religious groups (7.5 percentage points for Hindus, for example).
You can read the study http://pewresearch.org/pubs/876/religion-america-part-two
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