[Apologetics] New Study Shows American Switch Religions Frequently

[Art Kelly]

America's Unfaithful Faithful 
By DAVID VAN BIEMA
Mon Feb 25, 1:45 PM ET
 
A major new survey presents perhaps the most detailed
picture we've yet had of which religious groups
Americans belong to. And its big message is: blink and
they'll change. For the first time, a large-scale
study has quantified what many experts suspect: there
is a constant membership turnover among most American
faiths. America's religious culture, which is best
known for its high participation rates, may now be
equally famous (or infamous) for what the new report
dubs "churn." 


The report, released today by the Pew Forum on
Religion & Public Life, is the first selection of data
from a 35,000- person poll called the U.S. Religious
Landscape Survey. Says Pew Forum director Luis Lugo,
Americans "not only change jobs, change where they
live, and change spouses, but they change religions
too. We totally knew it was happening, but this survey
enabled us to document it clearly." 


According to Pew, 28% of American adults have left the
faith of their childhood for another one. And that
does not even include those who switched from one
Protestant denomination to another; if it did, the
number would jump to 44%. Says Greg Smith, one of the
main researchers for the "Landscape" data, churn
applies across the board. "There's no group that is
simply winning or simply losing," he says. "Nothing is
static. Every group is simultaneously winning and
losing."

The full article is at
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20080225/us_time/americasunfaithfulfaithful;_ylt=Ap6X2_xluWxX2zBjNwOD6JYDW7oF

Art 



ART KELLY, ATM-S
13524 Brightfield Lane
Herndon, Virginia 20171-3360
(703) 904-3763 home
(703) 396-6956 work
arthurkelly at yahoo.com
art.kelly at cox.net
ArtK135 at Netscape.net


      ____________________________________________________________________________________
Never miss a thing.  Make Yahoo your home page. 
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs