Greetings,
I thought the information in a recent study (Graduate Center Survey of Religion in America) might be of interest to some who frequent this board.
52% percent of adults in America are Protestant, 24.5% are Catholic, and 14.1% adhere to no religion, according to the latest American Religious Identification Survey, 2001 just released by The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Those giving their religion as Jewish are 1.3% and those as Muslim or Islamic are 0.5%.
From 1990 - 2001:
Catholics proportion of population declines 2%
Protestant proportion of population declines 8%
Jewish 3.1 million to 2.8 million now giving their religion as Jewish
Non-Christian religion rose sharply, 5.8 million to 7.7 million
Muslim/Islamic 1.1 million -- nearly double the number in 1990
The most striking 1990-2001 comparisons is the more than doubling of the adult population identifying with no religion, from 14.3 million (8%) in 1990 to the current 29.4 million (14.1%).
More interesting tidbits:
New York is home to more of Muslims (24%) than any other state.
California has the highest percent of Jehovah's Witnesses
California has the nations largest cluster of those with no religion
Jehovah's Witnesses the highest proportion of female adherents (68%)
Buddhists are the most independent with respect to political party preference
Link to article:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/011025/nyth023_1.html
Kind Regards - Kinsman