New study shows JWs have the lowest retention rate of US religions

by M.J. 37 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Not Feeling It

  These statistics are not very accurate.

  And you know that how, exactly?

  Man, I think you need to go a little lighter on the caffeine. It's been a while since I took a basic stats class in -- gasp -- college, but the point regarding sample size is valid. I think we all have our stereotypes of what witnesses are.Many of these are based in fact. Some may be regional proclivities. This survey confirms many of them, but I think most of us would admit that JWs wouldn't answer or even take a survey like this because of general distrust of "Satan's system".

  Just my $.02
• 

  sir82

  the point regarding sample size is valid.

  It has been a frightening number of years since my last statistics class as well!

  But out of a sample of 35,000 in the US, 215 JWs is of the magnitude I would expect. 215 / 35,000 = 6/10 of 1%, which is not far from the actual proportion of JWs in the US - actually a bit higher.

  And given the anonymity of answering poll questions (likely over the telephone), and knowing their elders would never know how they answered, I suspect a good many JWs would answer the questions truthfully.
• 

  cognac

  I asked this in another topic but figured I'd ask it here also...

  Are the stats that they have every year available on the cd rom?

  Or on 1 of there websites?
• 

  poppers

  Someone commented about how many get kicked out of dubdom. I remember growing up Catholic and first hearing about excommunication. In all the years I was in that faith I never knew one person who was given the boot. I'd wager most JWs in each congregation know several.
• 

  BizzyBee

  Zero percent are Asians? Please.

  Depending on the criteria Pew used to analyze the raw data, they may have had less than one-half of 1% report as Asian. Since they apparently rounded off to the nearest whole percent, 0% does not mean zero Asians.

  Some "Asians" may be reported under "Other" ethnicities for a variety of reasons.

  Pew allowed for a +/- of 0.6% margin of error.

  Remember, this is a survey, not a census.
• 

  Not Feeling It

  But out of a sample of 35,000 in the US, 215 JWs is of the magnitude I would expect. 215 / 35,000 = 6/10 of 1%, which is not far from the actual proportion of JWs in the US - actually a bit higher.

  Yeah, on second glance I agree with you. First time around I thought the numbers were off a bit but generally accurate. But if you look at the data for Muslims and Hindus (also extreme minority religions in the USA), they seem about right too.

  Did anyone notice the amazing correlation between hindus, postgrads, and $100k+ salaries? Wow. I know quite a few Desis (Indians) who are not making that kind of cake and working thier butts off in software. I guess for all of those, there are plenty who are doctors, DBAs, hotel owners, etc...

  This has been a fascinating study for me despite the association with God's Chosen People.
• 

  oldflame

  Racial and Ethnic Composition of Religious Traditions

  U.S. Religious Traditions	White (non-Hispanic)	Black (non-Hispanic)	Asian (non-Hispanic)	Other/Mixed (non-Hispanic)	Hispanic	Sample Size
  National Total:	71%	11%	3%	3%	12%	35101
  Members of Evangelical Protestant Churches	81%	6%	2%	4%	7%	9380
  Members of Mainline Protestant Churches	91%	2%	1%	3%	3%	7383
  Members of Historically Black Protestant Churches	2%	92%	0%	1%	4%	1990
  Catholics	65%	2%	2%	2%	29%	7987
  Mormons	86%	3%	1%	3%	7%	571
  Orthodox	87%	6%	2%	3%	1%	358
  Jehovah's Witnesses	48%	22%	0%	5%	24%	212
  Other Christians	77%	11%	0%	8%	4%	126
  Jews	95%	1%	0%	2%	3%	671
  Muslims	37%	24%	20%	15%	4%	1030
  Buddhists	53%	4%	32%	5%	6%	405
  Hindus	5%	1%	88%	4%	2%	255
  Other Faiths	80%	2%	1%	13%	5%	436
  Unaffiliated	73%	8%	4%	4%	11%	4955

  Awhile back I had a discussion with a mormon that they were a predjudiced religion and they said they were not. Well here is a little proof. They had said that blacks could now be baptised but could not hold the priesthood. When I was in the mormon church a black person could not be baptised at all. The chart above says that only 3 % are black in the USA. Not very good ratings if your asking someone if they are racial don't you think ?
• 

  GermanXJW

  The number of people older than 65 years is also rather low. Either they do not get very old or they stop being JW when they can no longer participate in the house-to-house-work and feel the "love".