April 5, 2000
Americans continue to be a highly religious people. Two-thirds believe that religion can answer all or most of today's problems,
a Gallup poll conducted March 17-19 says. Large majorities also say that they are members of a church or synagogue (68 percent) and that they attend services on a regular basis (60 percent). The poll also shows that belief in the relevance of religion for today's problems is likely to be found among college-educated and high-income Americans as well as among the poor and less educated. Just 21 percent say religion is old-fashioned and out of date.
...About two in five adults (44 percent) are "unchurched," a percentage which has changed little over the last two decades, the poll found. The number of Americans who are without a church membership or have not attended regular services within the last six months is 44 percent, the same as in 1998 and only slightly higher than 1978 (41 percent).
...Conservative Protestants are no more anti-Catholic than are other Americans, the poll found. Gallup found that while one-quarter of Americans have unfavorable attitudes toward Catholics, these attitudes are no more likely to occur among supporters of the Christian right than they are among other Americans. The attitudes of conservative Protestants have come under scrutiny in recent months after the visit of George W. Bush to Bob Jones University, a fundamentalist college that has taken anti-Catholic positions, and the controversy surrounding the appointment of a Catholic priest to be chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives.
by the Editors of ReligionToday
[This message has been edited by Avalee Lohman (edited 04-05-2000).]
