FEB. 25, 2008

RELIGIONS & FAITH GROUPS
Reporting on the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey

In a diverse and highly religious country, the details of every new big survey of religious identity are both welcomed and questioned. The extensive U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, released Feb. 25 by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, is notable because it adds concrete numbers to significant trends that are reshaping American life as well as new demographic details about the adherents of many religious groups, particularly smaller ones that are difficult to study in large national surveys. It also raises questions for American denominations and for American religious life by challenging assumptions and identifying new trends that some people may find troubling.

Why do such studies matter? Religion continues to exert important influence on the nation’s public life, from government and foreign policy to schools and community life. It is a changing landscape that now looks significantly different than it did just 20 years ago, and it is poised to continue changing as the families of ethnically and religiously diverse immigrants deepen their roots in this country. In a democracy, understanding what people believe, how many people each group actually represents and how religious affiliation is shifting helps explain why some issues persist in public debate and offers clues to how these issues may unfold in the future. To help reporters develop stories based on the survey, ReligionLink is offering an extensive list of experts in all the topic areas covered by the survey, as well as a list of story ideas.

Religionlink story ideas

See the listings of major research centers, national sources and regional sources below for experts who can comment on these trends.

Changing affiliation – Talk of a “post-denominational” era in religion sounds theoretical; saying almost half of Americans have switched religious affiliation is a concrete phenomenon. The dynamics of changing affiliation – why people switch once, twice or more and where they settle and why – is an undercovered story.

“None of the above” – Nonaffiliation is the second big headline from the survey, as well as another trend that’s been growing for at least a decade. The nonaffiliated are the nation’s fastest-growing “faith” group; many of them are religious and some are not, and they are as diverse as any other religious grouping in their beliefs and practices. That trend is likely to continue since younger people are the most likely to be “none of the above” (one in four of 18- to 29-year-olds). Who are they and what distinguishes the way they raise their children, support charities and participate in civic life?

Interfaith families – An exact count of the number of interfaith families has never been available, although it’s clear that the number must be rising quickly. The Pew survey finds that 27 percent of people have spouses of a different religion, and that percentage rises to 37 percent if you include spouses in different Protestant traditions. Having family members of different faiths affects the way people observe holidays, marriages and funerals; attend worship; give money and time to charity; and rear children. How are interfaith families reshaping all of these to suit their needs?

Changing groups – The makeup of several religious traditions is changing swiftly and dramatically. Buddhism in America is now dominated by whites, people born in America and converts. Catholicism is quickly becoming a Hispanic religion. How are the leadership and practices of such groups changing in response? What challenges are they facing, and what opportunities are they grasping?

Unchanging groups – Religious groups whose makeup isn’t shifting face huge challenges, since the demographics of America continue changing. Mainline Protestants and Jews are singled out in the Pew survey as groups that are homogeneous, aging, and diminishing. How is that changing their mission? What are they doing to try to reinvigorate their faith?

Ah, youth – The younger adults of today are the mainstream – and financial supporters – of religions in the future. The Pew survey finds that they are most likely to be nonaffiliated and also shows which traditions have higher numbers of younger members. What do their affiliations – or lack thereof – portend for the future? What do they say about how their spiritual beliefs fit into current religious traditions?

Big families – The religious groups that produce large families today are likely to grow even larger in the years to come. According to the Pew survey, Muslims and Mormons are the groups with the largest families. What does that mean for their future – and how will other groups’ smaller family size affect the future of their faith as well?

Minorities – Fewer than 5 percent of Americans are members of a minority faith – a proportion that remains quite small despite the country’s religious diversity. Religious minorities, however, are very important in shaping religion in the public square as they seek acceptance for their religious practices and as they fan out into all corners of the country. This affects the way schools deal with religion, church-state debates, social services and more. How do members of smaller faith groups influence life in your community?

Size vs. public profile – Demographic surveys offer the opportunity to look at the size of religious traditions in comparison to their public profile or influence. They also offer an opportunity to look at groups that don’t generally get much attention – such as Orthodox Christians – but whose numbers equal traditions with higher profiles. How are they growing and changing?

Protestant values – Protestant Christians have exerted important influences in America since its founding, and Protestant values – think “Protestant work ethic” -- are embedded in American government and social traditions. The number of Protestants has slipped to just 51 percent of the population, and their makeup is shifting as mainline Protestants continue to lose members and evangelical churches gain members. If many of America’s long-standing values are “Protestant” values, are America’s values now changing? If so, what influence do various religious traditions have?

Former Catholics – One in 10 Americans say they used to be Catholic, which means former Catholics are a larger group than almost any religion, except for Catholics, Protestants and the unaffiliated. How has that exodus affected the church? How has it affected the religions to which they’ve switched, and are there trends in their departures and their new selections? How do Catholic values shape American culture?

Details, details – The Pew survey offers demographic details on members of minority faiths. Hindus, for example, tend to have higher levels of education and income – which is interesting because higher income and education levels have usually been associated with lower levels of religiosity in America. Who makes up the Hindu community in your area, and how does their faith intersect with their public life?

Immigration – Immigrants and their descendents are reshaping American religious traditions, from the Catholic Church to Protestant denominations. Many experts say the religious affiliations of second- and third-generation immigrants will have even greater influence on the country’s religious landscape. How are their religious preferences different from their parents’?

Ethnicity – The survey details the ethnic makeup of different religious traditions. Historically black churches have high rates of retention, and blacks have very high rates of religious affiliation. How have black churches remained central to blacks’ sense of community?

Major research centers

• Diana L. Eck is a professor of comparative religion and Indian studies at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., and director of Harvard’s Pluralism Project, which explores the religious diversity of the U.S. Contact 617-495-5781, dianaeck@fas.harvard.edu.
• Roger Finke is a professor of sociology and religious studies at Penn State University, where he is also director of the Association of Religion Data Archives, a compilation of religious data, including affiliation. Contact 814-865-6257, rfinke@psu.edu.
• Barry Kosmin is director of the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. He is one of the authors of the 2001 American Religious Identification Survey. Contact 860-297-2353.
• James Lewis is executive director of the Louisville Institute, a Lilly project at the Louisville Seminary in Louisville, Ky., that works to revitalize American Christian congregations. Contact 502-992-9341, jlewis@louisville-institute.org.
• J. Gordon Melton is director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara, Calif. He has written about New Religious Movements and about Christian Science. He co-wrote Perspectives on the New Age and has written on New Thought Movements. Contact 805-961-0141, jgordon@linkline.com.
• David Roozen is director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. He was the principal investigator of the institute’s Faith Communities Today study. Contact 860-509-9546, roozen@hartsem.edu.
• Mark Silk is the founding director of the Leonard E. Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. He is co-editor of the Religion and Public Life series of books, which examine the religious landscape of the U.S. by region. Contact 860-297-2352, mark.silk@trincoll.edu.
• Rodney Stark and Byron R. Johnson are co-directors of the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion. Contact Stark only in the morning at 505-890-5271 or socstark@aol.com, and Johnson at 254-710-7555, Byron_Johnson@baylor.edu.
• Alan Wolfe is director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College. He is the author of The Transformation of American Religion: How We Actually Live Our Faith. Contact 617-552-1862, wolfe@bc.edu.
• Robert Wuthnow is a sociologist and director of the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University. He has written extensively on spirituality and contemporary American life; his books include America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity. Contact 609-258-5545, Wuthnow@Princeton.edu.

Click the map for interview sources in your state and region

National sources

• Nancy Ammerman is a professor of sociology of religion at Boston University in Boston. She is a nationally recognized expert on American congregations. Contact nta@bu.edu.
• Mark Chaves is a professor of sociology, religion and divinity at Duke Divinity School in Durham, N.C. He is director of the National Congregations Study and the author of Congregations in America. He can compare this study’s findings to previous studies. Contact 919-660-5783, mac58@soc.duke.edu.
• Kevin D. Dougherty is an assistant professor of sociology and a research fellow in the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University. With Byron R. Johnson, co-director of the institute, and Edward C. Polson, a graduate student in sociology, Dougherty co-authored an article titled “Recovering the Lost: Remeasuring U.S. Religious Affiliation” in the December 2007 issue of The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. The article proposes new criteria for measuring those who say they have no religious affiliation. He will be unavailable until March 3, 2008. Contact Kevin_Dougherty@baylor.edu.
• Gastón Espinosa is an assistant professor of religious studies at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, Calif.  He is an expert on U.S. Latino religions, including demographic shifts in Latino religions and evangelical and Pentecostal/Catholic charismatic movements. His books include, as co-editor, Rethinking Latino(a) Religion and Identity. Contact 909-621-8395, gaston.espinosa@cmc.edu.
• John Green is a senior fellow in religion and American politics at the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and a professor of political science and director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron in Ohio. Green is a leading expert on trends in religion and politics. Contact jgreen@pewforum.org.
• Anna Greenberg is senior vice president of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. She is a polling expert who has a special focus on religion and youth. Contact via Jaclyn Macek, 202-478-8300, jmacek@gqrr.com.
• Karen Leonard is an anthropology professor and co-director of the Center for Asian Studies at the University of California, Irvine. She wrote Muslims in the United States: The State of Research and can discuss how the Pew surveys compare with other studies of American Muslims. Contact 310-839-3457, kbleonar@uci.edu.
• Wade Clark Roof is a professor of religion and society at University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of Spiritual Marketplace: Baby Boomers and the Remaking of American Religion. He is an expert on young people of faith. Contact 805-893-3564, wcroof@religion.ucsb.edu.
• William Swatos Jr. is executive director of the Religious Research Association, a group of academic and religious professionals that applies scientific research methods to the study of religion. It is a project of the Hartford Seminary. He is located in Illinois. Contact 309-932-2727, bill4329@yahoo.com.
• Scott Thumma is a sociologist of religion at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research in Hartford, Conn. He is an expert on American congregations, especially megachurch congregations, both denominational and nondenominational. Contact 860-509-9571, sthumma@hartsem.edu.
• John Zogby is president of Zogby International, a polling organization based in Utica, N.Y., that frequently includes questions about religion and adherence in its polls. Contact 315-624-0200.
• There are two associations of academics who specialize in the sociology of religion: the Association for the Sociology of Religion and the American Sociological Association Section on Sociology of Religion.

Experts by topic

AFRICAN-AMERICANS
For more sources, see ReligionLink’s guides to African-Americans and religion; African-Americans and Islam; and race and religion.

• Michael I.N. Dash is professor of ministry and context at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta. He co-directed the ITC/Faith Factor Project 2000 study, which focused on African-American congregations and is part of Hartford Seminary’s Faith Communities Today project. Contact 404-527-7700, mdash@itc.edu.
• Lawrence H. Mamiya co-wrote The Black Church in the African American Experience, about a survey of some 1,900 ministers and 2,100 churches. Mamiya is professor of religion at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. He’s a widely recognized expert on African-American religion in general and on the Nation of Islam. Contact 845-437-7490, mamiya@vassar.edu.

ASIAN-AMERICANS
For more sources, see ReligionLink’s guides to Asian-Americans and religion and race and religion.

• Karen Leonard is an anthropology professor and co-director of the Center for Asian Studies at the University of California, Irvine. She wrote Muslims in the United States: The State of Research and can discuss how the Pew surveys compare with other studies of American Muslims. Contact 310-839-3457, kbleonar@uci.edu.
• Timothy Tseng is president and executive director of the Institute for the Study of Asian American Christianity in Castro Valley, Calif. He is an expert on Asian-American evangelicals and mainline Protestants. Contact 510-962-5584, timtseng@isaacweb.org.

BUDDHISTS
For more sources, see ReligionLink’s guide to Buddhism in the U.S.

• Joseph Goldstein is co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Mass., and author of One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism. Contact Guyano Gibson, communications director, 978-355-4378 ext. 280, gyanog@dharma.org.
• James William Coleman is a sociology professor at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, Calif. He is the author of The New Buddhism: The Western Transformation of an Ancient Tradition. Contact 805-756-1230, jcoleman@calpoly.edu.

CATHOLICS & LATINOS
For more sources, see ReligionLink’s guide to Hispanics and religion, which includes experts on Hispanics in a variety of faith traditions, not just Catholicism.

• Mary Bendyna is executive director of the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. She is also a Sister of Mercy. Contact 202-687-8080.
• Gilberto Cardenas is director of the Institute for Latino Studies, which includes the Center for the Study of Latino Religions at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Ind. Contact 574-631-4440.
• Orlando O. Espín teaches systematic theology at the University of San Diego, where he directs the Center for the Study of Latino/a Catholicism. Contact 619-260-4087, espin@sandiego.edu.
• The Rev. Thomas J. Reese is a Jesuit and fellow at the Woodstock Theological Seminary at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Reese is the leading political scientist of the church and author of Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church. He was also the longtime editor of America magazine, a national Jesuit weekly of opinion. He is an expert on the American Catholic Church. Contact via the media office, 202-687-4299.

EVANGELICALS
• Randall Balmer is a professor of American religion at Barnard College, Columbia University, and the author of several books on evangelicalism and American religious history, including Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism. He also teaches a course in American evangelicalism. Contact 212-854-3292, rb281@columbia.edu.
• Edith Blumhofer is an historian of evangelical Christianity in America and director of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College. Contact 630-752-7005, Edith.L.Blumhofer@wheaton.edu.
• Mark A. Noll is a history professor at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., and a leading scholar of evangelical Christianity. Contact 574-631-7266, Mark.Noll.8@nd.edu.
• Richard J. Mouw is president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., a leading evangelical institution. He has written several books on American evangelicals and their adaptation to popular culture. Contact 626-584-5201, rjmouw@fuller.edu.

HINDUS
For more sources, see ReligionLink’s guide to Hinduism in the U.S.

• Khyati Y. Joshi is an assistant professor of education at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, N.J., and she is the author of New Roots in America’s Sacred Ground: Religion, Race and Ethnicity in Indian America (2006). Contact 210-692-2826, khyati@fdu.edu.
• Vasudha Narayanan is a professor of religion at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where she directs the university’s Center for the Study of Hindu Traditions. She is an expert on Hindus in the U.S. Contact 352-392-1625, vasu@ufl.edu.

JEWS
• Lorraine Blass of the United Jewish Federation in New York served as project manager of the National Jewish Population Survey. Contact 212-284-6738, lorraine.blass@ujc.org.
• Bruce Phillips is a professor of Jewish communal service at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, a leading seminary of the Reform movement. He was on the team that completed the National Jewish Population Survey 2000-01. Contact bphillips@huc.edu.
• Jonathan D. Sarna is a professor of American Jewish history at Brandeis University and director of its Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program. He is the author of American Judaism: A History. He is an expert on contemporary Judaism and identity. Contact 781-736-2977, sarna@brandeis.edu.
• Leonard Saxe is director of the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. He is an expert on demographic information gathered about American Jews. Contact via Gloria Tessler, 781-736-3952.

MAINLINE PROTESTANTS
• Diana Butler Bass is senior research fellow and director of the Project on Congregations of Intentional Practice, a study of mainline Protestant vitality at the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria. She is the author of Christianity for the Rest of Us (2006) and Episcopalians in America (2007). Contact 703-370-6600, dbass@vts.edu.
• Mark Chaves is a professor of sociology, religion and divinity at Duke Divinity School in Durham, N.C. He is director of the National Congregations Study and the author of Congregations in America. He can compare this study’s findings to previous studies. Contact 919-660-5783, mac58@soc.duke.edu.
• Nathan Kirkpatrick is director of Pulpit & Pew, a project of the Duke Divinity School in Durham, N.C., that conducts research on pastoral ministry, including in the mainline Protestant denominations. Contact 919-660-3423, nkirkpatrick@div.duke.edu.
• Martin Marty is an ordained Lutheran pastor and a professor emeritus at the University of Chicago, and one of the country’s foremost authorities on American religion and particularly American mainline Protestantism. He can address the issue of declining membership in mainline Protestant denominations and its potential impact. Contact memarty@aol.com.
• Donald Miller is a professor of religion and sociology at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and executive director of its Center for Religion and Civic Culture. He is an expert on American Protestantism and global Pentecostalism. Contact 213-740-8562, demiller@usc.edu.

MUSLIMS
For more sources, see ReligionLink’s guide to U.S. Muslim experts and organizations.

• Ihsan Bagby is an associate professor of Islamic studies in the department of modern and classical languages, literatures and cultures at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. He studies Muslims in the United States, including the growth of Islam here, African-Americans and Islam, demographics of American Muslims and the growth of Islam in prisons. In 2001 he published the results of the first comprehensive study of mosques in America, “The Mosque in America: A National Portrait,” for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. He serves on the advisory board of Hartford Seminary’s Hartford Institute for Religion Research. Contact 859-257-9638, iabagb2@uky.edu.
• Gastón Espinosa is an assistant professor of religious studies at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, Calif.  He is an expert on U.S. Latino religions, including demographic shifts in Latino religions and evangelical and Pentecostal/Catholic charismatic movements. His books include, as co-editor, Rethinking Latino(a) Religion and Identity. Contact 909-621-8395, gaston.espinosa@cmc.edu.
• Dalia Mogahed is a senior analyst at the Gallup Organization who specializes in Muslims. She is co-author of the forthcoming Who Speaks for Islam?: What a Billion Muslims Really Think (2008). Contact via Eric Nielsen, eric_neilsen@gallup.com.

NONAFFILIATED
For more sources, see ReligionLink’s editions on atheists and the “spiritual but not religious.”

• Robert Altemeyer is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Manitoba. He is the co-author of Atheists: A Groundbreaking Study of America’s Nonbelievers. Contact 204-474-9276, altemey@cc.umanitoba.ca.
• Kevin D. Dougherty is an assistant professor of sociology and a research fellow in the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University. With Byron R. Johnson, co-director of the institute, and Edward C. Polson, a graduate student in sociology, Dougherty co-authored an article titled “Recovering the Lost: Remeasuring U.S. Religious Affiliation” in the December 2007 issue of The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. The article proposes new criteria for measuring those who say they have no religious affiliation. He will be out of town until March 3, 2008. Contact Kevin_Dougherty@baylor.edu.
• Robert Fuller is a professor of religious studies at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. He is the author of Spiritual but Not Religious: Understanding Unchurched America. Contact 309-677-3282, rcf@bradley.edu.
• Barry Kosmin is director of the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. He is one of the authors of the 2001 American Religious Identification Survey. Contact 860-297-2353.

ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS
• The Rev. Johannes L. Jacobse is president of and John Couretas is executive director of the American Orthodox Institute, which promotes the voice of American Orthodox Christians in public life. They are based in Naples, Fla. Contact 616-813-8941.
• Aristotle Papanikolaou is an associate professor of theology at Fordham University in the Bronx, N.Y. He is at work on a chapter on Orthodox Christianity and American pluralism for a book titled Orthodox Christianity in American Public Life: The Challenges and Opportunities of Religious Pluralism in the 21st Century. Contact 212-636-6249, papanikolaou@fordham.edu.
• Elizabeth Prodromou is an assistant professor in international relations at Boston University in Boston. She is working on a book titled Orthodox Christianity in American Public Life:  The Challenges and Opportunities of Religious Pluralism in the 21st Century. Contact 617-358-3774, ehpk@bu.edu.

PENTECOSTALS
For more sources, see ReligionLink’s edition on Pentecostalism.

• J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma magazine, one of the leading periodicals of the Pentecostal community, and part of the Strang Media group that produces magazines, books, other literature and ministry aids for Pentecostals. Contact 407-333-0600, grady@strang.com.
• Donald Miller is a professor of religion and sociology at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and executive director of its Center for Religion and Civic Culture. He is an expert on American Protestantism and global Pentecostalism. Contact 213-740-8562, demiller@usc.edu.

YOUNG PEOPLE
• Sarah Cunningham is the author of Dear Church: Letters from a Disillusioned Generation (2006), in which the twentysomething Cunningham tries to explain why people her age are not comfortable with the traditional church model. Her father is a Christian church pastor, and she is a member of a house church. Contact admin@dearchurch.com.
• Tony Jones is the national coordinator for Emergent Village, an online community of Christians in the emergent church movement. He is the author of The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier (2008) and can discuss the religiosity – or lack thereof – of young Americans, especially young Christians. Contact jonestony@gmail.com.
• Dan Kimball is the author of They Like Jesus But Not the Church: Insights From Emerging Generations (2007), which looks at common negative perceptions about Christianity and traditional ways of doing church. He is pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, Calif., which is largely made up of young people. Contact 831-429-1058, dan@vintagefaith.com.
• Brian McLaren is the founding pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church in Burtonsville, Md. He is an expert on Generation X and Y Christianity, and is the author of A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I Am a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poetic, Biblical, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, Green, Incarnational, Depressed-yet-Hopeful, Emergent, Unfinished CHRISTIAN. Contact via laci.scott@gmail.com.
• Eboo Patel is the founder of Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based organization that unites young people of different religions and puts them to work on community projects while asking them to explore their shared values. He writes a blog, The Faith Divide, that is hosted by Newsweek and The Washington Post. Contact 312-573-8825.

Major religious affiliation surveys

GENERAL SURVEYS
• The American Religious Identification Survey was conducted in 2001 by the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. This study found that 77 percent of Americans identify as Christians, a similar number to the Pew study. It also found that just over 14 percent of Americans did not identify with any religious tradition and that Muslims and Buddhists made up .5 percent of the population each. It also counted Jews as 1.3 percent of the population. All of these numbers are lower than the new Pew survey.
• The Association of Religion Data Archives collects religious data from researchers of American religion. Its Web site features profiles of faith groups and denominations, congregational membership numbers and interactive maps locating different groups in the American religious landscape.
• The Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies is an organization of statisticians and researchers who collect and publish information about American denominations and faith groups. Every 10 years they publish the Religious Congregations Membership Study, the last of which appeared in 2000.
• American Piety in the 21^st Century, an extensive survey of beliefs and practices released in 2006, was conducted by the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion. This study counted one-third of Americans as evangelicals, compared with the Pew study’s one-fourth. It numbered the unaffiliated at 10.8 percent, much lower than the new Pew study and the ARIS 2001 study. Jews made up 2.5 percent of the total population, according to this study, much higher than the new Pew study and the ARIS 2001 study. But like the Pew study, it found that Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 are more likely to be unaffiliated than any other age group.
• Faith Communities Today is a survey of American congregations conducted in 2000 by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. This study found that half of all surveyed congregations say they are experiencing growth.

FAITH-SPECIFIC SURVEYS

CATHOLIC
• The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University conducts social scientific research about the Roman Catholic Church.

JEWISH
• The American Jewish Identity Survey was conducted by the Center for Jewish Studies at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York in 2001. This study counted 5.5 million American adults who are Jewish by religion or of Jewish parentage or upbringing or consider themselves Jewish.
• The National Jewish Population Survey of 2000-01 was sponsored by United Jewish Communities. This study counted American Jews at 5.2 million.

LATINO
• “Changing Faiths: Latinos and the Transformation of American Religion” is an April 2007 study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Pew Hispanic Center about the effects of the booming Hispanic population on U.S. religious practices. Among its findings are that 68 percent of U.S. Latinos are Catholics, while 20 percent are Protestant. Eight percent of Latinos claimed no religious affiliation.
• Hispanic Churches in American Public Life is a 2003 report that includes findings about Hispanics, their churches and their political life. This study found that 93 percent of Latinos identify as Christian, with only 6 percent saying they have no religious affiliation and 1 percent claiming adherence to another world religion. Seventy percent of Latinos are Catholics and 23 percent are Protestant, according to this study.

MUSLIM
• “The Mosque in America: A National Portrait” was published by the Council on American-Islamic Relations in 2001. This study found 6 million to 7 million American Muslims.