Profound Religious Shifts in America (With Pictures)

Quick post: USA Today provides a concise report of a large and important survey of American religion. Interactive graphics and charts add much to this insightful article.

We all know religion is changing, now we have the pictures to prove it.

Image via Wikipedia

An article in USA Today features key findings from the new American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) released today. It is based on 113,000 interviews, updated with 50,000 more in 2001 and now 54,000 in 2008. Because the U.S. Census does not ask about religion, the ARIS survey was the first comprehensive study of how people identify their spiritual expression.

Major takeaway? Nearly all religious denominations have lost ground - often dramatic percentages - since 1990. The religious "Nones" (those indicating no particular religious affiliation) has grown.

From the article:

Image via Wikipedia

• So many Americans claim no religion at all (15%, up from 8% in 1990), that this category now outranks every other major U.S. religious group except Catholics and Baptists. In a nation that has long been mostly Christian, "the challenge to Christianity … does not come from other religions but from a rejection of all forms of organized religion," the report concludes.

• Catholic strongholds in New England and the Midwest have faded as immigrants, retirees and young job-seekers have moved to the Sun Belt. While bishops from the Midwest to Massachusetts close down or consolidate historic parishes, those in the South are scrambling to serve increasing numbers of worshipers.

• Baptists, 15.8% of those surveyed, are down from 19.3% in 1990. Mainline Protestant denominations, once socially dominant, have seen sharp declines: The percentage of Methodists, for example, dropped from 8% to 5%.

• The percentage of those who choose a generic label, calling themselves simply Christian, Protestant, non-denominational, evangelical or "born again," was 14.2%, about the same as in 1990.

• Jewish numbers showed a steady decline, from 1.8% in 1990 to 1.2% today. The percentage of Muslims, while still slim, has doubled, from 0.3% to 0.6%. Analysts within both groups suggest those numbers understate the groups' populations.

The USA Today article includes some nice charts and graphs.  Also, the full report is online.

5 Suggestions on How Congregations Can Help Workers

For good or ill, the great majority of Americans have to work to earn a living. Especially now that the stock market has taken a dive, even "day traders" and "early retirement" folks who lived on the skillful manipulation of investment portfolios are shifting computer screens away from financial pages to revising resumes. How can congregations help?

It's a new economic world for the next several years (at least), and those who have been laid off have all got to get jobs or make jobs, being hired or being entrepreneurial, to maintain their homes and their families -- let alone their sense of dignity.

Congregations can be part of helping the transition of workers who have lost their jobs or who may have to re-enter the employment market after years of living off the grid.

Image by thinkpanama via Flickr

First, congregations can go beyond prayer and encouragement to giving people the boost to expand their self-definitions. 

I recently heard a radio program where a caller described herself as being "specialized in print design" and was irritated that companies wanted her to have skills in web-design as well. It seemed that she was hiding behind a "specialization" too narrowly defined. She was unwilling to get the training she needed to apply her considerable skills to online operations. Congregations can be part of expanding work identities by giving people the space to explore and play with expansive self-definitions before they over-commit to a particular specialization on paper or in an interview.

Image by thinkpanama via Flickr

Second, congregations can maximize the networking possibilities within and between churches. 

Most "employed" people I know are very willing to give advice and even mentor others through navigating the employment process. Congregations could identify different sectors of work or occupations and host informal meetings before or after services. This is especially important if workers are trying to shift from industries they know to industries and employment procedures that are new to them.

Third, congregations can provide volunteers opportunity to learn new skills within the ministries of the church. 

Back in the 1990s, I helped with a job re-training program in East L.A. where I focused on teaching workers basic computer skills. What was second nature to me in computing (like opening a program or using a mouse) was like visiting a foreign planet to the dozens of older workers I assisted at the time. The church had several older computers (worthless to businesses and donated by them) that taught people how to type, operate basic computer programs, and learn basics of internet navigation. Another person took his interest in film and was given a higher-end computer to use to master editing and composition of documentary-like vignettes that were displayed in church services. That person leveraged those new skills toward more education and a video-oriented job.

Image via Wikipedia

Fourth, congregations can sponsor workers to travel to other cities and regions to explore work. 

While I was fortunate to have my future employer pay all expenses for my interview before being hired, most workers do not have this privilege. Congregations could give a few hundred dollars for trips for workers to explore options for workplaces, homes, and schools in other places. Of course, this also requires congregations to have the attitude of being willing to encourage people to leave their churches if it means good opportunities exist elsewhere.

Image via Wikipedia

Fifth, congregations can find ways to assist adults who seek more schooling. 

Besides help with books and tuition, the most practical assistance for adult schooling is having volunteers cover the many other practical needs of everyday life. That means providing meals, care for children, housecleaning, home maintenance (like lawn work), a new set of clothes, and transportation. Congregations could say, "If you can get to class, we'll take care of the rest." I assume only a small percentage would take up such a wonderful opportunity, which means that the labor of resourcing a small number of households would allow a person to actually succeed in their classes and launch into a different career.

This is just quick list, and I'm sure the creative resources of congregations have come up with other ideas.  

What a "Liberal" Professor Appreciates about Evangelicals

Quick post: found an interesting video from Philip Clayton, Ingraham Professor at Claremont School of Theology and Professor of Philosophy andReligion, Claremont Graduate University, answers the question of what he learns from Evangelicalism. 

Cool Evangelicals and Their Critique of Institutionalized Evangelicalism

Thanks to my friend Jim Wellman at the University of Washington, here's a fun little article from Brett McCracken on what he calls "Christian Hipsters."


Armed with an M.A. in media studies from UCLA, Brett McCracken is writing a book on "cool Christianity." Sounds like a great project that strikes me as an interesting insider's perspective on the continued negotiation of culture among Evangelicals.

On his blog, McCracken provides a helpful list to see if you, too, might be a Christian Hipster. Here's a sample:

Labeled "Cool Christian." Image by jslander via Flickr

Christian hipsters tend not to like contemporary Christian music (CCM), or Christian films (except ironically), or any non-book item sold at Family Christian Stores.

They prefer “Christ follower” to “Christian” and can’t stand the phrases “soul winning” or “non-denominational,” and they could do without weird and awkward evangelistic methods including (but not limited to): sock puppets, ventriloquism, mimes, sign language, “beach evangelism,” and modern dance.

Christian hipsters like music, movies, and books that are well-respected by their respective artistic communities—Christian or not.

Christian hipsters love thinking and acting Catholic, even if they are thoroughly Protestant.

Christian hipsters love breaking the taboos that used to be taboo for Christians. They love piercings, dressing a little goth, getting lots of tattoos (the Christian Tattoo Association now lists more than 100 member shops), carrying flasks and smoking cloves.

The article (and other related posts) is a marvelous example of Evangelical deconstruction that is so prevalent among younger "churched" segments.

These acculturated Evangelicals alternately turn inside Evangelicalism and outside to the "secular" culture outside of it, back and forth, assessing and comparing, categorizing and typifying, highlighting the gaps between the derivative culture of Evangelicals in comparison with the more authentic and "lively" culture of the "regular" world outside the church.

Luther's Ninety-Five Theses. Image via Wikipedia

Much of the modern Evangelicalism I see is quick to critique anything they see as becoming institutionalized within Protestantism. Willow Creek? Institutionalized. Saddleback? Institutionalized. Promise Keepers? Institutionalized. These all become targets for systematic de-coding and endless critique.

(It's worth being reminded that Protestantism is founded on a critique of the institutionalized church.)

This work of poking fun at modern Evangelicalism is about their probing assumptions within the movement. It is one of the things modern Evangelicals do constantly. It happens in both seminary classes and Sunday pot-lucks. Witty and sarcastic, such discussions are great fun for insiders. (Discussions within the "Emerging/Emergent Church Movement" is almost entirely based on such repartee.)

But it's not meant to be only fun. For them, the continuity of the Reformation necessitates continual reflection on their own image. It is part of the work of the church. These and other younger Evangelicals value their identity and fear becoming mere caricatures of themselves. They want to beat others to the punch, and hopefully shift quickly to avoid any stigmatization.

And while they are not the only segment of Christianity to self-critique (nor the only religion), it's their use of broad cultural constructs that is interesting to me. These younger, "hip" Evangelicals tend to homogenize all Evangelicals. They leave themselves as the astute outsiders to the messes they see needing to be cleaned up.

Image by dalbera via Flickr

More tricky is that they also tend to overly homogenize the "culture" out there of modern society, or of America, or of the World. The rely on very few points of observation through the happenstance of magazine headlines, tv news segments, internet blogs, box office revenues, etc., to make grand statements. I've seen people try to out-do each other in crafting insightful conclusions. 

And since social networks tend to reinforce themselves, they often seem to see the same things, use the same terms, and define reality in similar ways.

It becomes challenging to break out of their own worldview.

Despite the crude categories and the far-too-sweeping generalizations, these self-conscious discussions are part of a serious effort to think and re-think the enactment of the mission of the church in a shifting culture. And as more of them actively integrate more nuanced analytical tools, they could become even more forceful in their self-critiques and contribute even more valid insights on the variety and nuance of dynamics happening around them.

Stimulus Religion Speculation

Please don't take this post too seriously. Playing with a few ideas for fun.

The stimulus package will worm its way through the economy in the coming years. But the effects are already being felt. For the moment, I speculate that people will be compelled to move in one of two directions - either to strive for security or to go ahead and take the risk.

Image via Wikipedia

Here's my quick thought -- For example, the loss of home value seems to indicate to me that fewer families will be willing to sell their homes to re-locate for a better job. In other words, most people will "hunker down" where they live rather than sell at a loss for another job.

That means people in this situation will strive for security rather than take the risk of moving.

On the other hand, others may be more mobile, have fewer debts, or be convinced that income opportunities elsewhere will lead them to greater economic freedom.

For these people, taking the risk is a better path than staying put for the sake of an elusive security.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

And now as to how this might relate to religion -- Just "hanging on" in the same place leads to working things through as best as you can in a crisis. In contrast, the attempt to make it in a new place, making new relationships, and trying new things seems to lead toward embracing a religious orientation that will energize more than simply comfort.

So, religion for those striving for security will focus more on comfort, companionship, and continuity. But religion for those taking the risk will focus more on insight, inspiration, and innovation.

This type of reasoning can get kind of silly, so I'm stopping. The more important speculation is to consider how the changing economy will affect religious commitment and religious practice. Is there such a thing as a stimulus religion?

Rush Limbaugh and the Scramble to Define Republicanism

Rush Limbaugh -- to the White House's delight -- is at the center of renegotiating the direction of the Republican Party.

The 36th Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) took center stage this weekend as a platform for the current thinking of the Republican Party. Speakers included Mike Huckaee, Mitch McConnell, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Ralph Reed, Bill Bennet, Ann Coulter, and others. Sort of a who's who of public conservatism today.

But the real attention-getter was the talk show host Rush Limbaugh. Now both the White House press secretary Robert Gibbs and the RNC chair Michael Steele are dancing around Limbaugh's comments.

Regardless of all other ideas and speeches during this "insider" rally for conservatives, Limbaugh's more inflammatory and provocative comments stirred up the faithful. And with no other audience than his radio listeners and no other accountability than to himself, he let the words fly.

It's a mix of rhetoric, values, and pomp that no public official could say, and the anti-Republican segment is eager to embrace the most outragious statements as speaking the "true mind" of the Republican party, even calling Limbaugh the "de facto leader" of the RNC.

So begins the problem of who gets to define the new or renewed tenets of Republicanism. The RNC Chair Michael Steele made things worse by first questioning Limbaugh on CNN, then taking it back, questioning then supporting, in an awkward move to both embrace Limbaugh (and his base) and distance himself from him.

In the past, Rush Limbaugh has escaped criticism for his comments by claiming himself to be an "entertainer." When I learned this (from an old court case on slander - sorry, can't recall which one but it was during the Clinton administration), I began to treat Limbaugh's comments as much less than serious. Gaining an audience is not the same as speaking responsibly. And as long as Limbaugh can take the "entertainer" escape hatch, there is little to keep him accountable.

Limbaugh's popularity (noteriety?) makes him an inescapable reality of modern Republicanism. But he is one segment. Limbaugh has criticized other forceful conservative voices like George Will and David Brooks. Both Will and Brooks are clear, thoughtful, and articulate, but it seems their interactions with "the Left" leave them under suspicion. Limbaugh's ideological boundaries can be very tight.

We all knew that the election of a Democrat, any Democrat, would re-charge the Limbaughs of the world. What we did not know is how effectively the White House could isolate and stigmatize the range of conservatism and how clumsy the bureaucratic leaders of the RNC would be in figuring out where they stand.

Related Articles

• The Radical Right Republicans at CPAC (dailykos.com)
• Rush Limbaugh calls on conservatives to take back nation (cnn.com)
• RNC Chair Michael Steele Denounces Rush Limbaugh: "Incendiary", "Ugly" (firedoglake.com)
• Rush Limbaugh Hits Back At Michael Steele (mydd.com)
• Steele Apologizes To Rush (oliverwillis.com)
• Steele backs down, bows to Limbaugh's authority (dailykos.com)

Señor Herberg and the Complexity of American Latino Religious Identity

Will Herberg framed much of our approach to understanding immigrant religion across the generations. But does his framework apply to the experience of American Latinos?


I was asked to contribute to a proposed book of essays on second-generation immigration -- specifically on Latinos, and specifically on their racial and religious identity. I submitted my draft this week. Looking back at the process, I found that in putting my thoughts together I was quickly overwhelmed with the complexity of the subject.

What to say in 25 pages??

Immigrants at Ellis Island. Image via Wikipedia

Well, my quick review of the research on immigrant religion suggests to me a general assumption. From Will Herberg's analysis of immigrant religion until now, scholars of immigrant religion in America generally assume that congregations are ethnically-based social structures that seal themselves off from the inter-ethnic, cross-racial interactions.

Everywhere else in daily life we expect to encounter cross-ethnic diversity like going to school, shopping at the mall, or working at a job for pay. But churches are “ethnic islands” that protect and preserve ethnically based religious cultures, even if younger generations accentuate more of their lives and identities outside of their religious commitments in comparison with their parents and grandparents.

This presents an overarching "mono-ethnic" assumption of church life. And the assumption leads us to a set of “either-or” categories. Younger generations either continue their ethnically-specific religious commitments in particular ways (often with modifications) or they abandon these religious commitments in favor of more general, more assimilated (meaning more “white”) ways of living in society—with our without a religious adherence.

As an ethnographer, I try to pay close attention to the actual context of people's lives. I want to be around ordinary people doing ordinary things to understand their ordinary actions and attitudes. And then I try to understand how their "ordinary" lives fit into "extraordinary" circumstances that allow thier lives to happen. This is part of what's been called a “lived religion” approach. It's an approach that pays close attention to history and context and provides opportunity to see the variety of ways race, ethnicity, and identity co-mingle.

Image via Wikipedia

Because of this approach, I find it difficult to say "Latino religion" or "Latino congregation" because it homogenizes the variety of Latino religions and Latino congregations that exist in the world. For example, for this chapter I returned to Mosaic, a multiethnic church in Los Angeles, to describe a congregation of Latinos who practice their religion alongside members of other ethno-racial groups. The Latinos at Mosaic regularly live out their religious commitments in constant interaction with church members who have non-Latino backgrounds including Asian, Caucasian, African-American, and other ancestral heritages.

The second-generation Latinos in this integrated congregation identify themselves as “Hispanic” yet understand come to understand their religious identities in non-ethnic ways.

Add to this the general dynamic faced by immigrants in American society. Immigrants often struggle to define their particular cultural identity in an increasingly diverse society that tries to lump them in often “unwanted and crude” categories—even among social scientists.

The Hispanic World. Image via Wikipedia

Despite the racialized climate of the United States that often force people into categories, the second generation may not seek to affirm their ethnic identity through forming “pan-Latino” designations as much as remain subject to them. While other pan-Latino groups claim individuals as their own for social or political reasons, other groups may simply label these second generations as “Hispanic” because of their ancestral heritage—even when language and other behavior move decisively away from their parent’s culture.

In day-to-day life, many Latinos simply learn to “code switch” between being “Hispanic” at home and being “non-Hispanic” and church, school, or work.

I think we all need to pay more attention to the complexity and paradox so often found within specific ethno-racial communities. By incorporating ethnographic studies of Latino congregations and adding the experience of Latino members from Mosaic in Los Angeles, I want this chapter to underscore the nuances available to those willing to grasp the diverse ways in which religion intertwines with race and ethnicity. The highly contextual nature of ethnic-designations, racial relations, and the process of forming religious identities encourages us all to attend more closely to the multiple identities that inevitably impinge on American Latinos and, in turn, to the variable reconstructions of racial, ethnic, and religious categories among all American ethnic groups across the generations.

Resources on Successful Multiracial-Multiethnic Churches

Quick post - Online resource on ethnic and racial diversity in churches.


The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship still has a series of pages my research on racial and ethnic diversity in churches.

You'll find several links and lists of resources.

You can find it all here.

Idea Camp is Live Streaming Video Starting Thurs Nite

Image via Wikipedia

Quick post:  

The innovative incubator "Idea Camp" for church leaders happening in my native Orange County, California, is streaming live video tonight and tomorrow.  Check it out for an online, front-row seat to this "unconference"  --

http://theideacamp.ning.com/

http://www.theideacamplive.com/

You might need to register yourself into the site first.