Pew Study: African Americans more religious than overall population
A Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life study released today reports the following:
Compared with other racial and ethnic groups, African-Americans are among the most likely to report a formal religious affiliation, with fully 87% of African-Americans describing themselves as belonging to one religious group or another. The analysis also finds that nearly eight-in-ten African-Americans (79%) say religion is very important in their lives, compared with 56% among all U.S. adults.
These are among many findings of the new Pew Forum analysis detailing the unique nature of religion in the African-American community. Other highlights include:
· A large majority of African-Americans who are unaffiliated with any particular faith (72%) say religion plays at least a somewhat important role in their lives; nearly half (45%) of unaffiliated African-Americans say religion is very important in their lives, roughly three times the percentage who says this among the religiously unaffiliated population overall (16%).
· African-Americans express a high degree of comfort with religion’s role in politics, with roughly six-in-ten saying that houses of worship should express their views on social and political topics and roughly half saying that there has been too little expression of faith and prayer by political leaders. At the same time, most African-Americans support certain restrictions on the mingling of politics and religious institutions, with nearly six-in-ten (58%) saying that churches and other houses of worship should refrain from endorsing political candidates.
· The link between religion and some social and political attitudes in the African-American community is similar to that seen among the population overall. For instance, just as in the general public, African-Americans who are more religiously observant are more likely to oppose abortion and homosexuality and more likely to report higher levels of conservative ideology.
· On a variety of other questions, including political party identification and opinions about the proper role of government in providing services to the citizenry and assistance to the poor, there are few differences in the views of African-Americans across religious groups. Perhaps most strikingly, the partisan leanings of African-Americans from every religious background tilt heavily in the Democratic direction.
The analysis is based on the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, conducted by the Pew Forum in 2007 and released in 2008, as well as other Pew Research Center surveys.
Click here to read the study.
Anthony Bradley, 36, is assistant professor of apologetics and systematic theology at Covenant Theological Seminary (Creve Coeur) and Research Fellow at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty. He holds a PhD in Historical and Theological Studies from Westminster Theological Seminary and is frequently called upon by members of the broadcast media for comment on current issues and has appeared on NPR, CNN/Headline News, and Fox News, among others. 
Interesting that these stats haven’t changed much since I studied this sort of thing back in college in the late 80’s. Makes you wonder though why secularists and those on the political left tend to focus their criticism almost exclusively on religious whites when it comes to religious/social issues. Case in point the recent approval of Proposition 8 in California banning recognition of gay marriage. Hispanics and blacks voted for the proposition in overwhelming numbers, yet you don’t see them subjected to any of the hate-filled rhetoric and intimidation the left and militant gay activists have directed toward whites and Mormons. If it were only religious whites who voted yes, the measure would have been resoundingly defeated.
And I’ve always been puzzled what American blacks and more recent Hispanic immigrants find so compelling about the socially liberal Democrats. They share almost none of the same values yet Democratic pandering for votes to those groups has been generally effective.
This study reflects what I have noticed among people I have known in my life. Interesting study.
It proves what I have seen. Our country is greatly benefited by the faith of African Americans. I am personally moved and inspired by the faith of this community.
Thank you for sharing!
Dana
Interesting item.
GoFish: please try using other sources of information besides Fox “News” and the hard right wing hate talkers. Regarding the anti-gay marriage vote in California, please consider the analysis of the well-respected site: FiveThirtyEight: but it would surprise me if their votes weren’t fairly close to the 50-50 mark.
“At the end of the day, Prop 8’s passage was more a generational matter than a racial one…Furthermore, it would be premature to say that new Latino and black voters were responsible for Prop 8’s passage. Latinos aged 18-29 (not strictly the same as ‘new’ voters, but the closest available proxy) voted against Prop 8 by a 59-41 margin. These figures are not available for young black voters, but it would surprise me if their votes weren’t fairly close to the 50-50 mark.” (This is from the 11-8-08 analysis.)
In other words, the vote against marriage equality had more to do with age than race. Older people, of any race, are more likely to fear marriage equality. Just look at the voting trendlines over the past decade. Younger folks are less rigid in general, which bodes ill for the corporate, mostly male, mostly pale, and always stale elite!
Am I the only one who tires of these race-based surveys? It just serves to seperate and does little to educate.
By the way, what is the definition of religious? Is it based on the so-called “formal religious affiliation”? I have many relatives who would say they are Baptist when asked about their “religious affiliation” but have seen the inside of a jail cell more than they have seen the inside of a church in the past decade.
I totally agree with suzyjax and with Jesus, who said we would know the tree by its fruit. Those who align themselves with Jesus, or practically any other major faith, but ignore the central statements about doing good for others, helping the poor, feeding the hungry, comforting those(rather than waterboarding)in prison, etc. are simply hypocrites. Intolerant elitist leaders, like our former archbishop or bigots like the late Jerry Falwell(who said the civil rights movement should be instead called the civil “wrongs” movement)like to wrap themselves up in our beloved country’s flag and in the vestments of our faiths, while advancing an outdated, misogynistic, patriarchal agenda. The original Christian community of faith was a radical, egalitarian and non-sexist group–practically the polar opposite of institutionalized Christianity today.
whiterose, what does it say again the Bible about passing judgement and casting stones and things like that? Refresh my memory if you would please.
Tim, we all need to look in the mirror from time to time. We should all take our Bibles out and read starting at the 23rd chapter of Matthew and ask ourselves if we are doing all the things that are demanded of believers for each other. This applies to us not only as individuals but as a nation.
Whiterose is correct: Biblical Christianity IS radical, socialist, and egalitarian. Be careful what you say you want to create, you might not like it.
hs: thank you.
To Tim: here’s a referenced source for you from the New Testament: Matthew 25: 35-46. Please explain to me how waterboarding can sit well with those who sit in pews. God Bless You!
That’s a great passage whiterose, and is entirely beside the point. You didn’t answer my question.
I don’t disagree hs that we all need to do that as individuals and as a nation. Or, as a nation OF individuals to be more precise, since the nation as its own entity is not necessarily tasked with such responsibilities.
You guys are going to have to define what exactly you mean by socialist. The definition I am aware of does not jive with anything you are saying…