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The most popular religion is…
What is the most popular religion in the United States?
PRRI released it’s research on what it calls the Census of American Religion back in July of last year. It shows that Christianity has the largest number of adherents and that within this, white evangelicals were still the largest group. However, there continues to be a decline in religiosity in the US.
None of this surprising or new.
But it leaves me wondering some things. I’m not convinced that we’re getting an accurate picture of religions in the US.
The American Heritage Dictionary defines religion the following way:
- The belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers, regarded as creating and governing the universe.
- A particular variety of such belief, especially when organized into a system of doctrine and practice.
- A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader.
When I read that, I wonder if PRRI had limited itself to more traditional and expected forms of religion.
Nowhere in the research did PRRI take into Civil Religion. We can call it a number of things, but the simple way to express it is Americanism. It’s the belief that America is special and holy and ordained by God. It ties God and specifically Jesus to America. It often equates American values with Jesus’ values. Often adherents to this put a type of faith of salvation in the nation —…
