The Pearly Gates Are Wide Open

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Most Americans describe themselves as pretty traditional. We tried to get at that question a few different ways. First, we asked directly-if they consider themselves traditional or not. Twenty-five percent said they were either "not traditional" or "on the cutting edge," while the remainder said they were either somewhat or very traditional. Then we asked whether they were "spiritual" or "religious" or some combination. Twenty-four percent said "spiritual but not religious" while 76% said either "religious and spiritual" (55%) or "religious but not spiritual" (9%). We also asked whether they were likely to borrow bits of spiritual wisdom or ritual from other practices. Thirty-two percent said sometimes or often while 66% said hardly ever or never.

Most American families have experienced religious diversity up close. We attempted to assess a typical American's exposure to other faiths or spiritual approaches. In all 42% of Americans either have a different approach from their childhood, saw a sibling shift approaches, or married someone of a different faith. These overall numbers don't explain how these changes might have affected them but it does mean that a large number of Americans have had very personal and direct experience with some religious approach that's different from their original spiritual practice.

We are all intelligent designers. Eighty percent of the population believe that the universe was created by God; only 10% do not. This would seem to indicate that many of those who advocate the teaching of evolution in school do, nonetheless, believe that the universe was created by God.

We are selfless pray-ers. Most people do not spend the majority of their prayer life trying to get God to do something for them. The most common purposes of prayer were "to seek God's guidance," to "thank God" or to "be close to God." Only 9% said it was to "improve a person's life."

Evangelicals love big churches and small groups. Much has been made of the rise of large stadium-sized churches for evangelical Christians. But 61% of evangelicals said they participate in some sort of religious activity outside traditional church at least once a week (compared to 35% for non-evangelical protestants and 35% of Catholics).

There's a big generation gap. In general, younger people are more experimental, less traditional, less Christian-and less passionate about their spiritual lives. While 63% of people aged 40-59 said spirituality was "very important" in their daily lives, 44% of those ages 18-39 said so. Ninety percent of the older group said they were Christian, while 77% of the younger group did. Before the older folks get too worried about kids today, remember that people tend to get more religious as they age.