Study finds even more U.S. religion switching
By Cathy Lynn Grossman
USA TODAY
More than half of all Americans have changed religions at least once, according to what researchers say is the most in-depth analysis to date of religious switching. And that may be “a conservative estimate,” says Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
Pew's survey, released Monday, is based on re-contacting 2,800 people from its U.S. Religious Landscape Survey of 35,000 people, released last year. Pew estimated at the time that about 44% of Americans have changed religions. It now says between 47% and 59% have, if you count the millions who once switched but have returned to their childhood faith.
Key findings:
•The reasons people give for changing their religion — or leaving altogether — differ widely: 71% of Catholics and nearly 60% of Protestants who switched didn't think their spiritual needs were being met, liked another faith more or changed their religious or moral beliefs.
•Most switched early, committing to one faith by age 36.
•Catholicism has suffered the greatest loss in numbers: 10% of U.S. adults have quit the church, while 2.6% have joined. Two in three who left say they left the church because they “stopped believing” Catholic teachings. The sex abuse scandal was a factor for fewer than three in 10.
•Life circumstances, not doctrinal differences, prompt most Protestants who switch denominations (Baptist to Methodist, for example). Moving or marrying someone of a different tradition are the most-cited reasons.
•Many who quit going to church say they see religious people as hypocritical or judgmental, churches focus too much on rules or their leaders focus too much on power and money.
•Among the 16% now unaffiliated with any religion, most are former Protestants and Catholics; about 70% “just gradually drifted away.”
•About 9% of those who left their childhood faith returned.
•Religious education or youth group participation seemed to make no dent, although people who say they participated frequently in worship services or Mass were less likely to switch.
John Green, a Pew senior fellow, sees no simple answer for retaining members in “a competitive religious marketplace.” The findings “suggest that one thing that might be needed to recruit and keep members is vibrant and vital congregations — a tough thing to create.”
The survey, conducted Oct. 3-Nov 7, focused on Catholics, Protestants and the unaffiliated. There were too few converts to or from other religions to analyze, researchers say.
Lugo says the findings present opportunities for churches, which have seen “a decrease in brand loyalty”— especially among “spiritual but not religious” Americans. “These are folks that are, in some sense, 'catchable.' “
