20. The Religious Demography of the United States: Dynamics of Affi liation, Participation, and Belief

Abstract

/////////////~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ Religion is one of the cornerstone social institutions in American Society, pro- foundly impacting family relations, politics, health, and culture. Until recently, however, little systematic data were available that would enable a systematic demographic portrait of American religion. The data gap looms large because of U.S. religious diversity by denomination, race, generation, and life cycle. Further, U.S. Census data on religious affi liation and participation have not been collected for more than half a century, and the sporadic collection eff orts of the past were ill suited for the construction of a demographic profi le of American religion. Over the course of the twentieth century, scholarship on U.S. religious demography has been invigorated by the accumulation of cross-sectional surveys that enable cau- tious inferences about the dynamics of affi liation, participation, and some aspects of religious belief, and by increased attention to religious factors by demographers (Stolzenberg, Blair-Loy, and Waite 1995; Hout, Greeley, and Wilde 2001). Using data from the 1973-2002 General Social Surveys (GSS), I examine the religious market share of major religious groupings, and how this is impacted by religious switching, intermarriage, fertility, and immigration. I also explore generational and religious affi liation diff erences in these demographic pro- cesses, and diff erences in age structure and socioeconomic status. Additionally, I investigate the impact of immigration on denominational distributions—a much neglected source of religious vitality in the United States.