Here, I will look at few issues addressed in the book After the Baby Boomers and/or the US Religious Landscape Survey. Those issues caught my attention when I read those originally two years ago, but it is not an attempt to represent either reading, far from it. I decided to write them down randomly as an invitation to further speculations rather than trying grasp them in any fullness.
Different goals
After the Baby Boomers is an attempt to give a picture of the age group between 18-45 years old in connection to church and religiosity. The US Religious Landscape Survey is attempting to understand the religious reality, in connection to various factors in the society.
Staying home
The US Religious Landscape Survey does not look into whether young adults are staying with parents longer than before. This issue of parents/children connection is looked at thoroughly in the book After the Baby Boomers.
Church Shoppers and Church Hoppers
The most discussed part in the media about the Landscape Survey is the findings that 44% of church goers are affiliated to a different religion/denomination than they were born into. This trend is addressed in After the Baby Boomers as well (p 114-117) though Wuthnow’s discussion is more aimed at the church hoppers than the church shoppers that the new study brings attention to.
Economical background
Wuthnow does not look at wealth in his book. He looks at education, which is without a doubt indicator of wealth but specific attention to economical status is not given. The pew research looks at income and church affiliation in a way that is very interesting and eye opening. Affiliates of the Roman Catholic Church and to some extent Muslims seem to come from all income groups in a similar portions as the general population.
People in historical Black churches, Evangelical Churches or Jehovah Witnesses are more likely to belong to lower income groups. Mainline Protestants, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews and those groups understood to be secular (atheist, agnostic, secular unaffiliated) are more likely to be found in the higher income groups.
The findings could explain at least partly, why USA does not fit graphs, which look at the connection between GNP (Gross National Product) and religiosity.
Belief without belonging
In the Survey, the concept Religious unaffiliated is used to describe a group of people that are not affiliated with any religious group but consider themselves religious. Wuthnow uses someone else’s phrase of belief without belonging in the beginning of chapter 3. According to the new study, this group counts for 5.8% of the population in the USA, and if we look at the age group 18-29 specifically, 9% are Religious unaffiliated.
Young black people
Higher percentage of African-Americans between 18-29, are going to church than before. Both Wuthnow and the Pew Survey agree to that. However, there are more numbers to look at when considering that fact in the Landscape study. Women outnumber men in the pew 3:2 and only 33% of members of historical Black churches are married. At the same time, those attending Black churches are more likely to have children in the home then affiliates of mainline churches.
The meaning of church
Wuthnow uses a chapter in his book to describe the affect going to church has on the individual. His findings are interesting, the growing hostility towards media, the increasing opposition to abortion and increased tolerance toward gays. This issue is not looked at in the pew study.