Study Shows "Fluid and Diverse" Pattern of Faith

A comprehensive study by the Pew Forum on Religious & Public Life has shown some interesting results when it comes to the ever-changing face of American spirituality. The study relied on interviews with over 35,000 adult Americans of many different religious backgrounds, and reveals some surprising facts.

• America is seeing a constant and varied shift in religious choices, and most people seem to be unconcerned with doctrinal distinctions.
• Immigration is creating a significant amount of change within certain religious groups, particularly due to the largely Catholic population of Hispanic immigrants.
• More and more people are turning away from the faiths of their childhoods.
• The major Christian denominations, such as Protestantism, are losing members rapidly.

Another interesting factoid coming out of this report is that there are more Pagans in America than ever before. In fact, this study estimates that 0.4% of the population practices some sort of "new age" religion -- this includes Pagans, Wiccans, and other polytheistic faiths. Based on those numbers, there could -- in theory -- be over a million practicing Pagans in the US. This is quite a jump from the previous guestimate, which was around 700,000, according to a Covenant of the Goddess poll. Certainly the shift in numbers could have something to do with more people coming out of the broom closet, but it may also be that more folks are willing to embrace non-mainstream faiths than previously.

Paganism and Wicca aside, the entire report is worth reading, particularly when you break things down into smaller categories. I suspect that long-term, this study is going to have a huge impact on how many people view the religious face of this country.