VENTURA, CA:
FROM YEAR to year it is difficult to notice much change in people's religious behaviour. But a new nationwide survey completed by The Barna Group, a research firm in Ventura, California, indicates that there have been some significant shifts in religious behaviour during the past decade and especially in the western states.
NATIONAL NUMBERS
The Barna Group has been conducting an annual tracking survey of the nation's religious behaviour for two decades. This year's study, completed in mid-February, shows that there was no change over the past decade in four of the behaviours measured, but significant change related to three behaviours.
The Barna Group, Ltd., and its research division (The Barna Research Group) is an independent cultural analysis and strategic consulting firm located in Ventura, California. Since 1984, it has been studying cultural trends related to values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours.
The data for the annual religious beliefs and behaviour tracking survey by The Barna Group are based on telephone interviews with a nationwide random sample of 1014 adults conducted in late January and early February of 2004. The maximum margin of sampling error associated with the aggregate sample is ±3 percentage points at the 95 per cent confidence level. All non-institutionalised adults in the 48 continental states were eligible to be interviewed and the distribution of respondents coincided with the geographic dispersion of the U.S. adult population. The data were subjected to slight statistical weighting procedures to calibrate the survey base to national ethnic and gender proportions. Households selected for inclusion in the survey sample received multiple callbacks to increase the probability of obtaining a representative distribution of adults.
"Born again Christians" were defined in these surveys as people who said they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today and who also indicated they believe that when they die they will go to Heaven because they had confessed their sins and had accepted Jesus Christ as their saviour. Respondents were not asked to describe themselves as "born again". Being "born again" is not dependent upon any church or denominational affiliation or involvement.
One change discovered related to Bible reading, which climbed to 44 per cent of adults reading from the Bible during the past week (other than while at church), up from 37 per cent in 1994 and 36 per cent in 1999. Bible reading jumped most noticeably among Protestants (up from 47 per cent in 1994 to 59 per cent in 2004) and
residents of the west coast states (California, Oregon, and Washington rising from 29 per cent a decade ago to 44 per cent today).
Another shift was in participation in small groups that meet during the week for the purpose of prayer, Bible study or spiritual fellowship, excluding Sunday school or other church classes. In 1994, just 12 per cent of adults engaged in such a meeting during the previous week; currently, 20 per cent of adults do so. The biggest increase was evident among men (a 100 per cent leap, to 18 per cent of all men); people 58 or older (more than double, from 14 per cent to 29 per cent); Protestants (increasing from 17 per cent to 28 per cent); and residents of the West (up from 11 per cent to 26 per cent).
The final area of growth concerned prayer. While Barna studies did not track personal prayer in 1994, the 1999 statistic was 77 per cent, compared to the current measurement of 83 per cent who prayed to God during the past week. The biggest increases in prayer activity were seen among residents of the Northeast (71 per cent in 1999, 80 per cent in 2004) and those who call themselves atheist or agnostic (doubled from 20 per cent in 1999 to 39 per cent in 2004).
The religious behaviours that have remained flat over the past decade include church attendance (42 per cent in 1994, 43 per cent in 2004); volunteering to help a church (25 per cent in 1994, 24 per cent in 2004); attending adult Sunday school classes (21 per cent in 1994 and 2004); and sharing one's faith in Jesus Christ with non-believers (58 per cent in 1999, 55 per cent in 2004 a behaviour measured only among born-again Christians).
The research report indicated that despite the unchanged percentage of worship attendees during the past decade, the continued population growth in the United States has ushered in a flood of additional worshipers. Census data suggest that the national population has grown by nearly 30 million people in the last ten years. After accounting for the proportion who are children, churches have reaped the benefit of an additional 22 million adults who are available to attend services, with an estimated 9 million showing up in church on a given Sunday in 2004, thanks to the continued growth of the U.S. population.
SOME GROUPS ARE CHANGING
Several demographic groups have undergone considerable change in their religious habits over the past decade. Most notable, as indicated, are residents of the western states. Those adults have shown statistically significant shifts in Bible reading (up 52 per cent since 1994); church attendance (24 per cent rise in the past decade); and participation in a small group (136 per cent jump in ten years). In contrast, adults living in the Northeast have shown the least change across the eight factors tracked. Significant gains were also found regarding Bible reading in the Midwest (up 21 per cent); church attendance in the Midwest (21 per cent rise); and small group involvement in the Midwest (64 per cent growth).
Substantial change was also registered among people 58 and older. During the past decade, as that group has aged they have become more involved in reading the Bible (up 17 per cent); attending Sunday school (up 33 per cent); and small group participation (up 107 per cent). Protestants have also been notably more likely than Catholics to pick up the pace of their spiritual activity. The biggest activity gains for Protestants came in the areas of Bible reading (23 per cent gain) and small group participation (65 per cent growth). Catholics showed small gains in areas such as Bible reading, church attendance, prayer and small groups, but their increases were dwarfed by those registered among Protestants.
BEHAVIOURAL PATTERNS ARE EVIDENT
Men gave evidence of the most inconsistent religious behaviour, growing in a few areas while declining in others. For instance, while men showed increases in Bible reading (up 15 per cent since 1994), church attendance (10 per cent), and small group involvement (100 per cent), they were less active now than five years ago in sharing their faith in Christ (down 14 per cent). There was no change in either their volunteerism or Sunday school attendance.
Looking at the overall patterns, women are consistently more likely than men to engage in religious behaviour. Women had higher participation numbers related to Bible reading (49 per cent versus 38 per cent, respectively); church attendance (47 per cent vs. 39 per cent); church volunteerism (28 per cent vs. 21 per cent); Sunday school attendance (25 per cent vs. 18 per cent); and small group participation (21 per cent vs. 18 per cent).
Similarly, generational differences are readily apparent. Virtually across-the-board, older adults were more heavily involved than Baby Boomers, who in turn were more involved than Baby Busters were. The only behaviour for which there was an increase in Buster involvement over the past decade was Bible reading (up from 28 per cent in 1994 to 37 per cent this year).
Protestants and Catholics had equivalent levels of church attendance and prayer, but Protestants were more heavily involved in each of the other five behaviours examined.
Ethnic and racial background also reflected a regular pattern, with blacks more heavily involved than whites, who in turn were more likely to engage in a given religious behaviour than were Hispanics. The survey also pointed out that while the percentage of Hispanics who are Catholic continues to decline, a plurality still consider themselves to be Catholic (46 per cent), compared to 33 per cent who claim to be Protestant.
Regionally, the South remains the area most heavily associated with religious activities. Residents of the South were the most likely to participate in five of the seven endeavours studied, the exceptions being participation in small groups and evangelism (both of which were championed by western residents). In general, people from the Midwest and West were less likely than Southerners but more likely than people in the Northeast to engage in a given religious behaviour.
IS THIS THE START
OF A SPIRITUAL REVIVAL?
The geography of behavioural
change led the study director, George Barna, to raise an intriguing possibility. "If you study how behavioural trends evolve in America, they usually start in the west, take hold in the northeast, then infiltrate the interior of the nation. The fact that we are witnessing slow but steady development of more traditional religious behaviour in the western states raises the possibility that over the coming decade we will see commitment
to such behaviour take root in the
heartland, as well."
Barna also mentioned additional data that will soon be released from the survey. "Looking ahead at some of the other findings now being analysed from our annual tracking survey, we find that in spite of increased religious behaviour on several fronts, there is no concurrent rise in the percentage of adults who have embraced Jesus Christ as their saviour that is, no parallel rise in the proportion who are 'born again.' Churches face an imposing challenge: to not allow people to substitute religious busyness for genuine spiritual transformation."
One interesting facet related to the behaviours growing in popularity, according to Barna, was their non-church nature. "Notice that the growth activities Bible reading, prayer, small groups are those that do not take place at a church. The church-oriented endeavours attending services, volunteering in church programs, Sunday school participation showed no movement. This may be an early warning sign that we are entering a new era of spiritual experience one that is more tribal or individualised than congregational in nature."
Taken from the March 1, 2004
edition of the Barna Update a
publication of the Barna Research Group (www.barna.org).
