Thursday, April 17, 2003
A season for new faiths
Tallying how many people have "shifted their spiritual loyalties" is difficult, says Egon Mayer, a co-author of the American Religious Identification Survey 2001. The survey of 50,000 people, conducted by the Graduate Center of City University of New York, updated a 1990 survey on religious identity.
It also asked for the first time whether someone had changed his or her religious preference, and 16% said yes. The biggest shifts were a move to no religion, not a new faith, or a move to shed any specific label.
Such statistics are snapshots of "people on a journey that may not be over," says Ariela Keysar, another co-author of the survey, noting that 1% to 5% of people returned to their original religion.
Among "switchers," interfaith marriage seems to be a primary force, Keysar says.
Permalink
