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Monday, December 29, 2003

Darrell Scott's address to the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee concerning the Columbine High School shootings

Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers.

The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.

In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent.

I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy -- it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves.

I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best. This was written before I knew I would be speaking here today:

Your laws ignore our deepest needs, Your words are empty air.
You've stripped away our heritage, You've outlawed simple prayer.
Now gunshots fill our classrooms, And precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere, And ask the question "Why?"
You regulate restrictive laws, Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand, That God is what we need!

Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, soul, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs - politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws.

Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts. Political posturing and restrictive legislation are not the answers. The young people of our nation hold the key. There is a spiritual awakening taking place that will not be squelched! We do not need more religion. We do not need more gaudy television evangelists spewing out verbal religious garbage. We do not need more million dollar church buildings built while people with basic needs are being ignored. We do need a change of heart and a humble acknowledgment that this nation was founded on the principle of simple trust in God!

As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes - He did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America, and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA - I give to you a sincere challenge. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone! My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!

-- Darrell Scott's address to the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee.

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Got the holiday blues? Try counting blessings

Particularly around the holidays, people can create unrealistic expectations for themselves and their loved ones.

But counting your blessings really does help ward off the holiday blues, according to a series of experiments at the University of California at Davis.

"Because gratitude is focused on the present and the past, it aligns your expectations closer to reality," according to psychology Professor Robert Emmons. He co- edited "The Psychology of Gratitude," to be released next month, a book based on experiments in mood improvement.

In one set of observations, college students kept a diary, with some instructed to write about how they felt grateful and others told to concentrate on daily hassles or routine events.

There were fewer illnesses among the "gratitude" group, which also reported exercising more and offering more emo-tional support to others, Emmons and co-author Michael E. McCullough wrote in the February issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, at which Emmons is a consulting editor.

In an experiment with people with neuromuscular diseases, researchers found that emphasizing gratefulness improved satisfaction with their lives, as well as their amount and quality of sleep. That study involved observations from the participants and family members.

The experiments have relevance for the stressful holiday season, Emmons said in statements released by UC Davis.

"Feeling gratitude reduces unpleasant feelings like envy, resentment and regret that rob people of happiness," he said.

Outlook and perception largely determine how people respond emotionally to negative events, said Emmons, who has been studying human happiness for nearly 20 years. He also is a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of the Psychology of Religion, and author of "The Psychology of Ultimate Concerns: Motivation and Spirituality in Personality."

A second set of UC Davis researchers found that people's health can be affected by their outlook on life.

Hostility, for instance, can be as big a risk factor as smoking for heart disease in people in their 40s, while anxiety has been associated with sudden cardiac arrest, wrote Carolyn Aldwin and Diane Gilmer, human development researchers at the university.

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Friday, December 26, 2003

U.S. JESUS POLL SPARKS DEBATE

Americans, for the most part, believe in the historical reality of Jesus.

An Ohio University survey of 1,054 U.S. adults revealed that 75 percent "absolutely believe" that Jesus was a real person. Only 5 percent "do not believe" he was an historical reality.

But what Americans accept about Jesus is much more complex.

Nearly one out of five people don't believe that Jesus was born to the Virgin Mary. Sixty percent said they "absolutely believe" Jesus was born to a virgin, 16 percent mostly believe and 5 percent are uncertain.

Americans have more confidence that Jesus "died and rose from the dead," with 63 percent saying they believe the traditional Easter story.

But those polled were more likely to conclude that "Jesus was the son of God" - 69 percent - than to believe the biblical accounts of his birth and death.

The survey results prompted deep disagreement among prominent U.S. theologians.

"This shows a glaring inconsistency in the American mind: to hold that Jesus was divine but that he did not rise from the dead or was born of a virgin," said the Rev. Al Mohler, head of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

But Marcus Borg - distinguished professor of religion and culture at Oregon State University - said the poll shows that many Americans are re-evaluating the traditional, literal interpretations of Jesus.

"There are a growing number of Christians who understand the story of Jesus' birth and resurrection as metaphoric and symbolic," said Borg. "They want to take the Bible seriously, but not literally."

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Thursday, December 25, 2003

Poll: Women more religious

A recent Gallup Poll suggests that American women cherish their faith more and are more active in their congregations than men. The poll of about 1,000 American adults conducted last month found that 69 percent of women think religion is a very important part of their lives while only 53 percent of men feel the same. And 48 percent of women polled said they had attended worship services at least once in the past week, compared with 37 percent of men.

The number of men and women attending services typically is higher around Christmas and other religious holidays, but some think that throughout the year the disparity between men's and women's religious experiences suggest that old family traditions have yet to fade away.

Ann Herda-Rapp, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin Marathon County, said religion's role in the family may explain why more women attend religious services.

"Historically women have been the keepers of tradition in the family and have been primarily responsible for home and family," she said. "I don't know how true that is today, but the poll might reflect some of that."

Even with more women in the workplace than decades ago, women still might feel the pull of family responsibilities, including a child's spiritual development. But Herda-Rapp was surprised by the difference in how important men and women view religion in their lives today. Decades ago, religion was seen by Americans as an organizational affiliation or personal obligation.

"Now we think of it more in terms of individual fulfillment," she said, and she would have expected its importance to be similar between both genders.

People experience religion differently now than they once did, but changes in tradition don't happen overnight, said the Rev. Carolyn Saunders of Christ United Methodist Church in Merrill and Wildwood Chapel near Gleason.

"What I see is that indeed women are more involved (than men) in the life of the church, and that's been a historic fact," Saunders said. "When I was growing up, women were involved in the church and women had the responsibility of making sure the children were raised in the church. And I think our culture and our society in those days said, 'Men have other responsibilities.'"

Saunders still sees the church as a "predominantly female organization," but more young men and young fathers are getting involved in the church community.

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Wednesday, December 24, 2003

Belief in Angels increasing

Angels feature in Christian, Jewish and Muslim culture. In the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, angels announce the birth of Jesus and the New Testament recounts angels at every major event in Christ’s life to the Resurrection.

A recent survey reported that more than 75 per cent of Americans believed in angels and tapping into that belief is the most talked about show on US television this year. More than 4.5 million viewers sat down to enjoy a spectacular six-hour Mike Nichols television version of Tony Kushner’s play Angels in America on HBO.

Other New Testament writers also speak of angels. St Paul assigns them ranks. He lists seven groups: angels, archangels, principalities, powers, virtues, dominions, and thrones. The Old Testament had spoken of only two orders: cherubim and seraphim - the latter is Hebrew for the "burning ones".

In Dante’s Divine Comedy angels appear as both messengers and guardians. By the Middle Ages Christian theology had developed an elaborate hierarchy of angels, who were associated with God, and fallen angels, or demons, who were led by Satan. Satan himself was considered the original fallen angel.

Angels and demons play similar roles in Islam and are often mentioned in the holy book, the Koran. Archangels were of higher rank than angels. In Jewish and Christian literature the four main archangels are Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel. In Islam, it is believed that four archangels guard the throne of Allah.

Terror, war and disease have been the hallmarks of the start of the third millennium. As church attendance faded at the end of the 20th century, faith and superstition were said to be on the way out.

But as the world has become more uncertain, the scramble for meaning and security has prompted a resurgence in religious belief.

A joint study conducted by Scripps Howard News Service and the EW Scripps School of Journalism, along with Ohio University, revealed that substantial numbers of Americans believe in angels. The survey asked 1,127 adults about their attitudes concerning angels.

Belief in angelic beings cuts across almost all ranges of education, income and lifestyle, says researcher Thomas Hargrove. "Women and young people are slightly more likely to believe than are men or older Americans, but a majority of almost every demographic group has faith in these supernatural beings."

Education did not seem to make a substantial difference in terms of willingness to believe. High school graduates were slightly more willing to believe in angels than their non-graduate counterparts (80 per cent to 77 per cent respectively). Students were even more likely to accept the proposition that heavenly beings visit earth (82 per cent), with graduates slightly less credulous at 74 per cent. But only 63 per cent of postgraduate students believed.

Respondents were asked: "Do you believe angels, that is, some kind of heavenly beings who visit Earth, in fact exist?" Seventy-seven per cent said yes, with 81 per cent of women answering yes and 72 per cent of men agreeing.

Church attendance and denominational affiliation were factors, with 90 per cent of those who attended church "recently" saying that they believed in angelic visitations. Born-again Christians were the most likely group to believe, at 92 per cent. Protestants and Roman Catholics displayed comparable rates of belief (83 per cent and 82 per cent respectively), with Jews less likely to answer in the affirmative, at 32 per cent.

Robert Graves, author of The Gospel According to Angels, says: "This is not specifically about Christianity, but rather a more general interest in spirituality. I believe interest in angels is healthy in the sense that if offers an opportunity to discuss spiritual matters."

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Monday, December 22, 2003

Spiritual Behavior of Physicians

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Doctors are not likely to ask patients about their spiritual needs or involve themselves with religious issues on the job, find researchers who surveyed physicians in North Carolina, Vermont and Florida.

The increasingly holistic approach to health care seen over the past few decades in America has led to much debate in medical circles about the role of the physician in addressing the spiritual and religious needs of patients. Evidence suggests many patients would like their doctors to get more involved, even to the point of joining them in prayer. Studies show many doctors believe they should be aware of spiritual issues, but most surveys on the issue have only involved family physicians.

This study, published in this monthâ€™s Archives of Internal Medicine, questioned both family physicians and internists about their spiritual behaviors with patients. Around 475 doctors responded to the survey.

About 85 percent of the physicians reported believing they should be aware of their patientsâ€™ spirituality, but most said they would not actually bring it up with a patient unless the patient was near death. Less than a third of the respondents said they would actually pray with a patient, even if that patient were dying. However, if directly asked to participate in prayer with a patient, about three quarters said they would take part. Family practice doctors were more likely to take a spiritual history of their patients than internists.

The authors write, â€œIn our study, despite a general reluctance to be involved in patientsâ€™ religious and spiritual life, physicians appeared to be willing to fulfill patient requests regarding their religious and spiritual needs. With specific patient request, most physicians agreed to silent prayer for or prayer with patients in all clinical settings.â€?

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Friday, December 19, 2003

Is God reshaping -- and reviving -- his church?

There is a growing universal awareness that God is leading His church in some new and surprising directions, as it seeks to reach a postmodern culture. The end result, say many observers, may well be a radically transformed church.

"People have rejected what we've shown them as the church, but I'm not sure what we've shown them has to be the only way that we do church," says Cam Roxburgh, the senior pastor of Southside Community Church in Surrey and the B.C. regional coordinator of Church Planting Canada.

"For too long we've defined 'local church' as a place where I go on Sunday morning to attend a religious service, and oftentimes the bigger the better.

"I don't want to rip that apart, because so many good things have been done through that model, but I'm not sure that's the approach that's going to win the day in our country over the next generation or two."

Roxburgh believes part of the answer lies in motivating the church body to go out and consciously build relationships. "We've got to be a group of people who infiltrate neighbourhoods -- and that's bound to make 'church' look a whole lot different," he says.

"So why can't it look like a series of home churches, or be held in a coffee shop more than under a steeple?"

"We must learn to live without a building," says Vancouver-area church planter Tom Tan. "Right now, churches are leaving the city. We have to go back to the city to reach the lost there. And facilities are expensive for a city church."

It is a way of "doing" church that can take many forms. In Montreal, for example, a group of Quebec Roman Catholics began meeting in October with the blessing of the archdiocese for a non-traditional Mass called the 'Repas de Fraternite.' As the Montreal Gazette reported, they gather for "family-like meals" that also include "Scripture readings, singing and discussion, often in the absence of a priest."

A manifesto signed by about 110 Catholics states that these meals counteract what they regard as the failure of the traditional Eucharist to fulfill its original purpose of building community within the church. "A church that no longer embodied community would run the risk of becoming a [mere] religion, providing ceremonies and other services to people who hardly know one another, if at all," the manifesto states.

Dr. Eddie Gibbs, who teaches church growth at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, says such "intensely eucharistic" meals -- in homes, but also in restaurants and cafes -- are becoming a key feature of these new churches.

"In the context of the meal, the bread is broken and the wine is blessed," he says. "It is a participation; it is a means of grace. It can be powerfully evangelistic, because we are engaging with cultures which are rich in symbolic action. We've got to re-discover the power of symbol and the power of metaphor.

"And we're always just glancing sideways and making room, because there are lots of lonely people out there."

New churches are also springing up on university campuses, as students show a renewed interest in developing their spirituality.

"It is quite broadly characteristic of post-modernity and the emerging generation, where the skepticism of all things institutional -- government, business and the church -- continues to be very high," says Murray Moerman, director of national church planting strategy for Outreach Canada.

Yet to the unchurched student, he adds, most of these churches will seem no different than a Christian club. "If you pop your head into one room or the other, it still looks like 30 people sitting haphazardly on various kinds of furniture in a relaxed way. They're both involved in Bible study groups, worship, discipleship.

"The way that you can tell the difference," says Moerman, "is that the church views itself as permanent and intending to reproduce, whereas Christian clubs tend to view themselves as seasonal, and therefore not as focused on leadership and reproduction."

"I thought the barriers to mission were the big, bad cities," Dr. Ray Bakke, executive director of International Urban Associates, wrote in a recent article. "But 90 percent of the barriers to reaching cities are not in the city at all; they are inside our churches, things like, 'Our bishop would never let us get away with that,' or, 'They'll call us liberal if we do that,' or, 'We can't do that, the seminary didn't prepare me for that.' The barriers are inside our structures: the knowledge base, the intimidation factors of our churches -- these are the things that keep us from reaching cities."

Gibbs agrees, though not entirely. "There are some institutional churches that find their identity and their security in their traditions. And at that point, they become highly resistant," he says.

"But then there are other churches in mainline traditional denominations that get it. They see that maintenance is no longer an option, that they must engage in mission and are prepared to pay the price to do whatever it takes to re-engage their cultural context."

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Many Americans Still Wonder about Nature of Jesus

Who was Jesus?

Americans, for the most part, believe in the historical reality of the itinerate Jewish rabbi who nearly 2,000 years ago proclaimed the coming of the kingdom of God to his friends and neighbors in Judean towns along the Sea of Galilee.

A survey of 1,054 adult residents of the United States conducted by Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University found that 75 percent "absolutely believe" that Jesus was a real person. Sixteen percent said they "mostly believe" in his historical reality, 5 percent "do not believe" and 4 percent were uncertain.

Nearly one out of five people don't believe that Jesus was born to the Virgin Mary, one of the central points in the traditional story but the most disputed idea in the survey. Sixty percent said they "absolutely believe" Jesus was born to a virgin, 16 percent mostly believe and 5 percent are uncertain.

Americans have slightly more confidence that Jesus "died and physically rose from the dead," with 63 percent saying they "absolutely believe" this central theme of the Easter story. But, surprisingly, adults in the poll were more likely to conclude that "Jesus was the son of God" and that "Jesus was divine" - for which absolute belief was at 69 percent and 67 percent, respectively - than to believe the biblical accounts of his birth and death.

"This shows a glaring inconsistency in the American mind to hold that Jesus was divine but that he did not rise from the dead or was born of a virgin," said the Rev. Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

Marcus Borg - distinguished professor of religion and culture at Oregon State University - said the poll shows that many Americans are re-evaluating past, literal interpretations of Jesus.

"There are a growing number of Christians who understand the story of Jesus' birth and resurrection as metaphoric and symbolic," said Borg. "There are millions of Christians and former Christians who simply can't be biblical literalists or absolutists. They want to take the Bible seriously, but not literally."

Although many Americans discount some of the claims about Jesus, both liberal and conservative theologians point to the overall finding in the poll that most Americans still believe in Christianity's core traditions: that Jesus was the physical incarnation of God and that he experienced bodily resurrection following his crucifixion. Fifty-one percent said they believed all five attributes of Jesus that were tested in the study.

But liberal and conservative theologians also noted that a significant number do not strictly adhere to the Nicene Creed, the statement of faith first adopted by Christian bishops in 325 A.D. Most Americans have recited that famous creed beginning with: "We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. ..."

The survey found significant differences between a belief that "Jesus was the son of God" and that "Jesus was divine." More than 110 people in the poll reacted to the two statements differently, with many accepting that Jesus was God's son but less certain of his divinity.

"That's very interesting because it was once an enormous issue, the most divisive struggle in the church's early history," said Richard Rubenstein, professor of conflict resolution at George Mason University and author of "When Jesus Became God," about the tempestuous Council of Nicaea.

"I've given a lot of talks among church groups and I'm surprised by how many Christians have questions about this," said Rubenstein, who is Jewish. "People come up to me to say that they are still trying to figure it (the nature of Jesus) out. The mystery of the Trinity is not universally accepted today, which surprises me."

The survey was conducted at the Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio University.

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Thursday, December 11, 2003

Surfing the Web Gets Spiritual

The results of a survey of 2,600 U.S. teens released today indicate that far more teens visit religious Web sites than pornographic sites.

According to the UNC Chapel Hill findings, 5 percent of teens said they use the Internet to access pornographic sites a few times each month or more -- compared to 17 percent who said they search for something spiritual.

Teachers, rejoice. More than 75 percent of teens ages 13 to 17 with access to the Internet said they use it to help with homework -- by far the most prevalent use of the Internet among U.S. youth surveyed.

UNC sociology professor Christian Smith is heartened by the findings, touted by UNC as the first major study on the importance of the Internet to teens interested in spirituality. "It shows that teens at least are more interested in spiritual things, religious issues, matters of their own faith," Smith said. "We are in the midst of a digital revolution right now, and it will be very interesting to see how successfully and carefully religions use the Internet and other new technologies for their own purposes."

Perhaps not surprisingly, the more religious the teens, the less they say they go where they shouldn't. Three percent of teens who said their faith is extremely important to them admitted to visiting pornographic sites a few times a month or more. Fourteen percent of those who said their faith is not at all important to them admitted to visiting pornographic sites.

The telephone survey of teens in all 50 states was conducted last year. Perhaps the least surprising finding was the power of the Internet--8 out of 10 teens say they have Internet access.

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Saturday, December 06, 2003

Most people sure there's a heaven, poll suggests

Just as there's no consensus on what God is, does or looks like, there is no single model of heaven. While most Americans say they believe in some sort of afterlife, those beliefs don't necessarily tie in with the teachings of any particular religion. Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Baha'i — the list of traditional visions of the world to come is as long as the list of faith traditions.

People in general — more than eight in 10 Americans, according to a Harris poll — cling to some notion of heaven.

While most of us didn't set up altars for the Day of the Dead, many share visions of the hereafter with those who will. In best-selling books, in popular songs, on movie screens and in surveys, we reveal what we know, or hope we know, about the world to come.

The Harris poll, conducted in February and reflecting attitudes on religion similar to those in earlier years, found that about 90% of those questioned said they believed in God. About 84% said they believed in the survival of the soul or something like it. (But only 69% said they believed in hell.) Close to a third said they believed in reincarnation.

The vast majority who believe in heaven figure they're going there; only one-half of 1% told Harris pollsters that they'd go to hell.

Another pollster, George Barna, found widely varying views of heaven. In a survey released last month, he reported that among those who believe in heaven, 46% describe it as ''a state of eternal existence in God's presence,'' while 30% said it's ''an actual place of rest and reward where souls go after death.'' And 14% said that heaven is just symbolic.

Barna, an evangelical Christian, notes the diversity of opinion without approval: ''These contradictions are further evidence that many Americans adopt simplistic views of life and the afterlife based upon ideas drawn from disparate sources, such as movies, music and novels, without carefully considering those beliefs.''

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Friday, December 05, 2003

'Emerging' churches going back to basics

TODAY'S -- and tomorrow's -- churches need to get outside the four walls of their buildings and become "accessible" to people in their daily lives, according to Dr. Eddie Gibbs, professor of church growth at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.

In a keynote address last month to an overflow crowd of church planters gathered at First Baptist Church, Gibbs cast a radical vision.

This "new thing," he told the three-day event sponsored by Outreach Canada, is what Gibbs and other observers have called the "emerging church."

"There still is, to use business-speak, a market for traditional churches. The trouble is it's a shrinking market. It's shrinking quickly," said Glenn Gibson, Outreach Canada's director of church revitalization ministries.

"A whole new type of church needs to emerge. We're in a culture that's interested in spirituality. To use Jesus' metaphor of the wine and wineskins, people still have a taste for the wine. But we have problems with our containers."

Gibson added: "It's time for us to re-think radically the forms. We've got to discover new wineskins. Some churches are going to need to undergo a radical change -- if that's possible. It will take going back to basics and starting over."

Said Gibbs, "My vision for the church is a church that is accessible -- a church that you cannot miss."

To reach that goal, churches -- both established and those just starting -- need to return to the simple, easily "reproducible" model of the first and second centuries, when the most frequent meeting places were in people's homes, he said.

In keeping with that early tradition -- and as a growing number of new churches are already doing -- they need to focus in their cell groups on worship as "the main event and the backdrop of everything that happens," he said.

"We are worshiping beings. And if worship is not part of the rhythm of our lives, it's going to look very artificial when we try it for one hour a week in the sanctuary. We've got to become a worshiping people."

That worship, he added, is increasingly taking place around a meal -- and not just in a home, but also in restaurants and cafes.

In the context of this meal, "the bread is broken and the wine is blessed," he said. "It can be powerfully evangelistic."

"The churches where things are happening," observed Martin Robinson, national director of the U.K. evangelism group Together in Mission, "are situations where the people have been somehow encouraged to speak courageously and unafraid with their unchurched friends about the manifold goodness of God frequently. People are intrigued."

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Religion Is Very Important to Majority of Americans

Roughly 6 in 10 U.S. adults told Gallup in a Nov. 10-12 survey that religion is "very important" in their own lives, close to two-thirds say they are a member of a church or synagogue, and more than 4 in 10 say they attended a church or synagogue in the past week.

There has been only slight variation in these figures over the past two decades, and the current figures are generally in line with Gallup's religion trends over this period.

Americans are not quite as religious today as they were up to about 1965. Particularly in the 1950s, Americans were somewhat more likely to consider religion very important (75% in 1952) and to report having attended their place of worship in the past week (49% in 1955).

Still, the latest numbers are impressive when compared with data from two of America's closest allies: Canada and Great Britain. According to a Gallup Poll conducted in Canada this past June, only 28% of Canadians consider religion very important to them and 26% attended church or synagogue in the past week. Only 17% of Britons could say the same to each question.

The broadest Gallup indicator of religiosity in America is a measure of religious attachment. When asked what their religious preference is, nearly 9 in 10 Americans (89%) specify a religion or branch of religion. Only 8% expressly say they have no religious preference.

Christianity is the dominant religion among the public, with 85% of Americans putting themselves in one of four Christian groups: 53% Protestant, 23% Roman Catholic, 2% Mormon, and 7% Christian (but with no specific religious denomination).

Two percent of respondents identify with Judaism and less than half of 1% identify as Muslim. A mix of other less prevalent or undesignated religions makes up another 5% in the poll.

Among U.S. Protestants, the most common denomination is Baptist, with 20% of Americans calling themselves either Southern Baptist (8%) or another type of Baptist (12%). Methodists, at 9%, are the second-largest denomination, followed by other mainline Protestant groups including Presbyterians (5%), Lutherans (4%), members of the Church of Christ (2%), and Episcopalians (2%).

A secondary measure of church/synagogue attendance asks Americans how often they attend their place of worship. Since instituted in 1992, the question has produced consistent results. The latest findings are typical, showing about a third of Americans saying they attend church or synagogue at least once a week, 14% attending almost every week, and another 14% attending about monthly. Three in 10 U.S. adults say they seldom attend, while just 10% say they never attend.

Women and older Americans provide the backbone for organized religion, with both groups significantly more likely than men and young adults to say religion is very important in their lives, and to attend church or synagogue on a regular basis.

More than two-thirds of women (69%), but just over half of men (53%), say religion is very important in their lives. The religiosity gap is even larger with respect to age. Three-quarters of Americans aged 65 and older (76%), but only 48% of young adults (aged 18 to 29), say religion is very important in their lives.

Similarly, the percentage who say they have attended church in the last seven days rises from 32% among the youngest age group to 54% among the oldest group.