The book American Grace (by Robert Putnam and David Campbell, published by Simon & Schuster, 2010) is a massive study of religion in America over the last 50 years. The book is filled with research data and statistical analysis gleaned from surveys. There are more charts and graphs in this book than this reader could possibly digest! I decided to use this book to help me see the “big picture” of what was currently happening in the spirituality of Americans.
An interesting feature of the book is that we get a reprieve from the numerical overload by getting stories of local congregations. That is, the research is interspersed with vignettes in the life of local churches. One person I know said he bypassed much of the research data and simply took pleasure in reading about the congregations! The local congregations featured in the book include:
- Trinity Episcopal Church, Concord, MA
- Saddleback Church, Orange County, CA
- Our Savior Lutheran Church, Houston, TX
- Bethel AME, Baltimore, MD
- St. Pius V Catholic Church, Chicago’s lower west side
- Living Word Christian Center, Minneapolis
- Beth Emet, a synagogue in suburban Chicago
- LDS Congregation (Mormon) in Salt Lake City
The data in the book reinforces the conclusion that Americans are a highly religious people. For example, 80% of Americans are absolutely sure there is a God. Moreover, Americans believe in a God who is loving. About 62% say they “very often” feel God’s love in their life. If we look at weekly attendance at religious services, Americans rank far ahead of other industrialized, democratic nations. 38% of Americans attend worship weekly, compared to 8-10% in France and Germany.
However, there have been some interesting changes in the last 50 years. The decade of the 1960s, with its promotion of an open sex and drug culture, sent shock waves through society. According to the book, there were two major aftershocks in the religious world. First, in the 1980s there was a conservative backlash. Evangelicalism and fundamentalism grew. These religious folks began to influence the political and social agenda, organizations like the Moral Majority experienced growth. But then there was a second aftershock which began in the 1990s and is still reverberating. Young people, turned off by the association of religion and conservative views, began disavowing religion. They left, not only evangelical and fundamentalist churches, but all churches.
Where does this leave us today? More from American Grace next time!
