Description
Book SynopsisWritten in an engaging and accessible tone, Religion in America probes the dynamics of recent American religious beliefs and behaviors. Charting trends over time using demographic data, this book examines how patterns of religious affiliation, service attendance, and prayer vary by race and ethnicity, social class, and gender. The authors identify demographic processes such as birth, death, and migration, as well as changes in education, employment, and families, as central to why some individuals and congregations experience change in religious practices and beliefs while others hold steady. Religion in America challenges students to examine the demographic data alongside everyday accounts of how religion is experienced differently across social groups to better understand the role that religion plays in the lives of Americans today and how that is changing.
Table of ContentsList of Figures, Tables, and Text Boxes
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Racial and Ethnic Variation in Religion and Its Trends
2. Complex Religion in America
3. A Demographic Perspective on Religious Change
4. Change in America’s Congregations
5. The Long Arm of Religion in America
Conclusion
Notes
References
Index
