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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2009
One of the striking facts about the present religious situation in the United States is the notable growth of religious bodies and the marked increase in religious affiliation on the part of the American people. In 1900, 36 per cent of the American people were reported as religiously affiliated; by 1930, the figure had risen to 47 per cent; and by 1950, to 57 per cent. In the quarter of a century from 1926 to 1950, the population of the United States rose 28.6 per cent; church membership, however, jumped nearly 60 per cent. The annual gain in church membership since 1940 has been some two per cent, the most rapid in all our history. Allowing for the notorious imprecision of statistics on religion, it may still be asserted with considerable confidence that there is today among the American people a greater tendency than ever before to regard themselves as affirmatively religious and to identify themselves with religious institutions. The actual religious significance of this tendency is not easy to assess; certainly it would be rash to infer from the statistics any conclusions as to the actual faith of the masses of the American people. There are too many cultural and sociological factors involved, and “religion” means too many different things to different people, to make any such inference at all possible. But I do not think it can be denied that there is today a growing tendency towards religious identification among Americans. Even those Americans who avow no particular church affiiliation would, in the great majority, regard themselves as “religious” in some sense. Again, merely as a cultural fact, it may be asserted that Supreme Court Justice Douglas' recent dictum (speaking forthe court in the New York released time case, 1952), “We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being,” just about describes the view the American people, by and large, take of themselves.
1 Paper read at the Conference on Religion and the Crisis of the Twentieth Century, under the auspices of the Committee on International Relations of the University of Notre Dame, April 22, 1953.
2 In 1947–48, there were 3,087,000 students in 10,910 Catholic schools—2,305,000 in 8,289 elementary schools; 482,000 in 2,150 secondary schools, and 300,000 in 481 advanced institutions.
In 1951–52, there were 2,904 Protestant church schools in this country with about 190,000 students, representing a 60 per cent increase over 1937. Of these schools, 1,410 were Lutheran, 919 Seventh Day Adventist, 125 Presbyterian, 156 Reformed, and 100 Episcopalian.
In 1951, there were about 150 Jewish day schools as against 75 in 1945.
3 Justice Black's words in the McCollum case, 1948.
4 Relevant figures on religious affiliation: in 1952, out of an estimated population of 157,000,000 in the United States, some 81,355,000 were religiously affiliated—48,853,000 belonging to Protestant churches; 29,407,000 to the Catholic Church; 1,485,000 to Jewish synagogues, and 1,609,600 to other religious bodies.
5 The Reporter, 01 22, 1952.Google Scholar
6 Paper read at the American Association for Jewish Education, May 29, 1949.
7 PM, New York, 05 18, 1947.Google Scholar
8 Christianity and Crisis, 02 2, 1953.Google Scholar
9 Christianity and Crisis, 02 2, 1953.Google Scholar
