Pew study shows diversity of US religions

Pew study shows diversity of US religions

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — A recent analysis of data gleaned from a 2014 Pew Research Center study shows that nationwide, religious groups vary largely in regards to their diversity.

After analyzing 29 religious groups, as well as a few nonreligious groups, researchers found Seventh Day Adventists to be the most diverse religious group in the U.S. and the National Baptist Convention the least, according to Michael Lipka with Pew Research Center. This report only analyzed data of U.S. congregations, however, so worldwide churches may be more diverse overall than national data shows.

Five ethnic groups were considered while analyzing the data, including Hispanics, non-Hispanic whites, blacks, Asians and other races and mixed-race Americans who were lumped into one category.

Lipka explained that if a religion contained 20 percent of each ethnic group, it would receive an index score of 10 and if a religion only contained one race, its index would be zero.

While U.S. adults have an index of 6.6 overall, Seventh Day Adventists carry an index score of 9.1 and the National Baptist Convention a 0.2.

Pew study shows diversity of US religions

Muslims and Jehovah's Witness congregations are also quite diverse, as are Buddhists, though the survey was in English and Spanish, therefore making American-Asian Buddhists possibly underrepresented and U.S. Buddhists in general potentially less diverse, Lipka wrote.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was also surveyed and received an index score of 3.4.

Members from the Catholic Church, the Pentecostal denominations Assemblies of God and the Church of God had index scores between 6 and 7, ranking similarly to U.S. adults overall, Lipka mentioned.

Those who do not affiliate with a religion had a score of 6.9 and prove to be more diverse than both atheists, who rank at 4.7, and agnostics, who rank at 4.5.

Jews and Hindus are some of the least diverse in the nation, however. Protestant denominations dominate the five least diverse religions in the country.

"...The purpose of this scale is to compare groups to each other, not to point to any ideal standard of diversity," Lipka wrote.

To find out more about the methodology and demographic information in the study, visit the Pew Research Center's Religious Landscape Study.

The Pew Research Center based their methodology from a 2014 report on religious diversity around the world, which has an index that ranks countries around the world by their religious diversity.

In that report, the U.S. ranked at 68th out of 232 countries and territories studied. Christians make up about 31.5 percent of the population around the world as of 2010, according to the research.

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