Facts

For a country with no official religion, we're pretty preoccupied with God in our policy - whether it be teaching evolution in the classroom or displaying the Ten Commandments in a courthouse. A less sexy, but no less contentious issue, is President Bush's faith-based initiative, which some say violates the notion of ‘separation of church and state.'

Americans and religion

How religious Americans say they are (2001) (CUNY - pdf):

• Religious: 37%;
• Somewhat religious: 38%;
• Somewhat secular: 6%;
• Secular: 10%;
• Don't know/refused to answer: 9%.

Our religious affiliations

The CUNY survey (2001)

• 76.5 % as Christian;
• 52% as Protestant;
• 24.5% as Catholic;
• 1.3% as Jewish;
• 0.5 % as Muslim/Islamic;
• 0.5 % as Buddhist;
• 0.4 % as Hindu;
• 0.3 % as Unitarian/Universalist;
• Remaining groups: Less than 0.6% as Scientologist, Native American, Baha'I, Taoist, New Age, Eckankar, Rastafarian, Sikh, Wiccan, Deity, Druid, Santeria, Pagan, Spirtualist, or Ethical Culture;
• 1.9% identify with an unclassified religion.

The Pew survey

• Evangelical Protestant: 26.3%
• Mainline Protestant: 16%
• Latino Protestant: 2.8%
• Black Protestant: 9.6%
• Catholic: 17.5%
• Latino Catholic: 4.5%
• Other Christian: 2.7%
• Jewish: 1.9%
• Other faiths: 2.7%
• Unaffiliated: 16% (includes unaffiliated believers 5.3, secular 7.5, atheists and agnostics 3.2) .

How many Americans are members of a church, synagogue or mosque (2001) (CUNY):

• 54%

Faith based initiatives

The Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives was created in 2001 to head up Bush's effort to get religious organizations more involved in providing government services to the poor and needy. While the administration argued that faith-based initiatives shouldn't be left out of the government grant process, opponents warn that it's not possible to insure religious organizations aren't mixing preaching in with their services.

Federal funds going to faith based orgs (2004) WH

• Total –

  • 2005: $2.1 billion (10.9% of all grants) WP

  • 2004: $2 billion (10.3% of all grants) WH (pdf)

  • 2003: $1.2 billion (8% of all grants) (WP).

• Broken down (using 2004 numbers) WH

  • Health and Human Services – $681 million (6.7% of HHS grants)

  • Housing and Urban Development - $545 million (23% of HUD grants)

  • USAID - $522 million (14% of USAID grants)

  • USDA - $149 million (7% of USDA grants)

  • Department of Justice – $59 million (8% of DOJ grants)

  • Department of Labor - $34 million (19% of DOL grants)

  • Ed Department - $15 million (7% of ED grants)

Growth in federal funds - just looking at Health and Human Services

source: WH (pdf)

A different picture: A nonpartisan group, The Roundtable on Religious and Social Policy released a study (pdf) in February, 2006 showing declining funding for faith based organizations between 2002 and 2004. The White House says that RRSP's numbers are "cherry-picked." WP

How involved religious organizations are in delivering social services (with or without government funds) Urban

• 57% of congregations (representing about 75% of all attendees) participate in delivering social services (of the roughly 300,000 congregations in the US). The kinds of services they provide:

• Food – 33% of congregations

• Housing/Shelter – 18% of congregations

• Clothing – 11% of congregations

• Other programs include: substance abuse, tutor/mentor, domestic violence, health and employment programs

How many get government help Urban

• 3% of local congregations (roughly 9,000) receive government funding (Note: Secular charities with religious names are not included, and some receive a substantial amount of their funds from the government, including Catholic Charities and Jewish Board, with 66% and 75% of their funds, respectively, from government.)

For more nonpartisan information on Faith Based Initiatives see: The Pew Forum on Religion and Spiritual Life. The Government Accountability Office (pdf) also came out with a report on FBI in June, 2006 (we didn't read it, but GAO is as dependable as they come).

Where the facts are from:

• CUNY - City University of New York Graduate Center

• Urban - Urban Institute - economic and social policy research organization

• White House

Other sources:

• The Pew Forum on Religion and Spiritual Life – Organization that promotes understanding of religious issues across the nation
• The Arda

Facts pulled together with Steven Cytryn. Summer 2005

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