Please Read This Book

Here's the Amazon link. Especially read it if you regularly find yourself commenting on and/or criticizing the state of the American Church. It's really mostly data, which is to say, there's not very much theory or explanation in the thing, but there doesn't need to be. A lot of the data is pretty unsurprising (more evangelicals have read the Left Behind books than any other group), but a good deal of it really challenges many of the assumptions found in public discourse regarding religion, and especially evangelicalism (evangelicals differ very slightly from the rest of the US in terms of most political stances, and are the least likely of all groups to be involved in political activity).

A few other tidbits:

• Most people who identify as "non-religious" do not identify as "atheist."
• As of 2007 (the year when the data for most of this book was gathered) only 4% of Americans claimed to not believe in God, the same percentage as in 1944.
• Church attendance has not changed significantly one way or the other in the past 100 years (with the exception of fewer catholics attending mass regularly after Vatican II made it no longer a sin).
• More Americans have religious affiliation now than they did in 1776, and church attendance has risen since then.
• In the past 40 years, churches identified as "Liberal Protestant" (ranging from Unitarian to Lutheran) have collectively had a 49% decrease in church attendance, whereas churches identified as "Conservative Protestants" (ranging from Pentecostal to Southern Baptist) have collectively had a 158% increase in church attendance.
• Christians who attend "Megachurches" (congregations over 1,000) are far more likely to express signs of personal commitment  (regular church attendance, tithing, evangelizing), to have strong relationships within their church, and to engage with the larger community outside the church (through volunteering, etc), than are people who attend churches with under 100 congregants.
• The poor give more money to the church than the rich in terms of percentage of annual income. Those making $10,000 or less a year give 11.4%. Those making $150,000 or more a year give 2.7%. 

The author of the book is primarily Rodney Stark, who is the preeminent sociologist of religion alive today. The book is written in a way that is accessible to people who don't really get statistics, but it doesn't sacrifice depth. In other words, you have no excuse.

If we are to analyze, discuss, critique, condemn, or improve the state of Christianity, or religiosity in general (I'm looking at you New Atheists), then we must have a clear and empirically verified view of the landscape. This book provides that. Please read it.