Hi The Pew organization has much information on religion around the world. One informative graph that I use in my culture and psychology class is at:
http://www.pewglobal.org/2002/12/19/among-wealthy-nations/ Religion is clearly more important to USA respondents than to people in most other developed countries in the "west." The percent saying religion is very important is much higher in USA (59% here, and higher in other reports I have seen), as opposed to such countries as Canada (30%), Great Britain (33%), and so on. And you have highly secular countries like France (11%). But notwithstanding that difference, USA is clearly far from being the most "religious" country. There are many nations where virtually everyone says that religion is very important to them (e.g., much of Africa, southeast Asia, ...). Interestingly, many immigrants to the west from highly religious countries tend to be somewhat less religious than people in their homeland, but still far more religious than the typical resident of their adopted home. Ironically (to me), their religiousness and associated values probably contribute to the appeal of conservative politicians, who themselves espouse a religious worldview and endorse positions on social issues with which religious immigrants would agree (e.g., against gay marriage). So, yes religion is important to a majority of Americans, and the adoption of a religious stance has the additional benefit of appealing to people who have emigrated from even more religious parts of the world. The Pew survey, of course, would include a mix of born in the USA Americans and immigrants, but it cannot I think be the immigrants keeping the figure high in the USA. Canada has a very high rate of immigration and a much lower religiousness scale. But then the origins of immigrants to Canada and the USA could be markedly different (e.g., from Central and South America versus from Asia?) Take care Jim James M. Clark Professor of Psychology 204-786-9757 204-774-4134 Fax [email protected] >>> Beth Benoit <[email protected]> 21-Sep-11 12:50:40 PM >>> Allen, Sadly (in my opinion) the religion (or more accurately perhaps, the religiosity) of a candidate is a huge issue here in the States. I still get emails from my nutty relatives about how Obama is really a Muslim. Has anyone else received the ridiculous 'Yes, We Noticed" spam email? No political candidate would dare say that he/she is an atheist or even an agnostic. (Well, you've got to be *sure *of everything, and not just go with "I dunno.") It's hard to determine whether it's the middle-of-the-roaders who are afraid of the political clout of the religious far right or whether religion really is that important to the general public It would probably be an exercise in futility to imagine what would happen if the study I mentioned were to really get legs. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=12857 or send a blank email to leave-12857-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
