ARIS 2008 Report: Part IIIA - Racial Composition
The interrelationship between changing patterns of religious identification and changes in other social
indicators is complex and dynamic. This third section of the report will provide three examples of social
variables--racial composition, education and geographical distribution - that help explain how and why the
findings reported in the earlier tables change over time as well as how they impact American society.
The changing make-up of the U.S. population in terms of race and ethnicity is an important factor for
understanding religious patterns. Americans are becoming more diverse in terms of race and ethnic origins
and as a result there has been a growth in the size of the minority population in terms of both numbers and
percentage. The most significant change since 1990 both statistically and demographically has been the rapid
growth of the Hispanic population and to a much lesser extent the Asian population. Hispanics have replaced
African-Americans as the nation's largest minority.
Table 10 does not measure the changing balance of racial groups but instead how the pattern of religious
identification has changed over time within these groups as religious sentiments have altered. The zeros in the
table do not mean that the cell is completely empty but that the cell contains less than 0.5 percent of the group.
The Don't Know/Refused row of the table provides an insight into the nature of American society and how
different ethnic groups relate to religion. As mentioned earlier there is a growing reluctance to participate in
surveys but the table seems to reveal a trend towards decreasing racial differentiation. Nevertheless, African-
Americans, long considered the most religious group in society, continue to have fewer inhibitions about
discussing religion while Asians, the least religious group, are the most unwilling to reveal their religious
identification.
Historically there have been major differences in the religious allegiances among Americans along racial lines.
The top row of Table 10 shows that Catholicism lost ground within every ethnic group between 1990 and 2008.
If the Hispanic population, which is the most Catholic, had not expanded then the Catholic population share
nationally would have significantly eroded. One feature of the white population today is in fact the large number
of ex-Catholics, who are now found among the Nones and have helped that group grow. The overall pattern of
identification among whites other than for Catholics and Nones seems relatively stable over time. Another feature
revealed is that the rapid proportionate growth of the Nones among whites was a 1990s phenomenon while the
fast decline in white Mainline Christians is a more recent trend.
Among the black or African-American population the main trend in the 1990s was similar to that of whites, a
move into the Nones, in this case mostly by former Baptists. Since 2001 the main movement in self-identification
has been towards a Generic Christian identity and slightly to the conservative Protestant Denominations
tradition. There is also movement out of the Mainline tradition, which in this case is mainly the African
Methodist churches.
The Hispanic religious profile reflects changes brought about by immigration particularly since 2001. The
evidence for this is that we found significant differences between our respondents interviewed in English and
those who chose to be interviewed in Spanish. Spanish speakers are much more likely to be Catholic, while
English-speaking Hispanics are more likely to identify as Baptist or Mainliners. Interestingly there is not much
difference in the proportions of Nones by language preference. Though the percentages do not show it, the
doubling in the number of Hispanics identifying with the Protestant Denominations since 1990 is quite large in
terms of real numbers.
The religious profile of Asian Americans has also changed over time mainly as a result of immigration especially
as the source countries of immigration have changed. The entry of Chinese, Koreans and Indian immigrants
has diminished the Catholic proportion since 1990. The main trend in the 1990s was towards a greater share for
Eastern Religions but this has now slowed. In contrast the share of the Nones among Asians has continually and
steadily grown since 1990.
In conclusion, Table 10 demonstrates that the historical trend of major religious differences between Americans
of different racial and ethnic origins still seems to persist even as the internal patterns are modified by changes in