Monday, June 23, 2008

A Peculiar People

As a practicing Latter-day Saint (Mormon), I always find religious surveys interesting, especially those which include Mormons as a distinct domination (some don't).

That said, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has some very interesting data. (PDF file warning)

For instance: Mormons are the only group where 100% of respondants believe in God (and here I had thought this was a pre-requisite for being religious), while - get this - more than 1 in 5 athiests believe in God. (page 3)

The LDS Church is the 3rd largest religious group in the US (counting Protestant religions as one big lump) after Protestant and Catholic, and tied with Jews. (page 6)

Mormons have the highest percentage of people who believe in Heaven - 95% - while only one other religious group topped 90% (what's up with peeps?) (page 9)

Only the JWs pray on a weekly basis (95%) or on a daily basis (89%) than Mormons (92% and 82% respectively) (page 10-11)

Mormons are the only group with over half of respondants claiming that "their prayers result in definite and specific answers from God at least once a month" (54%) (page 11-12)

Mormons are by far the most likely to feel that their values are threatened by Hollywood (67% followed by JWs with 54%)