American Religious Identification Study

by mikepence 7 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  mikepence

  See http://www.gc.cuny.edu/studies/key_findings.htm

  Some highlights...

  JW's famous for their apostates ;-) Almost 1/3rd leave!..."Some groups such as Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses appear to attract a large number of converts ("in-switchers"), but also nearly as large a number of apostates ("out-switchers"). It is also interesting to note that Buddhists also fall into this category of what one might call high- turnover religious groups."

  JW's have lowest divorce rate...The percent currently divorced or separated varies considerably less, from a low of six percent (Jehovah's Witnesses) to a high of fourteen percent (Pentecostals)...
  

  JW's overwhelmingly female, at 71%...
  

  Typical JW household is only 55% JW...
  

  46% white, 37% (highest in the study) black...
  
• 

  voltaire

  Very interesting, thanks for the work! My impressions are that the JW religion appeals to the powerless and the oppressed, hence many blacks and women.
• 

  mikepence

  Yes, if you had to paint the picture of the statistically typical JW, it would be:

  A black, middle-aged female, living in a relgiously divided household, under-educated and poor.

  JW's...exploiting the populace for over 125 years!
• 

  RunningMan

  So, 54% of JW's are non-white. How many members of the governing body are non-white?

  Can you spell token?
• 

  RunningMan

  Wow, fascinating study. I pulled up the details and found a few more interesting tidbits, particularly from the 10 year comparatives.

  The total adult population increased from 175M to 208M between 1990 and 2001. Yet, self professed JW's decreased from 1.4M to 1.331M.

  JW's are aging faster than the general population. The percentage of persons 18-29 years old increased by 3% to 26% in the general population. JW's in this age group decreased by 5% to 24%.

  As I suspected, they are dropping in numbers and getting older. The future will be grim if they can't make more young converts and begin to retain their young people.
• 

  NeonMadman

  I find it interesting under the "Marital Status" chart that 3% of Jehovah's Witnesses are said to be single, but cohabiting.

  Has there been "new light" on fornication?

  Tom
  "The truth was obscure, too profound and too pure; to live it you had to explode." ---Bob Dylan
• 

  joelbear

  I was taken by surprise by the low percentage of older witnesses.

  Does this indicate a lower life span for witnesses possibly?

  Joel
• 

  Moxy

  i was surprised by that number too joel. but i think it can be better explained like this: people are more likely to become religious later in life, the age breakdown published showed religions generally have higher percentages in the 65+ range. however, JWs are one religion that doesnt benefit from that boost as much, since very few people suddenly become JWs late in life for obvious reasons. so whereas most mainstream religions will have a good representation of recently converted 65+ members, such a person is almost unheard of in JW.

  i also thought it quite significant that during the 10-year period in which US publisher numbers saw a 15% increase, the number of professed members actually dropped by 3.7%.

  mox