Word: among
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Attendance at Sunday morning services does not accurately indicate the extent of religious interest among Harvard Protestants. Only 29 per cent of them attend church weekly, and a mere 20 per cent deemed "active connection" with a denomination essential to religious life. "One can be religious without organized religion," according to one minister...
...Among those who indicated on the questionnaire that their background was Judaic, only 35 per cent would concede that they "professed Judaism as a religion, agreeing wholly or substantially with its beliefs and traditions." Forty per cent considered themselves Jewish because they were either "born of parents who considered themselves Jewish, even though you have discarded Jewish ideas," or "have interest in certain cultural features common to Jewish tradition." Significantly, no one reached by the survey stated that he completely rejected his Judaism, although one admitted that he was a "Jewish atheist." In total 42 per cent of the Jews...
...case in point was the question, "I regard active connection with a synagogue as essential to my religious life." Many of those who replied in the affirmative were among the least frequent participants in synagogue activities. Significantly, the Orthodox Jews, whose religion is woven inextricably with daily life, indicated less than 15 per cent affirmative. Among Conservative Jews over 20 per cent regarded synagogue connection as essential, while Reform Jews showed the highest number affirmative, 30 per cent...
...figures on actual attendance at services reveal that professed need for synagogue membership does not entail participation. Among the Orthodox who were polled about a third attend services weekly, or twice a month; the Conservatives' figures show that about 85 per cent attend synagogue no more than "several times a year," while among the Reform Jews the figure is over 90 per cent...
Rabbi Gold was somewhat disturbed by this "flirtation with commitment." "I do not favor the lack of earnestness indicated by casually picking and choosing ideas rather than determined searching." This searching--academic wanderings among new and different philosophies--is not eschewed by traditional Judaism; in fact, the pursuit of knowledge is revered as in perhaps no other religion...