Word: pews
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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More than any other time of year, December highlights the variety and mix of religious traditions in the U.S. According to a 2008 study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, 37% of married adults in the U.S. have a spouse from another religious tradition. Among Jewish Americans, that figure rises to almost half of all marriages. That's a lot of Chrismukkahs, a lot of travel for family holidays and a lot of gifts. (See the top 10 religion stories...
...survey of 4,000 U.S. adults from the Pew Forum shows that even Americans who don't live in interfaith households are curious about other religious traditions. One-quarter of all adults attend services of a faith tradition other than their own at least occasionally throughout the year (not counting special events like weddings and funerals). Social scientists and observers have known for decades that Americans generally have much higher levels of religiosity than their European cousins. But these new findings reveal that this distinctly American enthusiasm for religion includes an embrace of multiple faith practices and beliefs as well...
...most committed to their religious traditions are willing to dip their toes into other holy water. Weekly church attendance has long been associated with high levels of religious commitment, but more than one-quarter (28%) of those who attend services at least once a week told the Pew researchers that they visit other houses of worship at least occasionally. This crossing of traditions is even more popular among monthly churchgoers - 40% of them report attending other faith services...
...Pew researchers also looked at the effect of interfaith marriage on an individual's willingness to try different religious experiences and concluded that the link "is a complex one." In general, spouses in interfaith marriages tend to be less religiously observant than couples who belong to the same tradition - after all, it can be easier to accept a spouse from another faith if you're not terribly connected to your own. Overall, people in what the researchers call "religiously mixed marriages" attend worship services far less often than their same-religion peers, and they are no more likely to attend...
...that it often leads to a watering down - and even abandonment - of both traditions. Rather than feeling strongly tied to two traditions, children feel no attachment to either. Parents who can't agree on which tradition their children should be raised in compromise by attending no services. But the Pew study indicates that for at least some interfaith families, religious commitment can lead to a richer, more varied faith life and a greater willingness to experience traditions outside one's own. That provides some comfort at this time of year to those of us whose homes are ablaze in light...