Converts are generally believed to be more fervently religious than those born to a religion, and according to a new Pew study they are, but not as much as people think. Converts really don’t differ that much from the rest of us at all, Pew says…
• Slightly more than two-thirds of converts (69%) say religion is very important to them, compared with 62% of nonconverts.
• Half of converts (51%) attend worship services at least once a week, compared with 44% of nonconverts.
• More than eight-in-ten converts (82%) believe in God with absolute certainty, compared with 77% of nonconverts.
• Seven-in-ten converts (70%) pray every day, compared with 62% of nonconverts.
• About three-in-ten converts (29%) say they share their views on God with others at least once a week, compared with two-in-ten nonconverts (20%).
• And slightly more than one-quarter of converts (27%) say theirs is the one true faith, compared with 22% of nonconverts.
It should be noted that no Muslims were surveyed for this study.
razib, murtad fitri 4:07 pm on November 6, 2009 Permalink |
tx. i’ll check it out. two immediate thoughts
1) the “social distance” between the two groups matters. going from catholic to episcopalian for example is different than going from catholic to hare krishna or muslim. most conversions in the USA are in the former category, not the latter.
2) the USA has a huge amount of religious churn. so it’s not nearly as socially transgressive as elsewhere. so probably selects for more “normal” people than, for example, in iran where converts to christianity and bahai religion are taking on a lot of personal risk.
razib, murtad fitri 4:13 pm on November 6, 2009 Permalink |
bingo. mormons are the outliers in the data set, and they’re the group which is the most “weird” among the denominations listed. though the directionality is not what i’d have expected.
plimfix 6:44 am on November 7, 2009 Permalink |
A minor aside. Just speaking about the UK, I am not aware of data on Muslims who simply drop off the radar within the first year of converting and, while never formally abandoning Islam, no longer seriously engage with the tradition or the community. Anecdotally, I know they exist, but I’ve no idea of numbers. Hint to browsing wannabe doctoral students…