LDS Media Talk

A recent Pew survey finds that although 92% of Americans believe in God and 58% say they pray at least once a day, America is trending away from adherence to specific religions toward a more general state of “spirituality.”

Key findings:

• 78% overall say there are “absolute standards of right and wrong,” but only 29% rely on their religion to delineate these standards. The majority (52%) turn to “practical experience and common sense,” with 9% relying on philosophy and reason, and 5% on scientific information.
• 74% say “there is a heaven, where people who have led good lives are eternally rewarded,” but far fewer (59%) say there’s a “hell, where people who have led bad lives and die without being sorry are eternally punished.”
• 70%, including a majority of all major Christian and non-Christian religious groups except Mormons, agree that “many religions can lead to eternal life.”
• 68% say “there’s more than one true way to interpret the teachings of my religion.”
• 42% say they “often feel that my values are threatened by Hollywood and the entertainment industry.”
• 45% of adults say they seldom or never read their religion’s holy texts. This includes 49% of members of mainline Protestant churches, 57% of Catholics and 70% of Jews. Among groups that emphasize reading scripture, the numbers are sharply higher. Those who read scripture at least weekly include: evangelicals (60%); historically black churches (60%); Mormons (76%); Jehovah’s Witnesses (83%); and Muslims (43%)
• 44% want to preserve their religion’s traditional beliefs and practices. But most Catholics (67%), Jews (65%), mainline Christians (56%) and Muslims (51%) say their religion should either “adjust to new circumstances” or “adopt modern beliefs and practices.”
• 50% say “homosexuality is a way of life that should be accepted by society,” but the most consistently traditional religious groups say society should discourage it — 76% of Jehovah’s Witnesses, 68% of Mormons, 61% of Muslims and 64% of evangelicals.
• 14% overall, including 28% of evangelicals, say religion is the “main influence in their political thinking.”

See how Mormons stack up against people from other major religions on these and other key questions.

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Tags: mormon beliefs, religion, trends