Religion: More Church Members

The U.S. is 5% more religious than it was ten years ago—on paper, at least. Out this week are the official statistics on church membership in the continental U.S., published each year by the monthly Christian Herald. They show that during 1949, when the U.S. population grew by an estimated 1.5%, Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and other religious bodies gained almost 3% (2,426,723 new members). Today 54.2% of the total population are church members; a decade ago the figure stood at only 49%. The ratio between the three chief religious groupings remained virtually unchanged: Protestant, 59%; Roman Catholic, 33%; Jewish, 6%.