{"id":14533,"date":"2014-04-04T10:00:30","date_gmt":"2014-04-04T15:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/u-s-doesnt-rank-high-in-religious-diversity\/"},"modified":"2024-04-13T23:49:26","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T04:49:26","slug":"u-s-doesnt-rank-high-in-religious-diversity","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2014\/04\/04\/u-s-doesnt-rank-high-in-religious-diversity\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. doesn\u2019t rank high in religious diversity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.pewresearch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2014\/04\/PF_14.02.24_ReligiousDiversity.png\" alt=\"PF_14.02.24_ReligiousDiversity\" class=\"wp-image-257186\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br>The United States has often been described as a religiously diverse country, an image celebrated in forums ranging from <a href=\"http:\/\/pluralism.org\/ocg\/\">scholarly work<\/a> to a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.peacemonger.org\/coexist-bumper-sticker\">popular bumper sticker<\/a> and even a recent <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=443Vy3I0gJs\">Coca-Cola commercial<\/a> during the Super Bowl. But, from a global perspective, the United States really is not all that religiously diverse, according to a new <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/religion\/2014\/04\/04\/global-religious-diversity\">Pew Research Center study<\/a>. In fact, 95% of the U.S. population is either Christian or religiously unaffiliated, while all other religions combined account for just 5% of Americans. As a result, the U.S. ranks 68th out of <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/religion\/2014\/04\/04\/religious-diversity-index-scores-by-country\">232 countries and territories<\/a> on our Religious Diversity Index.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new study treats all Christians as members of the same religion. The U.S. has an enormous variety of Christian denominations, and if diversity <i>within<\/i> the world\u2019s largest faith were taken into account, the United States likely would rank higher. But the study treats Christianity no differently than Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism or Judaism \u2013 all of which also have a lot of internal diversity, yet are considered as single religions in the study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright\"><img decoding=\"async\" sizes=\"(max-width: 230px) 100vw, 230px\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.pewresearch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2014\/04\/FT_most-religiously-diverse-countries.png\" alt=\"FT_most-religiously-diverse-countries\" class=\"wp-image-257169\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The study looks at the share of each country\u2019s population that belongs to eight major religious groups, including the unaffiliated (those who identify as atheist, agnostic or having no particular religion). The closer a country comes to having equal shares of the eight groups, the higher its score on the 10-point index. By this measure, Singapore is the world\u2019s most religiously diverse country, followed by Taiwan and Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Six of the top 12 countries and territories on the Religious Diversity Index are in Asia (Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, South Korea, China and Hong Kong). Several of them have substantial Buddhist, Christian and unaffiliated populations, as well as many adherents of \u201cfolk\u201d religions. At the other end of the scale, among the places with the least religious diversity are Vatican City (more than 99% Christian) and such overwhelmingly Muslim countries as Morocco, Somalia and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. is classified as \u201cmoderate\u201d in terms of religious diversity. While adherents of many world religions live in the United States \u2013 the world\u2019s third most populous country \u2013 most of those&nbsp;religions each represent less than 2% of the U.S. population. That includes people who identify their religion in surveys as Judaism&nbsp;(1.8%), Buddhism (1.2%), Islam (0.9%), Hinduism (0.6%) and folk or&nbsp;traditional religions (0.2%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There\u2019s an important distinction between religious diversity and religious <i>freedom<\/i>, which this report does not measure. (We\u2019ve studied global restrictions on religion, both in the form of government restrictions and social hostilities, in a separate <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/religion\/2014\/01\/14\/religious-hostilities-reach-six-year-high\/\">series of reports<\/a>.) The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.archives.gov\/exhibits\/charters\/bill_of_rights_transcript.html\">First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution<\/a>, of course, guarantees the right to \u201cfree exercise\u201d of religion, which has been celebrated by figures ranging from Alexis de Tocqueville to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.archives.gov\/exhibits\/powers_of_persuasion\/four_freedoms\/images_html\/save_freedom_worship.html\">Norman Rockwell<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But even as <a href=\"http:\/\/xroads.virginia.edu\/~Hyper\/DETOC\/religion\/ch1_17.htm\">Tocqueville (in the late 1830s) wrote<\/a> that the \u201csects that exist in the United States are innumerable,\u201d he also observed that all those sects \u201care comprised within the great unity of Christianity.\u201d The country has certainly changed over the centuries, but it remains a nation with an overwhelming Christian majority.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From a global perspective, the 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