Monday, April 21, 2008

Religion Redux: Faithful *less* bitter

Obama’s ‘bitter people clinging to religion’ comments yielded some interesting discussion in the media (and, I might add, in our household). Many pundits (and Americans, especially Democrats) defended the remarks, claiming that there was a lot of truth to his comments, that people were turning to religion and other traditions out of bitterness or disillusionment, financial and otherwise.

Rasmussen, not to be outdone, asked 1000 adults how important ‘faith and religion’ are to their lives. 80% said very or somewhat important, only 8% said ‘not at all important.’ Interestingly, the financially-secure, content people were MORE likely to be religious (so much for the theory that religion is the last resort of bitter, government-neglected losers.)

Finances improvingFinances getting worse
How important is religion?67% very important55% very important
Attend church/worship?51% attend once/week31% attend once/week
Read Bible58% read weekly or more56% rarely or never read
Not worried about job lossWorried about job loss
How important is religion?58% very important47% very important
Employer growingEmployer shrinking
Attend church/worship?45% attend once/week22% attend once/week

I'm not out to convert anyone (except, perhaps to McCainism!). But Americans deserve to know that their religious compatriots are actually more upbeat than less observant neighbors. Maybe Obama should start attending his church after all.

No comments: