13.12.1: Characteristics of Members

 13.12.1: Characteristics of Members 

About 63 percent of Americans belong to a church, synagogue, or mosque. 

What are the characteristics of people who hold formal membership in a religion?

 Social Class Religion in the United States is stratified by social class. As you can see from Figure 13.5, some religious groups are “top-heavy” and others are “bottom-heavy.” The most top-heavy are Jews and Episcopalians; the most bottom-heavy are Assembly of God, Southern Baptists, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. This figure provides further confirmation that churchlike groups tend to appeal to people who have more “worldly” success, while the more sect-like groups attract people who have less “worldly” success. Figure 13.5 Social Class and Religious Affiliation

From this figure, you can see how status consistency (a concept we reviewed in Chapter 8) applies to religious groups. If a group ranks high (or low) on education, it is also likely to rank high (or low) on income and occupational prestige. Jews, for example, rank the highest on education, income, and occupational prestige, while Jehovah’s Witnesses rank the lowest on these three measures of social class. As you can see, the Mormons are status inconsistent. They rank second in income, fourth in education, and tie for sixth in occupational prestige. Even more status inconsistent is the Assembly of God. Their members tie for third in occupational prestige but rank only eighth in income and ninth in education. This inconsistency is so jarring that there could be a problem with the sample. Race–Ethnicity Many religions are associated with race–ethnicity: Islam with Arabs, Judaism with Jews, Hinduism with Indians, and Confucianism with Chinese. In the United States, all major religious groups draw from the nation’s many racial–ethnic groups. Like social class, however, race–ethnicity tends to cluster. People of Irish descent are likely to be Roman Catholics; those with Greek ancestors are likely to belong to the Greek Orthodox Church. African Americans are likely to be Protestants—more specifically, Baptists—or to belong to fundamentalist sects. Although many churches are integrated, it is with good reason that Sunday morning between 10 and 11 a.m. has been called “the most segregated hour in the United States.” African Americans tend to belong to African American churches, while most whites see only whites in their churches. The segregation of churches is based on custom, not on law.

picture Link : https://www.savannahnow.com/story/news/2008/08/09/jews-find-common-ground-latino-pentecostals/13371731007/