The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-06-01
AMERICA Is RELIGIOUS.

lie lact lhat Dr.. Carrolls religions
statistics for 1912 showed 5000 o0D
people unaccounted for as members
iof any religious bodies led some writ
ters to infer that America was NOT q
christian nation, but further investi.
gatlon shows an entirely different sit
uatlon. Mr.. Edwin M. Bliss. connect.
ed with the census bureau. belieyes
these figures misleading and the pes-
slmistlc differences depending there
ION quite nnwarranted This he In.
slsts, Is by no means an irreligious
country. 1t may be Technically cor
rect to say that Go per cent NJ the
population of this country are not on.
roiied as church members" but iii is
absolutely incorrect to infer from that
TACT that a majority OF the people are
tonPosed to or even uninterested in re.
ilglon.' OF course, when Or Car.
rolls 36,675.537 church. members are
deducted from the total national ponu.
lation of 91,972,2G6, according to tba
last census, the remainder forms the
great majority. But, Mr.. Bliss re-.
minds u.s.
lhls includes four classes. III Chill.
uren who are too young to have any
vital relation to the church. f2l
Inc entire Jewish population. (3)
ihose practically identified with the
church as attendants uron services
and contributors to their maintenance
although not enrolled members of any
religious organization, frequently re-
TERED to as adherents. "a Those who
are clearly and definitely outside OF
the church life and influence.
It is then pointed out that the first
three classes greatly predominant:
|. Children. It is not altogether
easy to decide what are limit to
adopt for the term in this connection
Probably fourteen wears
would, on the whole, represent a fair
average. According to the census of
1910, there were 29.4a9,13G under fiji.
teen years of age (including 1861 ,3G4
under five years of agc), and thus,
presumably, outside church member
ship. From this sum should he de-
fducted 100000 Catholic children
over nine years of age and included
ir the church membership, leaving
| 2T,oo0,000 whom 1t would scarcely be
Legitimate to class as eligible to
church membership.
2. Jewish population. DR.. Carroll
gives 100000 heads OF families. the
same figures that have been given for
some years The Jewish Yearbook
IfLondon), for 1910, gives the number
Of Jews in the United States as 1900
600. surely not large estimate. De
duct from this 80 per cent for the
children already accounted for and
there remain approximately 100000.
3. Persons not church members,
vet thoroughly identified with church
life There is. at present. no way OF
accurately estimating this class YET
every one knows that it is large one
/ Take the number Of young people
/ over fourteen who are attendants
upon Sunday schools but not church
members; of parents whose children
attend Sunday schools and who are
practically identified with such life;
land any careful observer will recog-
/ nize that they CONSTITUTES most i'm
/ portant factor in community life
Here one persons guess is, perhaps
as good as another's, but it does not
seem that one for every three Prot
estant church members. or 100000
is an unduly large estimate,
The statistician then adds the mum