Evening star., 1926-12-27
RELIGION KEEPING
PACE WITH TIMES
Nationwide Poll Shows No
Falling Off in Church
Membership.
BY CHARLES STELZLE,
Director of the First Completed Religious
Census,

Director of the First Completed Religious
Census.
Contrary to general opinion, Ameri-
cans have not departed from the re
! ligious position of the "forefathers'
who founded this country or those
who framed its Constitution. The ex.
preston of religion is today different,
but even upon a statistical basis re-
ligion is seen to be making steady
progress.
1t isn't possible to obtain accurate
data regarding church membership
at the time of the Pilgrim Fathers nor
during the period of the Revolution,
blt since 1900 there has been a
marked increase in church member
ship in this country. Taking the num-
ber of Protestant communicates at
various periods we find the following
In 1900 Protestant church members
numbered per cent of the popula-
ton; in 1850, Is per cent; in 1870, II
per cent; in 1880, 20 per cent; in 1890,
% per cent; in 1900. "a per cent in
1910, "a per cent; in 1926, approxi-
mately 26 per cent.
Churches Keeping Up.
Statistics for the Roman Catholic,
Greek Catholic and Jewish Churches
religious bodies have likewise made
steady progress. until today the
church membership in the United
States numbers about 43 per cent of
the entire population. But Is per
cent of our population is below the
age of church membership in those
denominations which require a per-
sonal profession of faith, so that ac-
tually the churches contain about 81
per cent of the available population
in their memberships.
The QUESTIONABLE ballot on religion
which has just been printed for ten
days by nearly two hundred news.
papers in as many different cities in
40 States has again demonstrated the
religious character of the American
people. 1t has not only proved that
church memberships are not decreas-
ing. but that large numbers who are
not members of churches are sym
pathetic toward religion.
125.OO0 Answered Queries.
Many newspapers did not report
their final tabulations, but the figures
returned from 153 papers indicate that
over 125, 900 persons answered the
questionnaire, which was prepared by
a commission of 100 prominent clergy
men of various denominations for the
church advertising department of the
international Advertising Association.
in order to discover the attitude of
Americans regarding religion. so that
the campaign on religion to be con-
Quoted from Christmas to Easter
might be based upon actual facts.
Following are the percentages of
replies received from all those who
voted:
Question. Yes No
J. BS BS You you believe sfsye IN in G2a s. s. q
8. Do you believe in prayer as
nb3a means w,9b Of EGerds99nal Gad9 relation AZ 70
4 Do sn1o You Ts.h believe s'a that Jesus was % -
divine. as no other man was :.
8. Do - you oo regard the Bible as in 90 80
spired in sense that no other
literature could be said to be 80
any church !: ............... - II 23
8. Void you be willing to have =
community, in which there is =, or
O. Do no you IN qfer regularly have family 40 "
Worship in your homes? AZ 5s
gious home F...."..~,..... 81 13
any school OF religious in
-. Do .! you St'Gh think that religion in "
sHe Element totf' Of life e for H11s'fnad the iadi-
yidual and for the commu-
nlty! ........... -.......- % Id
However, the sentiment regarding
these questions differed in various
parts of the United States. as is
shown in the table presented here
with
All Prophecies Fail.
Among the papers which partici-
pated in the use Of the QUESTIONABLE
were The Evening Star, the New
York World, Newark News, Spring
field Union, Baltimore Post, Buffalo
Courier Express, Philadelphia Bulle-
tin, Pittsburgh Gazette-Times. Bir-
mingham News, Chattanooga Times,
Chicago Daily News, Sioux City Jour
nal, Grand Rapids Press. Kansas City
Star, st. Louis Democrat, To
ledo News-Bee, Los Angeles Herald,
Denver Post, Seattle Postlntell-
gencer.
1t was interesting that before the
balloting proceeded all kinds Of proph-
ecies were made as to the results.
The church pesople insisted that the
voters would consist mainly OF Phil
istines" who would take this oppor-
tunity to express their hatred OF
religion and the church: the non
church people declared that as the
church was so we'll organized it would
easily monopolize the voting: that
a group Of people which has become
so wise that it can say neither 'yes"
or mo" to any question said that the
balloting would not prove anything
because "moderns" had really given
up their belief in religion. None OF
these things happened
Big Slice Voted.
Even though the numbesr of peo-
ple who voted was comparatively
small. they represented a great hori-
they represented great horizontal
slice Of the population OF the United
States. This is evidenced in part by
the figures showing the church mem
bership of those who answered the
QUESTIONABLE. The percentage of
church members for the entire coun-
try as shown in the returns was II.
This is higher than the figure already
given for the actual percentage Of
eligible church membership for the en-
tire country, namely, 81 per cent.
But it should be remembered that
in the rural districts, which includes
so per cent OF the population Of the
United States, only 20 per cent Of the
people are church members. This of
itself would increase enormously the
percentage OF church members who
live in the city. And the question
naire was used only in the cities.
1t should also he kept in mind that
n very large number of people living