Jews are less likely than Catholics or Protestants to change faiths, though religious switching nationwide has increased since 1965, according to a study released this week by the American Jewish Committee.
Most who leave Judaism become unaffiliated, rather than converting to another religion; Many continue to identify as Jewish in an ethnic or cultural sense, concluded the study’s author, Tom W. Smith, director of the General Social Survey at the National Opinion Research Center of the University of Chicago.
“Jewish losses are disproportionately to no religion,” he said.
With 76 percent retaining their faith, Jews are more “religiously stable” than Catholics (73 percent); and while eight in ten Protestants remain Protestant, specific denominations retain a much lower percentage of members — as low as 16 percent in one case.
Nevertheless, like its Christian counterparts, Judaism is losing more adherents than it gains. To improve these numbers, the study recommends that Jews increase social and educational religious opportunities for children, reach out to non-Jewish spouses of interfaith marriages, and actively recruit converts — a practice traditionally discouraged, particularly in the Orthodox branch.
The study, whose respondents included about 1,000 Jews, 31,000 Protestants and 15,000 Catholics, follows up on a recent report by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, which found that about 44 percent of Americans have left the religion they were raised in, if you include switching among Protestant denominations.
Citing such previous research, Smith agreed that factors such as participating in religious education as a child, being female, marrying someone of the same faith and identifying with an “ethnic” religion — such as Judaism — contribute to less religious switching.
By Nicole Neroulias
Religion News Service
Copyright 2009 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.
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posted February 25, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Switching usually means the religion or branch of that religion one leaves wasn’t fulfilling the religious need of a person. The quest to fill that need means checking out other religions or switching denominations within Christianity. According to the study, Jews don’t go looking for a different religion when they leave active participation in the faith, but Catholics and Protestants do.
I left the Protestant faith I was raised in…1 sister stayed with it (but married a Mormon) and the other sister married and joined the same Christian denomination of her husband. So I guess we 3 were typical. Have known a few Catholics who left the church and went to a Protestant denomination.
posted February 25, 2009 at 8:15 pm
OOPS! Me above at 8:09 PM 25 Feb., pagansister
posted February 25, 2009 at 9:12 pm
I strongly recommend leaving any religious denomination and becoming agnostic, then as time goes by maybe atheist. You will no longer have to believe any impossible things before breakfast.
And I wonder why they didn’t study atheism’s propensity to retain (non)believers.
posted February 26, 2009 at 10:10 am
I had one brother and eight cousins, my brother turned RC for his wife. Four remained Lutheran, and four left for other Prostestant Denominations. I left for other Protestant Denominations. So more left for different Churches in the Protestant D., and one changed entirely to RC. Seems to fall into articles information.
posted February 26, 2009 at 3:33 pm
I was raised as a Methodist, and after years of searching for the “Right Religion”, I decided to become a Unitarian! I like them because they allow Me to think for Myself and arrive at My own conclusions,without the threat of going to Hell for being “Wrong” even though though nobody can know for sure what the “truth” is!
posted February 26, 2009 at 4:46 pm
George G.
I married a born and raised Unitarian…raised our 2 children in the UU church. It is an excellent place to “land” when on a hunt for a comfortable place!
posted March 2, 2009 at 10:24 am
and as for “believing impossible things” – I can explain how life started – you can’t. You must believe in the impossible, abiogenesis. And you do so with far more blind faith than is required of a Christian.
posted March 2, 2009 at 12:27 pm
I was raised Roman Catholic, became a born-again believer, and now participate in an independent evangelical church.
Although I do not agree with some of the choices made above, I think you should attend a church that you agree with, or whose beliefs you are investigating. BELIEFS should be key, as should ethics. To my way of thinking, it is wrong to try to change a church’s belief system from the inside out (for example, evangelical catholics). There is something unethical about clandestine operations, IMO. Better to find a church that pretty much believes what you do.
What also troubles me is the shallow reasons many change churches for. The feel. Music. How many high-adrenaline activities, etc.