Religion: Counting the Lord's House

George Gallup's strolling statisticians, just returned from a doorbell-ringing examination of the religion of U.S. and British Christians, last week gave their diagnosis: in the U.S. religion is full of vim and vitamins; in Britain it has tired blood.

Church attendance in the U.S. the week before the poll was 51%; in Britain only 14% of the people polled admitted having gone to church the Sunday before. (In the U.S. 43% of the churchgoers were men, 57% women; no breakdown was given for Great Britain.) Asked about the influence of religion in their countries, 69% of the Americans said they felt that it is increasing; 52% of the Britons said they felt that it is decreasing. In the U.S. 81% look to religion as something that can answer "most of today's problems"; only 46% of the Britons polled were of the same opinion, while 27% dismissed religion as old-fashioned (as opposed to 7% in the U.S.).

The Devil won handily in the U.S. (61% believed in him), lost in Great Britain (only 34% believed). An overwhelming majority (90% in the U.S., 71% in Britain) believed that Christ was the son of God, but belief was not so strong in a life after death (U.S. 74%, Britain 54%). Fundamentalism was in the minority in both countries. To the question, "Can a person be a Christian and not believe every word in the New Testament?", 66% in the U.S. thought so and 24% did not; in Britain 79% said yes, 11% no. Both countries tolerantly agreed (78% in the U.S., 85% in Britain) that one could be a Christian without oing to church.