All Time Low for "Strong" Catholic Identity

Since the conception of a religious strength question in 1974, the General Social Survey (GSS) has never measured a lower amount of U.S. Catholics that are self-described as "strong" Catholics.  Pew reports that in 2012, the amount of Catholics claiming strong religious identity was 27%.  "Strong" Protestant religious identity has been rising in recent years and was found to be almost double the Catholic numbers with 54% of Protestants claiming strong religious identity in 2012.

In addition, the GSS reveals that both among Protestants and Catholics there are marked correlations between strength of religious identity and church attendance; strong Catholics attend Mass more often than Catholics as a whole with the same trend being apparent for Protestants.  However, strong Catholic respondent's attendance (regular attendance being described as attendance once a week to Mass) has been waning, falling from 85% in 1974 to 53% in 2012.  Protestant fluctuations do not reveal any strong trends, with 55% of strong Protestants attending church once a week in 1974 and 60% in 2012.  When broken down, Protestant divisions show revealing trends.  Evangelical and Black Protestants identify with strong religious identities (57% and 69%, respectively).  Only 35% of Mainline Protestants claim strong religious identity.

The Religious Diversity of Asian Americans

The Pew Forum On Religion and Public Life’s publication on Asian American religious affiliations illustrates the wide variety of faiths amongst the Asian demographic.  42 percent of Asian Americans are Christian, an additional 14% are Buddhist, and one in ten practice Hinduism.  Over a quarter of Asians are also religiously unaffiliated.  Inspecting Asian-American subgroups further displays the wide range of beliefs.  For instance, 65% of Filipino Americans are Catholic, 43% of Vietnamese Americans are Buddhist, and 61% of Korean Americans are Protestant. Additionally, one-third of Asian adults no longer ascribe to the religious group of their upbringing.