How to Determine What % of Americans are Practicing Christians

[DC Al Fine]

I've heard both atheists and Christians say in debates that Christians make up the overwhelming majority of Americans. However this usually only takes into account nominal Christians. As BRTD is quick to point out, many people will tick "Christian" on a census form even if they aren't believers. They might say they are Catholic for cultural reasons or Episcopalian because they go to church on Christmas eve.

So how do we determine what % of Americans are actually practicing Christians?

A couple thoughts:
1) We need to define what a practicing Christian is. I use weekly church attendance as a rough rule of thumb, but if you have a different standard I'd like to hear it.

2) Polling doesn't really work in these situations since people will lie to pollsters and say they act in a more socially desirable manner than they actually do. This inflates church attendance numbers as well as attendance numbers for the symphony, museum, art gallery etc.

Thoughts?

[bedstuy]

I think if that's your standard, you would want to just find a representative sample of churches, count how many people attend and compare that to the population.

But why is weekly church attendance a good proxy for being a Christian?  I honestly don't know a single person under 70 that goes to church more than a few times a year. 

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Different denominations define 'practicing' in different ways.

[afleitch]

Church attendance may include people who attend church for tradition, family, other reasons who are not nominally Christian.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

I know people who don't go to church who are far more Christian than people who do.  That can't be the parameter. 

I think a simple poll of, "Do you believe Jesus Christ is your savior?" will suffice, simply because the least demanding of Christian demoninations will most likely only require this straightforward declaration. 

[minionofmidas]

Weekly? Yeah well, a hell of a lot of people who consider themselves practicing Christians would take offence at that.

In the end, given all the different cultural standards prevailing within Christianity, a "practicing Christian", like a "Christian" or a "Socialist", is everybody who self-defines as such.
Except Mormons.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I'm willing to go ahead with HockeyDude's definition.

[DC Al Fine]

I think if that's your standard, you would want to just find a representative sample of churches, count how many people attend and compare that to the population.

But why is weekly church attendance a good proxy for being a Christian?  I honestly don't know a single person under 70 that goes to church more than a few times a year. 

Your name & avatar suggest you don't run in very conservative circles. I've found that conservative Christians, especially of the non-evangelical variety are increasingly segregating themselves, so it would make sense that you wouldn't know many weekly church goers.

I agree now that church attendance is a poor proxy. I guess I was more looking for people who's religion plays an active role in everyday life. More to the point, I can't tell the difference between the nominal Christian who's actually irreligious, and the nominal Christian who doesn't go to church but is actually a Christian.

Church attendance certainly doesn't make you a Christian, but I have yet to meet a Christian who's faith has an important place in their life and doesn't attend church. Ex: I know plenty of people who would say they're Christian and don't go to church. I won't try to ascertain their afterlife status, but I highly doubt they believe the bulk of the Apostle's Creed, read their Bible, pray, or will pass the faith along to their children. For all intents and purposes they are indistinguishable from non-Christians even if they are actually saved.

I'm willing to go ahead with HockeyDude's definition.

Small quibble, but is Hockeydude's definition a touch Protestant-centric?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I'm willing to go ahead with HockeyDude's definition.

Small quibble, but is Hockeydude's definition a touch Protestant-centric?

The wording definitely comes across that way and might want some modification (though I'll have to think about how I personally would modify it), but I don't think many practicing Catholics or Eastern Orthodox would deny it.

[TJ in Oregon]

Catholics and Eastern Orthodox wouldn't deny it obviously, but would also add that simply declaring "Jesus Christ is my savior" might make me a Christian, but alone would not make me a practicing Christian.

[barfbag]

Polling might actually be the preferred method in this case.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Catholics and Eastern Orthodox wouldn't deny it obviously, but would also add that simply declaring "Jesus Christ is my savior" might make me a Christian, but alone would not make me a practicing Christian.

Actually, now that you mention it, you're absolutely right; that only works with a very odd definition of 'to practice'.

[DC Al Fine]

Catholics and Eastern Orthodox wouldn't deny it obviously, but would also add that simply declaring "Jesus Christ is my savior" might make me a Christian, but alone would not make me a practicing Christian.

Actually, now that you mention it, you're absolutely right; that only works with a very odd definition of 'to practice'.

Agreed. To clarify, I'm not looking for who's Christian and who's not. I'm looking for who actively participates in the Christian life.

How would you or TJ define "practicing"?

[Blue3]

Being a practicing Christian has nothing to do with church attendance.

[barfbag]

Being a practicing Christian has nothing to do with church attendance.

You couldn't be more right. A big reason we read the Nicene and Apostles' Creed in church was originally to weed out heretics who believed otherwise and to separate Christians from Jews. The church was started to break away from Jews who didn't believe Jesus was the Messiah. Jesus himself never went to church. It's still nice to go to service if you get meaning out of it, but I can go on all day about these things. My degree is in philosophy and religion with a concentration in early Christian conflicts between Christians, pagans, and Romans.

[opebo]

Some method involving lions would be most gratifying, gentlemen.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Catholics and Eastern Orthodox wouldn't deny it obviously, but would also add that simply declaring "Jesus Christ is my savior" might make me a Christian, but alone would not make me a practicing Christian.

Actually, now that you mention it, you're absolutely right; that only works with a very odd definition of 'to practice'.

Agreed. To clarify, I'm not looking for who's Christian and who's not. I'm looking for who actively participates in the Christian life.

How would you or TJ define "practicing"?

A lot of people here really do seem to be conflating 'practicing' with 'believing'. I keep thinking about it and I keep coming back to some combination of church attendance and prayer outside of church, plus maybe actively raising one's children Christian if one has them (unless perhaps it's part of an arrangement in an interfaith marriage not to for whatever reason).

Obviously one can be 'believing' without 'practicing', but should we concede for these purposes that one can also be 'practicing' without 'believing'? If so, which is more important to measure?

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Small quibble, but is Hockeydude's definition a touch Protestant-centric?

Is it?  Are you not considered Catholic if you don't eat your crackers and wine? 

[barfbag]

The only way to practice Christianity is to vote Republican and if you don't believe me then just go to the south.

[DC Al Fine]

Small quibble, but is Hockeydude's definition a touch Protestant-centric?

Is it?  Are you not considered Catholic if you don't eat your crackers and wine? 

I wouldn't consider you a practicing Catholic if you aren't taking communion regularly. The definition of practicing a certain form of Christianity will necessarily be more stringent than practicing Christianity in general.

Communion is an interesting criteria that I would consider a normal part of practicing Christianity, but then the Pentecostals/Evangelicals don't put much emphasis on it, and many don't offer it at all.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Small quibble, but is Hockeydude's definition a touch Protestant-centric?

Is it?  Are you not considered Catholic if you don't eat your crackers and wine? 

Wafers and wine. It has the benefit of alliterating! Think Nilla except they don't taste like anything, stick to the roof of your mouth like no other, and are the very body of Christ Crucified, which to those of us who believe in it is even better than being able to be eaten with milk.

[TJ in Oregon]

Small quibble, but is Hockeydude's definition a touch Protestant-centric?

Is it?  Are you not considered Catholic if you don't eat your crackers and wine? 

I wouldn't consider you a practicing Catholic if you aren't taking communion regularly. The definition of practicing a certain form of Christianity will necessarily be more stringent than practicing Christianity in general.

Communion is an interesting criteria that I would consider a normal part of practicing Christianity, but then the Pentecostals/Evangelicals don't put much emphasis on it, and many don't offer it at all.

That criteria does really hold with the Catholic Church's teachings. Using Mass attendance does, however, actually receiving communion is only required once annually by the Church's rules.

[John Dibble]

The real problem here seems that nobody can really determine what "practicing" entails. However, you could use a survey get an idea of how many Christians do certain activities related to their religion.

The survey would start with "Do you consider yourself a Christian?" or something along those lines. If the answer is yes then you move on to asking about activities, and if not you stop the survey. Then you ask about frequency of the following:

1. Frequency of church attendance.
2. Frequency of reading the Bible.
3. Praying.
4. Saying grace at meals.
5. Talking about Christianity with friends and family.
6. Talking about Christianity with people who you aren't close with.

Other things might include doing volunteer work to help the poor or whatever else you might want to put on a list for practicing Christianity.