Church Attendance Unchanged During Recession

While many have speculated that the recent economic downturn would cause a return to God and church, a new study released this week by Gallup shows that church attendance and the importance of religion in our daily lives has not changed over the past year. After conducting over 425,000 interviews since January of 2008, Gallup's research shows that:

• Sixty-five percent of the population say that religion is important in their daily lives (64% in February 2008).
• Forty-two percent say they attend church, synagogue or mosque weekly or almost weekly (41% in February 2008).

The study also shows that the percentage of Democrats, Republicans and independents who say they attend church, synagogue or mosque weekly or almost weekly has also remained constant over the past year.

• Republicans — 55 percent (55% in March 2008).
• Democrats — 34 percent (34% in March 2008).
• Independents — 37 percent (37% in March 2008).

Click here to view the complete report.

(HT: FotF's Pastor's Weekly Briefing)