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By Kent Larsen
'Largest Ever' Survey of Congregations Includes LDS Wards & Branches
HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT -- The Hartford Institute for Religious
Research has completed its Faith Communities Today survey, calling it
the largest survey of American religious congregations ever
conducted. The results of the study, made available Tuesday on the
group's website, include responses from nearly 1,000 wards and
branches of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who were
part of the more than 14,000 congregations representing 41 faiths and
denominations participating in the study.
The impetus for the survey grew out of a 1995 meeting of researchers.
Working from a basic set of questions, denominations and faiths
surveyed their own members, and contributed the data for the basic
questions to a common database. The data was then weighted to reflect
the makeup of the religious population in the US.
In all, the survey results included 969 LDS congregations, out of 999
randomly selected wards and branches in the US to whom a survey was
sent. At the time of the survey, there were a total of 11,206 wards
and branches in the US. Like many of the participating denominations,
the LDS Church's Research Information Division included many
additional questions in their survey that were not part of the basic
questions agreed on for the project. That data was not released to
the Hartford Institute, and was presumably used internally by the LDS
Church.
The Institute's website allows the public to access the results of
the survey through an "Interactive Workbook" that allows looking at
responses for each denomination. The data should indicate how local
LDS leaders feel their congregations are doing in areas like public
worship, spiritual growth and community outreach.
While Mormon News was not able to access the data for technical
reasons, news reports on the survey and information on the
institute's website show positions that both support traditional LDS
assumptions and are at odds with those assumptions. For example, the
survey showed that strong public stands on morality by a congregation
was linked to financial soundness. But the survey also showed that
changing the worship service to include electric guitar, electric
keyboard and maybe drums were associated with a vital, growing,
fiscally strong congregation.
Source:
Profiles of Faith
Atlanta Journal-Constitution 14Mar01 I1
By Gayle White: Staff
Picture emerges of religion in America in megastudy of 14,000 congregations
Claim of 'Post-Denominational Era' Defied
Washington Post pgA03 14Mar01 I1
By Bill Broadway: Washington Post Staff Writer
See also:
Faith Communities Today
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