Family Life

08.23.11 | Sarah Harnisch

  A new study suggests the less educated are unlikely to attend church. Researchers at the University of Virginia found while the rate of religious service attendance has decreased for all white Americans since the early 1970's, the rate of decline is more then twice as high for those without college degrees compared to those who graduated from college. Demographers looked at Catholics, evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants, Mormons, and Jews. In the 1970's, 51-percent of college-educated whites attended religious services monthly or more, compared to 46-percent today. 38-percent of least-educated whites attended in the 70's, and today, that number is 23-percent. The fear, some pastors say, is that church is being looked as a social hangout for people of the same "class". They have improved physical and psychological health, social networks, and civic skills. The study also showed those with higher incomes attend church more often, and those who have experienced unemployment at some point over the past 10 years attend less often. If you want to read more on the study, go here.