William M. Newman

Religion and Regional Culture: Patterns of Concentration and Change among American Religious Denominations, 1952-1980

Religious denominations are viewed as indicators of regional cultural distinctiveness in the United States. Census-type adherence data for 1952, 1971, and 1980 are used to examine changes in spatial concentration within religious groups, and in relation to general population trends. Contrary to expectations, for both the 1952-1971 and 1971-1980 periods these broadly representative denominational data exhibit remarkable stability rather than change. The implications of these patterns for future research on religious trends and their impact on regional culture are discussed.

American Jews: Patterns of Geographic Distribution and Change, 1952-1971

This essay examines changes in the geographical distributions of the American Jewish population between 1952 and 1971, and the role of that population in emerging patterns of religious pluralism in the United States. It is found that American Jews have increased their numbers substantially in areas of the country not traditionally associated with Jewish residence. Despite this shift, the Jewish population remains highly concentrated in metropolitan area counties. Moreover, regardless of size, Jewish communities are overwhelmingly situated in geographic areas marked by high levels of religious pluralism. The implications of these findings for an understanding of the minority status of American Jews and their position in the scheme of American pluralism are discussed.

Problems and Potential Uses of the 1952 and 1971 National Council of Churches' "Churches and Church Membership in the United States" Studies

We examine the effects of age on five dimensions of religious commitment controlling for the effects of education, income, sex, marital status, and church membership. Age is found to have virtually no effect on any except the devotional practice dimension This content downloaded from 157.55.39.58 on Wed, 16 Nov 2016 04:32:12 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

The Church Membership Studies: An Assessment of Four Decades of Institutional Research

This essay examines the characteristics of the census-type county level study «Churches an Church Membership in the United States, 1990» and compares it to previous versions of the study for the years 1952, 1971 and 1980. To what extent are these studies representative of the general and religious population universes from which they are drawn? For denominations available for longitudinal analysis, what degree of compatibility exists between the four studies? What adjustments are required to accommodate denominational mergers and schisms for the nearly forty years covered by these studies? What are the unique features of the 1990 version of this study?

An American Diaspora? Patterns of Jewish Population Distribution and Change, 1971-1980

By most estimates, the American Jewish population reached an historic plateau of over six million persons during the late 1960s. While Jewish populations traditionally have registered much lower fertility rates than other religio-ethnic communities, most observers claim that American Jews have already reached Zero Population Growth, and soon may exhibit Negative Population Growth (Goldstein, 1981; Goldschneider & Uhlenberg, 1969). As Goldstein observes (1981:10), these demographic trends give special importance to developments in the spatial or locational features of the American Jewish population. Group size and density are important factors effecting in-group solidarity, as well as dominant group prejudice and discrimination. Thus, in the context of low fertility rates and relative stability of population size, a trend toward geographic dispersion for American Jews could have significant implications for Jewish community life. This paper examines the locational features of the American Jewish population in 1980, as well as changes in that pattern between 1971 and 1980. Our concerns are several. To what extent have the trends observed (Newman & Halvorson, 1979) for the 1952-1971 period continued? How do trends in Jewish population distribution either reflect or depart from those of the American population in general, as well as other religious communities? Finally, in the context of other demographic features of American Jewry, what are the implications for future research emerging from the geographic trends encountered?