Three Gaps

The religious condition of Americans today can perhaps be best described in terms of gaps.

First, there is an ethics gap –

...the difference between the way we think of ourselves and the way we actually are. While religion is highly popular in this country, survey evidence suggests that it does not change people’s lives to the degree one would expect from the level of professed faith.

There is also a knowledge gap –

...the gap between Americans’ state faith and their lack of the most basic knowledge about that faith.

Finally, there is a gap, a growing one, between believers and belongers –

...a decoupling of belief and practice, if you will. Millions of people are believers, many devout, but they do not participate in the congregational lives of their denominations.

Americans tend to view their faith as a matter between them and God, to be aided, but not necessarily influenced, by religious institutions.

Adapted from Religion in America, 2002, Princeton Religion Research Center, by Joe Iaquinta (emphasis mine).