2009-March

We also have a list of religious intolerance news for this month. 
Sad to say, these are usually much longer lists.

2009-MAR: USA: New ARIS study released: Membership numbers from individual religious denominations and traditions are notoriously unreliable. Some Christian faith groups assume that ever baptized person remains a member even though they have not attended services in decades. On the other extreme, some faith groups count only active members. The only reliable method of assessing religious identification is to ask people via a telephone survey. The American Religious Identification Survey was conducted in 1990 and 2001 among American adults, excluding those in Alaska and Hawaii. It has been repeated in 2008-FEB-NOV among 54,461 respondents who were questioned in English or Spanish. Results were released in 2009-MAR.

The overall trends indicate:

	A continuing loss in market share for Christianity.
	In spite of what is often reported in the media, only 70% of Americans believe in a personal God; 12% are either Atheists (do not believe in God's existence) or Agnostics (do not know whether a personal God exists). Surprisingly, 12% are Deists (believe in a higher power but not a personal God) even though the vast majority have never heard of the term. However, when asked what their religion is, only 1.6% of American adults call themselves Atheist or Agnostic.
	The percentage of Catholics has remained relatively constant, having dropped from 26.2% of the population in 1990 to 25.1% of the population in 2008. The percentage of other Christian churches -- mainly Protestant -- had dropped from 60% to 51% over the same interval.
	The "Nones" -- composed of Atheists, Agnostics and those with no religious affiliation -- rose from 8.2% of the population in 1990 to 15.0% in 2008.
	Although past trends continue, the rate of change is slowing down. 1

2009-MAR-14: DiversityInc announces top 50 American companies: DiversityInc maintains an annual Diversity^® List. The top 10 on the 2009 list are Johnson & Johnson, AT&T, Ernst & Young, Marriott International, ProcewaterhouseCoopers, Sodexo, Kaiser Permanente, Merck & Co., The Coca-Cola Co., and IBM Corp. Luke Visconti, CEO of DiversityInc said:

"This year's data shows dramatically improved results in the DiversityInc Top 50, especially in senior management and board representation across both gender and race. Culturally, we're seeing CEOs implement accountability and communications programs on an unprecedented scale. The results reflect substantial movement." ₂