July 9, 2007 (Ventura, CA) - Not too long ago, Catholics were seen as a different breed of Americans - mostly European immigrants, urban, blue collar and participants in a minority religion. When John Kennedy became the first Catholic president elected in the United States in 1960, his faith of choice was a significant issue in the campaign.
Although the percentage of adults who describe themselves as Catholic has dropped from three out of ten to slightly more than two out of ten in the past two decades, Catholics remain the largest denominational segment in the country (22%). These days, however, they are as mainstream as any people group in the nation. A new survey of more than 4000 adults conducted by The Barna Group examined 97 different facets of the lives of Catholics, comparing them to national norms. The outcome is striking: Catholics are virtually indistinguishable from people aligned with other faith groups - except in the area of faith. Overall, there were 33 significant differences, but 82% of those differences related to religious or moral components. In the religious dimension, Catholics were notably different from other Americans on 20 of the 28 faith-related measures examined in the Barna study.
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