The New York Times Religion Brief recently highlighted a survey by the American Religious Identification Survey that focused on the state of Judaism in the United States.

Of the 5 1/2 million people in the general Jewish population in the US, the majority consider themselves religious.

But the big surprise was the significant rise in one category of response in the landmark survey.  The finding makes Judaism and Christianity more alike than never before from one specific point of view. . .

“The number of Jews who identify themselves as only culturally Jewish has risen from 20 percent in 1990 to 37 percent last year, according to the study.”

One of the biggest reasons cited for the large scale decline in religious Jewish identity is the disaffection from their religion. Hmmm….Does this sound familiar? People leaving a religion because they feel alienated, disconnected or just can’t find a meaningful connection!

Something to note is that only 1.6 percent of Americans decisively define their religious views as atheist (believe there is NO God) or agnostic (unsure of a God) according to the ARIS.

It is interesting that 12 percent are deistic (believe in a higher power but not a personal God).   I wonder how many people included in these declines in the various surveys are simply “de-churched” people NOT abandoning God, but rather just lost and frustrated with their experiences to date with the organized religion they’ve encountered.

Previously, the secular worldview and the religious worldview overlapped or were identical.  Nowadays, more than half report that there is a contradiction between their secular worldview and their faith.  The problem arises when you reach the tipping point and individuals can’t reconcile the perceived disconnects.

Whether you are talking about Jusaism or Christianity, it moves us to think about just how is religion specifically working against itself in today’s secular setting?