The fastest-growing religion?

The notion that Wicca is America’s fastest-growing religion has achieved meme status. Everyone says it, but who started it?

Thanks to Jim Lewis, I have been looking at some of the data collected by the American Religious Identification Survey, conducted at CUNY, and comparing sociological changes in American religious populations between 1991 and 2001.

Just a few observations from the “key findings” section:

Religious identification is down: “In 1990, 90 percent of the adult population identified with one or another religion group. In 2001, such identification has dropped to 81 percent.”

“The proportion of the population that can be classified as Christian has declined from 86 in 1990 to 77 percent in 2001”

“Although the number of adults who classify themselves in non-Christian religious groups has increased from about 5.8 million to about 7.7 million, the proportion of non-Christians has increased only by a very small amount.”

“The top three ‘gainers’ in America’s vast religious market place appear to be Evangelical Christians, those describing themselves as Non-Denominational Christians and those who profess no religion.”

Data on Wiccans and other Pagans seems a little shakey, because comparative numbers from the 1991 survey are mostly missing. Also, although the summary does not address this issue, I suspect that many contemporary Pagans are still shy about naming their affiliation to some stranger doing a survey.

Wicca: 1991–84,000

Wicca: 2001–134,000

Druids: 1991–not reported

Druids: 2001–33,000

Santeristas: 1991–not reported

Santeristas: 2001–22,000

Non-specific Pagans: 1991–not reported

Non-specific Pagans: 2001- 140,000

That is a 160-percent increased in the self-reported number of Wiccans. By comparison, the self-reported number of Muslims rose 208 percent, from 53,000 in 1991 to 1,104,000 in 2001. Things don’t look so good for the meme, do they?

Another factoid: “As in 1990 so too in the current study, the Buddhist and Muslim population appears to have the highest proportion of young adults under age thirty, and the lowest percentage of females.”

There is much more — have a look.

All the sagas in one place

Visit Saganet for a complete (Norse and English) searchable compilation of all the pre-13th century Icelandic sagas.

The material consists of the entire range of Icelandic family sagas. It also includes a very large portion of Germanic/Nordic mythology (the Eddas), the history of Norwegian kings, contemporary sagas and tales from the European age of chivalry. A great number of manuscripts contain Icelandic ballads, poetry or epigrams. These Collections are kept in The National and University Library of Iceland, The ?rni Magn?sson Institute in Iceland and in the Fiske Icelandic Collection at Cornell University. All manuscripts, on vellum and paper, and printed editions and translations of the Sagas as well as relevant critical studies published before 1900 are included and available through the Internet.

And it’s amazing. (With thanks to Languagehat.)

All the sagas in one place

Visit Saganet for a complete (Norse and English) searchable compilation of all the pre-13th century Icelandic sagas.

The material consists of the entire range of Icelandic family sagas. It also includes a very large portion of Germanic/Nordic mythology (the Eddas), the history of Norwegian kings, contemporary sagas and tales from the European age of chivalry. A great number of manuscripts contain Icelandic ballads, poetry or epigrams. These Collections are kept in The National and University Library of Iceland, The ?rni Magn?sson Institute in Iceland and in the Fiske Icelandic Collection at Cornell University. All manuscripts, on vellum and paper, and printed editions and translations of the Sagas as well as relevant critical studies published before 1900 are included and available through the Internet.

And it’s amazing. (With thanks to Languagehat.)

All the sagas in one place

Visit Saganet for a complete (Norse and English) searchable compilation of all the pre-13th century Icelandic sagas.

The material consists of the entire range of Icelandic family sagas. It also includes a very large portion of Germanic/Nordic mythology (the Eddas), the history of Norwegian kings, contemporary sagas and tales from the European age of chivalry. A great number of manuscripts contain Icelandic ballads, poetry or epigrams. These Collections are kept in The National and University Library of Iceland, The ?rni Magn?sson Institute in Iceland and in the Fiske Icelandic Collection at Cornell University. All manuscripts, on vellum and paper, and printed editions and translations of the Sagas as well as relevant critical studies published before 1900 are included and available through the Internet.

And it’s amazing. (With thanks to Languagehat.)

All the sagas in one place

Visit Saganet for a complete (Norse and English) searchable compilation of all the pre-13th century Icelandic sagas.

The material consists of the entire range of Icelandic family sagas. It also includes a very large portion of Germanic/Nordic mythology (the Eddas), the history of Norwegian kings, contemporary sagas and tales from the European age of chivalry. A great number of manuscripts contain Icelandic ballads, poetry or epigrams. These Collections are kept in The National and University Library of Iceland, The ?rni Magn?sson Institute in Iceland and in the Fiske Icelandic Collection at Cornell University. All manuscripts, on vellum and paper, and printed editions and translations of the Sagas as well as relevant critical studies published before 1900 are included and available through the Internet.

And it’s amazing. (With thanks to Languagehat.)

Cougars in Cornwall

Reports of out-of-place large cats in Britain are most common in the the southwest, says the BBC.

When I hear the word ‘transgressive,’ I cock my Browning*

University Diaries has a great entry (18 April) on a tempest in a creative-writing teapot at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University.

What caught my attention was her reference to Paul Fussell’s book Class. Although he later claimed, perhaps disingenously, that he wrote the book as a joke, it remains one of few accessible studies of a social issue that is more taboo to discuss in America than are fantasies of being a serial killer.

* from a line by the German playwright Hanns Johst, “Wenn ich Kultur h?re … entsichere ich meinen Browning,” often wrongly attributed to Air Marshall Goering of the Third Reich and translated as “When I hear the word Culture, I reach for my revolver.”

(As some of my regular readers know, John Browning [1855-1926] is more known for designing the 1911 Colt .45 automatic pistol.)

When I hear the word ‘transgressive,’ I cock my Browning*

University Diaries has a great entry (18 April) on a tempest in a creative-writing teapot at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University.

What caught my attention was her reference to Paul Fussell’s book Class. Although he later claimed, perhaps disingenously, that he wrote the book as a joke, it remains one of few accessible studies of a social issue that is more taboo to discuss in America than are fantasies of being a serial killer.

* from a line by the German playwright Hanns Johst, “Wenn ich Kultur h?re … entsichere ich meinen Browning,” often wrongly attributed to Air Marshall Goering of the Third Reich and translated as “When I hear the word Culture, I reach for my revolver.”

(As some of my regular readers know, John Browning [1855-1926] is more known for designing the 1911 Colt .45 automatic pistol.)

When I hear the word ‘transgressive,’ I cock my Browning*

University Diaries has a great entry (18 April) on a tempest in a creative-writing teapot at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University.

What caught my attention was her reference to Paul Fussell’s book Class. Although he later claimed, perhaps disingenously, that he wrote the book as a joke, it remains one of few accessible studies of a social issue that is more taboo to discuss in America than are fantasies of being a serial killer.

* from a line by the German playwright Hanns Johst, “Wenn ich Kultur h?re … entsichere ich meinen Browning,” often wrongly attributed to Air Marshall Goering of the Third Reich and translated as “When I hear the word Culture, I reach for my revolver.”

(As some of my regular readers know, John Browning [1855-1926] is more known for designing the 1911 Colt .45 automatic pistol.)

When I hear the word ‘transgressive,’ I cock my Browning*

University Diaries has a great entry (18 April) on a tempest in a creative-writing teapot at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University.

What caught my attention was her reference to Paul Fussell’s book Class. Although he later claimed, perhaps disingenously, that he wrote the book as a joke, it remains one of few accessible studies of a social issue that is more taboo to discuss in America than are fantasies of being a serial killer.

* from a line by the German playwright Hanns Johst, “Wenn ich Kultur h?re … entsichere ich meinen Browning,” often wrongly attributed to Air Marshall Goering of the Third Reich and translated as “When I hear the word Culture, I reach for my revolver.”

(As some of my regular readers know, John Browning [1855-1926] is more known for designing the 1911 Colt .45 automatic pistol.)