In a guest post at FaithWorld, Matthew Weiner and Reverend Bud Heckman discuss the implications of the latest round of religion survey data:
Mary Rosenblatt grew up Jewish, she married a Catholic and her children are “exposed to both faiths.” In her adult life, she has become particularly drawn to meditation as practiced by a local Buddhist circle. If she participated in a survey about religious identity, how might she be portrayed? And what about her kids?
Their conclusion suggests a new way of thinking about pluralism, not simply among individuals but within them:
In fact, allowing for a picture of the pluralism that may be within the individual and, in some ways, within a tradition is not in the cards yet for the designs of these surveys. It is a little like looking at a puzzle table in its very early stages. The pieces are there, and perhaps there are some connections, but it is not clear that they will fit together. Worse yet, the box cover is not to be found, and whether it provides a picture worth looking at once it is put together is still unclear.
Continue reading at FaithWorld.