Almost half of U.S. Hispanics attend church nearly every week

Close to half of American Hispanics say they attend worship services nearly every week, a percentage slightly higher than that of the general population, the Gallup Organization reports.

A look at the worship practices of the nation’s Hispanics finds that 49 percent say they attend “once a week or almost every week,” while 17 percent attend at least once a month and 32 percent say they seldom or never attend church.

Gallup said those figures compare to 2004 surveys that show that a smaller percentage of Americans in general — 44 percent — say they attend services once a week or almost every week, while 10 percent attend at least once a month and 41 percent say they never or seldom attend.

Pollsters found that 63 percent of Hispanics — or almost two thirds — identified themselves as Catholic, while 16 percent said they are Protestant. An additional 10 percent said they are affiliated with other Christian faiths, and 6 percent claimed no religious affiliation.

The nearly 90 percent of Hispanics who connected themselves with a Christian religion is a slightly higher percentage than the 84 percent of Americans in general.

Researchers also learned that religious and nonreligious Hispanics hold similar political views.

The survey results are based on an aggregated sample of 1,007 Hispanic adults from telephone interviews conducted in June. They have a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4 percentage points.

(RNS)