Princeton, N.J. — A higher percentage of Protestants now attend church on a weekly basis than Catholics do, the Gallup Organization announced. “Historical Gallup Poll data shows that Protestants have now clearly overtaken Catholics in church attendance, for the first time in Gallup polling history,” wrote George H. Gallup Jr., in a commentary released Dec. 16.
Catholic weekly attendance reached an all-time low in the wake of sex abuse scandals, but seems to have rebounded somewhat. Between March 2002, two months after news of the scandals broke, and February 2003, weekly Catholic church attendance fell 9 percentage points to 35 percent, the lowest measurement ever recorded by Gallup. By November 2003, attendance had climbed back to 45 percent. But during that period, Protestant attendance remained fairly stable.
Catholic attendance was at 74 percent in 1955 when a question on the subject was first asked by Gallup.
Protestant attendance, on the other hand, was at 48 percent in November 2003, higher than the 42 percent reported in 1955.
The latest survey on attendance was based on telephone interviews with 1,004 adults nationwide Nov. 10–12. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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