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October 17, 2005 (Waltham, MA)—The signs all seem to be there—the high profile of the Christian conservative bloc during the 2004 presidential election; the debate over Supreme Court nominees; vocal discussions about intelligent design; the success of Mel Gibson's 2004 picture "Passion of the Christ"—but has America really become a more religiously fundamentalist country over time? New analysis from Copernicus Marketing Consulting and Research, a firm that helps Fortune 500 companies make better marketing decisions, reveals that the popular perception among Hollywood studios, politicians, marketers, and many others that the number of Americans who consider themselves fundamentalist is growing at a much faster rate than those with less orthodox or evangelical views has no basis in fact.

Copernicus compared data from the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center's General Social Survey of Americans 18-years and older in 1972, 1982, 1991 (survey was not conducted in 1992), and 2002. Each year the survey asked a national probability sample of, depending on the year, approximately 1,500-2,000 people about whether they consider themselves a religious liberal, moderate, or fundamentalist.

Copernicus discovered that among the general population, the number of Americans who consider themselves religiously liberal increased much more dramatically over the course of 30 years while the number of fundamentalists increased only marginally. Liberals expanded from 18 percent of the population in 1972 to 29 percent in 2002, while fundamentalists grew from 27 percent in 1972 to 30 percent in 2002. Moderates, on the other hand, decreased considerably, from 52 percent in 1972 to 36 percent in 2002, adding credence to the notion that American society is polarizing over time. "American society today is actually just as religiously liberal as it is fundamentalist," explained Claire Cropper, vice president of statistical services at Copernicus.

Copernicus also looked at the religious leanings across the regions of the country:

• In the South, the area of the country with the highest number of fundamentalists (44 percent in 2002), the liberals saw the most noticeable increase, growing by 200 percent from 9 percent in 1972 to 27 percent in 2002.
• In the West, the number of religious liberals grew from 20 percent in 1972 to 33 percent in 2002, while fundamentalists remained relatively unchanged, from 22 percent in 1972 to 23 percent in 2002.
• In the Midwest, the percentage of liberals increased from 18 percent in 1972 to 25 percent in 2002, while fundamentalists grew at a slightly higher rate, from 17 percent in 1972 to 26 percent in 2002.
• In the Northeast, with its reputation for liberalism, the number of liberals remained relatively steady, increasing from 28 percent in 1972 to 33 percent in 2002, while the percentage of fundamentalists doubled, from 9 percent in 1972 to 18 percent in 2002.

See results table below for complete results of the Copernicus analysis:

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