One-third of the population of the United States-Jews, Catholics or Protestants–are religious “resisters,” in the sense that they do not participate in the programs of their faiths and “are virtually unknown to rabbi, priest or minister,” according to the results of a survey announced here today by a prominent Christian church statistician.
The survey, conducted in Nassau County, in suburban New York, was summarized by the Rev. Leland Gartrell, executive secretary of the department of church planning and research of the Protestant Council of the City of New York. The “resisters,” according to Mr. Gartrell, donate no monies to the organized religious communities of their faiths, and rarely attend synagogue or church except when necessary, as when there is a funeral in the family.
Mr. Gartrell’s figures show that, in Nassau County, there are now 329,000 Jews–but he emphasizes that this is “a cultural count,” and does not separate practicing Jews from Jews who are “resisters.” Percentage-wise, the figures show, the Nassau County “cultural count” of Jews has increased in the last seven years, by comparison with the overall population. The Jews numbered 15.8 percent of the total population in 1952, went up to 26.5 percent last year, and increased slightly to 26.6 percent this year.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
