Californians lose religion, blame Hollywood - study

LOS ANGELES — California, the state with the most Roman Catholics and large Protestant, American Jewish and American Muslim population, is also ironically the less religious than the rest of the nation. Almost half those interviewed blame Hollywood for losing their religion. According to the Religious Landscape Survey released this week, Californians consider religion not “very important," and points its fingers at the movie industry in its midst as the major influence for their slide out of God’s hands. More than half of the 4-million majority Catholic Filipino population in the U.S. live in California. One of the sunny state’s most-known industries and locales, Hollywood, appears to be a corrupting influence in the eyes of at least some Americans, the study adds. Forty-two percent say they feel their values are threatened by "Hollywood and the entertainment industry"; 56 percent say they are not threatened. The survey took account of the views of 36,000 California residents using English and Spanish. The study also incorporated findings from a 2007 survey of about 1,000 American Muslims, and explored the religious beliefs and practices of Evangelical Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Mormons, Muslims, Buddhists and others on subjects like abortion, homosexuality, the environment, government and foreign policy. As the 20th century came to a close, 40 percent of all Buddhists in America resided in Southern California. The Los Angeles Metropolitan Area has become unique in the Buddhist world as the only place where representative organizations of every major school of Buddhism can be found in a single urban center. The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Northern California and Hsi Lai Temple in Southern California are two of the largest Buddhist temples in the Western Hemisphere. It also has a growing Hindu population; California also has more Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints than any state except Utah. The report, however, confirms past research showing the United States as an overwhelmingly religious nation. An analysis by L.A. Times say that Americans are not particularly dogmatic about religion even as they embrace it in their lives. Seventy percent believe that “many religions can lead to eternal life"; 57 percent of Evangelicals feel that way, as do 79 percent of Catholics. The study also revealed that although many Americans refrain from attending weekly worship in churches, a huge 92 percent believe in the existence of God or a universal spirit. Meantime, 41 percent who are unaffiliated say religion “is at least somewhat important in their lives," and seven in 10 of the unaffiliated say they believe in God. - Philippine News