a holier holiday season - effects of terrorism - Statistical Data Included

American Demographics, Dec 1, 2001

Monsignor James Dorney, vicar of Staten Island - home to one-fifth of the New York City firefighters killed on Sept. 11 - looked out at his congregation at St. Peters church the following Sunday and recalled a pivotal Mass from his own youth, immediately after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. "I was 9 years old," Dorney said. "My mother and I went to our parish in the Bronx, and knelt down on our knees as the pastor entered the pulpit for his homily. This was a time of much greater church attendance, but the church was significantly fuller than usual that morning. And the pastor looked out at us and he said, 'How is it that the church is so packed today?' That was 60 years ago. And here we are again, and the church is packed on Sunday."

And not only on Staten Island. Across the country, attendance at churches, synagogues and mosques rose during the weeks following Sept. 11, as Americans sought solace in spiritual and human fellowship. But will this increased religious fervor mark a new era of piety in American lives, or is it just a temporary phase and soon we'll return to observance as usual?

Various surveys seem to suggest a renewal of faith. In a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll conducted on Sept. 14 and 15, which surveyed 1,023 adults nationwide, 74 percent said that as a result of the terrorist attack they were praying, or intended to pray, more than they usually do. And 6 in 10 said they planned to attend a memorial service. In the two days following the attack, 35 million Americans (almost 1 in 5) said they had attended a religious service, according to a poll of 1,001 adults nationwide conducted on Sept. 12 and 13 by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. In a Time/CNN poll of 1,055 adults conducted Sept. 27 by Harris Interactive, 7 out of 10 respondents said they'd sung "God Bless America" since the attack.

"Every poll shows large percentages of people saying they're praying," says Andy Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press and editor of The Diminishing Divide: Religion's Changing Role In American Politics (Brookings Institute, 2000). Kohut says the polls are especially likely to be reliable, since historically Americans have been candid with pollsters about their religious behavior.

The results of the polls are supported by anecdotal evidence from religious institutions and leaders across the nation. On the evening of the attacks, more than 5,000 people attended services at Harvard Yard's Memorial Church. That Sunday, many houses of worship opened to an overflow of visitors. Universities reported an increase in religious activity among students. Weeks later, the religious pull continues.

"The people who came to our mosque immediately after the attack have continued to come," says Imam Yahya Hendi, Muslim chaplain at Georgetown University. "I do expect more attendance in the coming months, and more continuity in attendance."

At Our Lady of Victory church, located near Wall Street in Manhattan, parochial vicar, Monsignor George Baker says he was surprised that even with solid attendance at his daily Masses, an enormous crowd showed up for a special Mass of remembrance on Sept. 27. "It shows that people are still looking to exercise their faith," he says. "People are coming in for counseling, wanting to express their grief; they've come to reevaluate the values they were placing on life. I think people will switch from more worldly things to more spiritual things in their lives."

An Oct. 3 American Demographics poll of 1,000 American adults, conducted by Greenfield Online, found 38 percent of respondents said the Sept. 11 events had strengthened their spiritual beliefs. In a Pew survey of 1,001 adults between Oct. 1 and 3, 57 percent said they were praying more, down from 69 percent immediately after the attacks (Sept. 13 to 17), but still a high percentage. Of those worried about further attacks, 63 percent said they were praying more.

At the same time, by certain measures, changes in Americans' relationship with spirituality have not been significant. In a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll conducted Sept. 21 to 22, 47 percent of Americans said they attended church or synagogue in the past seven days, up only slightly from 41 percent in May. The number of Americans who said religion is "very important" in their lives rose to 64 percent, above the average of 58 percent during the past two years and higher than its last peak during the Gulf War.

Some clergy are skeptical about a general rekindling of piety. Rabbi Dorothy Richman of Congregation Beth Shalom in San Francisco says that although attendance has been high since the attacks, she doesn't see a "new revival coming out of this. ... I wish it were the case," she says. "Perhaps a certain group will rediscover and rededicate themselves because they feel a lack or an instability in their lives that they want to address."

Martin E. Marty, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago and a Lutheran minister, believes there will be two types of change: seismic and glacial. Seismic change, he says, refers to a huge shift in American attitudes, as people adjust to a new sense of insecurity. "It's like after an earthquake," Marty says. "You rebuild, but you're on a fault." Seismic changes since Sept. 11 include higher attendance at church, greater intolerance of other faiths, particularly Islam, and disdain for nonbelievers, he says.