ABP News today talks about Americans and faith, and had some interesting observations about many people not knowing their own denomination. Here’s a clip:

Previous surveys in the area would not have picked up that subtlety, Dougherty said. He added the new results also indicate a larger trend: People are better able to identify with a local place of worship than with a national denomination. For instance, fewer people today think of themselves as Southern Baptists than as members of a particular congregation.

Many survey respondents may not even know the name of the denomination to which their church or synagogue belongs.

“Rick Warren is a Southern Baptist preacher. [Warren’s] Saddleback Church is a Southern Baptist church,” Dougherty said, referring to one of the nation’s largest and most prominent congregations, located near Los Angeles. “Do the 20,000 people who worship there every weekend know they are Southern Baptist? For many, probably not.”

JG