The Extent of Interdenominational Marriage in the United States

M any Western nations regularly gather information on religious preference (United Nations, 1954), but in the United States there seems to be an extreme avoidance of a national inquiry of this kind. Although strongly recommended by a wide variety of groups over the years, a population census with such an item (except as hereinafter mentioned) has never been attempted (Smith and Hitt, 1952: 128-136; Intensive Review Committee, 1954: 673, 710, 773, 810; Monahan, 1954; Kenedy, 1957; Population Index, 1957; Good, 1959; Foster, 1961; Peterson, 1962; Demerath, 1968; Goldstein, 1969). Some individual states (Rhode Island, South Dakota) inquired about the religious affiliation of the citizenry, and some early surveys by the Federal government included a question on religion of individuals, apparently without any furore (Monahan, 1954). Indeed, a 1960 Census population pretest in Milwaukee found that virtually all of those interviewed responded voluntarily (Milwaukee Journal, 1956; New York Times, 1956). It remains a real paradox, therefore, that this country which prides itself so much on its religious tolerance is at the same time so fearful of impartially gathering statistics on religious preference. Techniques of collection on a voluntary basis have been suggested which would guarantee total privacy, confidentiality, and anonymity, with no permanent record of any kind being maintained after the statistical tabulations are made.