How important is being a Christian?
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How important is being a Christian? (Demographic Patterns)

Some people say the following things are important for being truly American. Others say they are not important. How important do you think each of the following is... E. To be a Christian . Results weighted by WT2004 (General Social Survey, 2004)


How important is being a Christian? by Sex


MALEFEMALETOTAL
VERY IMP.40.8%
201
51.6%
307
46.7%
508
FAIRLY IMP17.4%
86
16.1%
96
16.7%
182
NOT VERY20.9%
103
13.9%
83
17.1%
186
NOT IMPOR.17.2%
85
15.8%
94
16.5%
179
CANT CHOOS3.7%
18
2.5%
15
3.0%
33
NO ANSWER0.0%
0
0.0%
0
0.0%
0
Missing6917461437
TOTAL 100.0%
493
100.0%
595

1088



How important is being a Christian? by Race


WHITEBLACKOTHERTOTAL
VERY IMP.46.1%
405
72.0%
90
15.3%
13
46.7%
508
FAIRLY IMP17.2%
151
5.6%
7
28.2%
24
16.7%
182
NOT VERY17.2%
151
11.2%
14
24.7%
21
17.1%
186
NOT IMPOR.16.6%
146
8.0%
10
27.1%
23
16.5%
179
CANT CHOOS2.8%
25
3.2%
4
4.7%
4
3.0%
33
NO ANSWER0.0%
0
0.0%
0
0.0%
0
0.0%
0
Missing11441541391437
TOTAL 100.0%
878
100.0%
125
100.0%
85

1088



How important is being a Christian? by Religion


PROTESTANTCATHOLICOTHERNONEMissingTOTAL
VERY IMP.60.7%
330
48.0%
134
25.2%
30
9.9%
14

0
46.9%
508
FAIRLY IMP17.1%
93
22.6%
63
9.2%
11
10.6%
15

0
16.8%
182
NOT VERY13.4%
73
15.1%
42
21.8%
26
31.0%
44

1
17.1%
185
NOT IMPOR.7.4%
40
13.3%
37
39.5%
47
37.3%
53

2
16.3%
177
CANT CHOOS1.5%
8
1.1%
3
4.2%
5
11.3%
16

1
3.0%
32
NO ANSWER0.0%
0
0.0%
0
0.0%
0
0.0%
0

0
0.0%
0
Missing74635513219601429
TOTAL 100.0%
544
100.0%
279
100.0%
119
100.0%
142

4

1084



How important is being a Christian? by Age


18-3031-4445-6465+MissingTOTAL
VERY IMP.33.0%
88
44.0%
136
51.2%
197
69.0%
87

0
46.7%
508
FAIRLY IMP17.6%
47
18.8%
58
16.1%
62
11.9%
15

0
16.7%
182
NOT VERY20.2%
54
20.7%
64
15.3%
59
7.1%
9

0
17.1%
186
NOT IMPOR.24.3%
65
14.2%
44
15.3%
59
8.7%
11

0
16.5%
179
CANT CHOOS4.9%
13
2.3%
7
2.1%
8
3.2%
4

1
2.9%
32
NO ANSWER0.0%
0
0.0%
0
0.0%
0
0.0%
0

0
0.0%
0
Missing33142550716401427
TOTAL 100.0%
267
100.0%
309
100.0%
385
100.0%
126

1

1087



How important is being a Christian? by Church attendance


NEVER< 1 A MNTH< 1 A WEEKWEEKLY +MissingTOTAL
VERY IMP.21.1%
34
29.3%
119
55.9%
127
78.3%
227

1
46.8%
507
FAIRLY IMP12.4%
20
24.4%
99
19.4%
44
6.6%
19

0
16.8%
182
NOT VERY26.7%
43
22.9%
93
13.2%
30
6.9%
20

0
17.2%
186
NOT IMPOR.32.3%
52
20.0%
81
9.7%
22
7.2%
21

3
16.2%
176
CANT CHOOS7.5%
12
3.4%
14
1.8%
4
1.0%
3

0
3.0%
33
NO ANSWER0.0%
0
0.0%
0
0.0%
0
0.0%
0

0
0.0%
0
Missing20347433541801430
TOTAL 100.0%
161
100.0%
406
100.0%
227
100.0%
290

4

1084



How important is being a Christian? by Education


LESS HSHS DEGREEJR COLLBA DEGREEGRAD DEGRETOTAL
VERY IMP.51.5%
51
52.7%
285
51.6%
49
35.9%
88
32.4%
35
46.7%
508
FAIRLY IMP15.2%
15
17.2%
93
20.0%
19
16.7%
41
13.0%
14
16.7%
182
NOT VERY14.1%
14
15.2%
82
9.5%
9
25.7%
63
16.7%
18
17.1%
186
NOT IMPOR.12.1%
12
12.8%
69
16.8%
16
19.2%
47
32.4%
35
16.5%
179
CANT CHOOS7.1%
7
2.2%
12
2.1%
2
2.4%
6
5.6%
6
3.0%
33
NO ANSWER0.0%
0
0.0%
0
0.0%
0
0.0%
0
0.0%
0
0.0%
0
Missing1847451002561511436
TOTAL 100.0%
99
100.0%
541
100.0%
95
100.0%
245
100.0%
108

1088



Notes

General Social Survey: Since 1972, the National Opinion Research Center has conducted a nationwide survey of a random sample of U.S. citizens on a near-yearly basis—the General Social Survey (GSS). In addition to gathering detailed demographic information on respondents, the GSS gathers opinions on a wide variety of topics, such as the role of government in public life, controversial issues such as abortion, confidence in public institutions and a host of others. Of course, respondents are unlikely to spend five hours completing a survey so in order to gather data on a broad range of issues the GSS has adopted the practice of rotating groups of questions into and out of the survey in different years.