How Gender Is Trumping Religion in American Politics

HOW much difference does being very religious (in the sense of praying every day and attending worship at least once a week) make to the way Americans live, spend and interact with others? Last month, when the Pew Forum, a pollster based in Washington, DC, published a wide-ranging study on that question, it was surprising to find what sorts of behaviour did and did not correlate with piety. Religious people were generally more connected with society: not just their own churches, but their extended families, community associations, clubs, charities and so on; some 45% of the highly religious respondents said they volunteered for a good cause over the previous week, against 28% for other respondents. But being devout had little effect on how much care people took of their health, how they selected consumer products, or even how often they lost their temper.