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Pulpit and Pew research reports on Asian Americans

Pulpit and Pew
  • There are nearly 13 million residents in the United States who trace their roots to Asia and Oceania. 
  • The Committee of 100 surveyed American attitudes towards Asian Americans and reported that:
    • One out of four Americans hold "strong negative attitudes" towards Chinese Americans
    • 23 percent would be uncomfortable voting for an Asian American to be President of the United States
    • 24 percent would disapprove of inter-marriage with an Asian American
    • 32 percent feel Chinese-Americans were more loyal to China than the U.S
  • Some of the positive attitudes towards Chinese Americans voiced by survey respondents include:
    • "strong family values" (91percent)
    • "honesty as business people" (77percent)
    • "place a high value on education" (67 percent). 
  • 10,242,998 Asians and 1,655,830 mixed race people with Asian blood live in the United States.
    • The nearly 12 million Asians make up 4.2 percent of the total U.S. population (281,421,906).
    • This does not include the population of Pacific Islanders (874,414) who account for about 0.3 percent of the total population.
    • The Census Bureau projects that the Asian and Pacific Islander population will double to nearly 25 million (7.1 percent of U.S. population) by 2030, and triple to more than 37 million (9.3 percent of U.S. population) by 2050.
    • This continues the trend of dramatic Asian American population growth in the second half of the 20th century (Asian Americans were never higher than 0.5 percent of the U.S. population before 1960).
  • According to the survey, 46 percent of the respondents claimed to be Christian (Protestant and Catholic), a much higher percentage than any of the other religions. 
    • 70 percent of Koreans attend Christian churches regularly.
    • More Chinese claim a Christian identity than a Buddhist identity (about 25-30 percent vs. 20 percent) or any other religious identity (most are adult converts).
    • More Japanese are Christians than Buddhists (about 45 percent vs. 25 percent). A third of Vietnamese are Christian (and about a half are Buddhists).
    • According to ARIS and MAAPS, 43 to 46 percent of the Asian American population identify themselves as Christians.
  • These surveys estimated that 2 percent of Catholics are Asian or Pacific Islanders.
  • The United Methodist Church listed 69 Asian American clergywomen in its clergy directory in 2001, and the Presbyterian Church USA listed 19 in its directory.
    • Among 69 Asian American clergywomen, more than 50 percent (42) are Korean American clergywomen who mostly serve crosscultural and cross-racial appointments.
    • In the context of the United Methodist Church 80.5 percent (i.e., 33 out of 41) of Asian American clergywomen served cross-cultural/crossracial ministry in 2002.
    • A nationwide study of racial-ethnic minority clergywomen in the United Methodist denomination found that 109 of 209 clergywomen were married or remarried at the time of the study.
    • Less than 50 percent of ordained racial-ethnic minority UMC clergywomen, self identified as "single."
    • 33 percent of Asian American, 43 percent of Hispanic American and 58 percent of African American clergywomen self-reported as "singles."

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Date: 12/13/2004
Copyright 2006
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