U.S. Jewish survey indicates rise in synagogue affiliation but decline in other ways

NEW YORK (AP) -- A new survey has found that just over 1 million U.S. Jewish households, or 44 percent, are affiliated with a congregation, up from 880,000 families in a parallel survey a decade ago.

But the American Jewish Identity Survey 2001 also indicates secularism is a growing force. About 1.7 million people who called themselves Jewish by identity, parentage or upbringing describe their households as atheist, agnostic, secular, humanist or as having no religion, an increase of 53 percent from a 1990 survey.

About 1.1 million adults identify with the Reform branch, 940,000 with the Conservative branch, 300,000 with Orthodoxy and 75,000 with other groups.

The study of 1,668 Jewish households was conducted by the Center for Jewish Studies at the City University of New York. A similar study, the National Jewish Population Survey, uses a larger sample and is expected to be released in June.

http://www.gc.cuny.edu/studies/ajis.pdf