Asian-Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths

Photo by A/PA Heritage Festival

According to a new study by the Pew Center on Religion and the Public Life, Asian-Americans as a whole are less likely than other Americans to believe in God and to pray on a daily basis. The study, Asian-Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths,” however cautions that these measures are not good indicators of the role of religion in the community since the majority of Asian-Americans are not Christians. 

Only four out of ten Asian Americans are Christians. Of this number, about 83 percent of Americans are either Filipino-, Indian-, Vietnamese-, Korean- or Japanese-Americans. The majority of Filipino-Americans are Roman Catholic while the majority of Korean-Americans are Protestant.

“The Asian-American community is a study in contrasts, encompassing groups that run the gamut from highly religious to highly secular,” says the report. More than seven out of ten Asian-Americans are foreign-born.

The study is Pew’s second report on Asian-Americans. 

Adlai Amor is director of communications of Bread for the World. He is a Filipino-American and an elder of the Presbyterian Church (USA).