Source: Los Angeles Times
On April 17, 2000, the Los Angeles Times published an article on the difficulty of obtaining reliable statistics on America's religious demography. In 1976, the Census Bureau was barred by Congress from compelling people to reveal their religion. Private organizations have since carried the load, but the statistics have turned out to be disparate. Derek Lander, a staff member at the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, stated: "We made an attempt to see if anyone has good numbers, and basically what we are finding out is that people don't" Samia El-Badrey, a longtime demographer of Arab Americans who leads the International Demographic and Economic Association, stated: "Any religious data you see are highly biased, and most of us tend to be very leery" of them. El-Badrey continued: "Most data are collected by religious organizations; hence they tend to be higher than reality because the sources want to make sure their numbers are high." Some religious organizations, like the Roman Catholic Church, have centralized record-keeping methods. Most organizations don't have a central office keeping statistics and many organizations find it difficult to define who is an adherent. Many demographic organizations have raised questions about statistics such as the numbers of Muslims in the United States and the rate of intermarriage among Jews. Eileen W. Lindner, editor of the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, stated: "We don't think, at the present moment in America, counting is the best way to understand our increased religious pluralism...We now have a critical mass of people from different religious traditions. Whether we have the numbers or not...we need to learn ways to engage with them."