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White Evangelicals Use Social Media, Technology for Religious Purposes More Than Other Groups

According the results of a new survey by the Public Religion Research Institute, nearly half (45 percent) of Americans report using Facebook at least a few times a week. Of these who attend religious services at least a few times a year, just 11 percent report posting status updates on their social networking sites about being in church. Ten percent of Americans report that they have used a cell phone to take pictures or record video during worship, and 7 percent say they have sent or read email during services.

But nearly 20 percent of white evangelical Protestants say they’ve posted a status update on their social networks about being in church. Twenty-five percent of white evangelicals say they have downloaded a podcast of a sermon or listened to a sermon online, compared to just 6 percent of white mainline Protestants and Catholics.

White evangelical Protestants are also more likely than other groups to report that their church uses technology or social media. Forty percent of white evangelicals say that their church has an active Facebook page or website where people interact, compared to 29 percent of white mainline Protestants and 13 percent of Catholics. Nearly half (49 percent) of white evangelical Protestants and 39 percent white mainline Protestants say their church uses television or multimedia screens during worship services, compared to 11 percent of Catholics.