Maria Martinez

Race & Ethnicity in American Politics

Prof. Smith

April 21 2015

Religious Minorities Among Asian-Americans

Keywords: Religion, Diversity, Origin, Religion Switching, Political Affiliation

Description: The following brief describes religious affiliation of Asian Americans focusing on distinguishing minority religions. It evaluates affiliation throughout a lifetime and according to country of origin. Additionally, it describes the influence religion has on their political affiliation.

KeyPoints:

  • Asian Americans are the second largest immigration group
  • Asian Americans contain the most religious diversity among minorities
  • Muslim along with Sikh and Jain are minority religions among Asian Americans
  • No Affiliation and Christianity compromise the greatest percentage of affiliation among Asian Americans
  • Asian American political affiliation aligns with the greater US population by religious affiliation
  • Asian Americans are ideologically liberal

Issue Brief:

Religious Affiliation

From 1900 to 2000, immigrants form Asia compromised 31 percent of the total immigration. This places them as the second largest immigration group behind Hispanics and Latinos (Ecklund2). Their estimated population is around 11.9 million (Ecklund2). Unlike other immigrant minority groups, a big part of Asian immigrants come to the United States on a professional level. Their career status along with their religious diversity differentiates them as a very unique minority.

Asian Americans are the minority with the most religious diversity. This is in due from their many different influences. They are influenced both by eastern religions such as Buddhism, as well as western religions such as different forms of Christianity. The breakdown of religious affiliation among Asian Americas is detailed in the table below according to a 2012 Asian American Survey by the Pew Research Center.

According to this table, Christianity is the largest religious affiliation among Asian Americans with 42%. The minority religions demonstrated in this survey are Muslim with 4%, Sikh with 1%, and Jain with less than 1%. By comparing Asian Americans and the greater US populations, it demonstrates the uniqueness of these religions to this minority group meaning they only persist within this racial minority. Another distinct characteristic of Asian Americans is that as a whole they are more likely to identify with being Agnostic or Atheist.Around a quarter of all the Asian American population chooses to identify with this category versus only a fifth of the general American public. Within Asian Americans, about half of all Chinese Americans identify as religiously unaffiliated (Asian Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths).

Religious affiliation of Asian Americans can be broken down further according to groups based on their geographical origin. In this form, it is easier to see the influence their origins have on their religious affiliation in the United States. For example, of those identifying as Buddhist, 15% are Chinese, 25% are Japanese, and 43% Vietnamese. These are all regions in which Buddhism is dominant. Similarly, nearly all Asian-American Hindus can trace their roots back to India—a region in which this religious affiliation is very prominent (Asian Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths).

Another interesting characteristic of religious affiliation, is measuring the affiliation throughout the individuals lifetime. According to the same survey by Pew Research Center, around 32 % of Asian Americans practice a different religion than the one they were raised in. It is interesting to point out that there is a big difference between US Asians that are foreign born versus native to the US. Of those who are foreign-born American Asians, 68% remained in their childhood religions. This is compared to 58% of those born in the United States. This demonstrates that among native Asian Americans, there exists a lesser commitment to their childhood religions. This can help explain why the biggest percentage of religious affiliation is to Christianity. Twenty-two percent of Asian-Americans describe themselves as Protestant; however, 17% percent of Asian-Americans say they were raised Protestant. This means that about 5% switched religions from the one they were raised in. Religion switching is important to measure because it can allow us to see the future of minority religions, and the patterns of religions switching among Asian Americans (Asian Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths).

Political Affiliation in Association to Religious Affiliation

Asian Americans are regarded as a really influential political group. This is due to their economic status and their large population.Asian Americans more strongly align with liberal ideals with 52% identifying as Democratic and 32% Republican (Asian Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths). Compared to other minorities, they are more liberal than whites and Hispanics, but less democratic than African-Americans (Jeffrey). Due to a large percentage being religiously unaffiliated, Asian Americans are ideologically very liberal making them the minority most likely to be moderates (Jeffrey).

In regards to the relationship between religious affiliation and political attitudes, they generally align with the general public. Meaning that if a certain religious group identifies with the GOP in the general public, than the same religious group within Asian Americans will affiliate with them as well. This can be seen in the Party Identification graph by the Pew Research Center. Of those Asian Americans who identify as Unaffiliated, 21% lean Republican and 63% Democratic. Similarly, over all U.S. population leans 31% Republican and 62% Democrat. The minority religions of Hindu has the largest affiliation gap with 72% leaning Democrats and only 9% aligning with Republicans. Similarly, Buddhism leans 56% Democratic and 27% Republican. This demonstrates that minority religions are heavily Democratic (Asian Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths).

Works Cited

"Asian Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths." The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (2012). Web. 1 Mar. 2015. <

Ecklund, Elaine Howard, and Jerry Z. Park. "Asian American Community Participation and Religion: Civic Model Minorities?" Journal of Asian American Studies (2005): 2. Web. 1 Mar. 2015. <

Jones, Jeffrey. "Asian-Americans Lean Left Politically." Asian-Americans Lean Left Politically. Gallup, 3 Feb. 2010. Web. 18 Apr. 2015. <

Additional Resources:

  • For more on the Muslim population:
  • For more on the Sikh population:
  • For more on the Jain population: