The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released a mega survey yesterday called the “Religious Landscape Survey.” It hit several front pages yesterday and is popping around the blogosphere today (see blogrunner here.) The NY Times summary is here.

What I have yet to find, however, is any real analysis. For most professional churchy folks, nothing from the survey should really jump out. We’ve known mainline denominations are decline and immigration is changing the religious landscape. We’ve known church affiliation of young adults is declining. We’ve known the south is more religious than the northwest. So what?

Jim Wallis just posted his first response, but it’s more a remix of his normal platform than a real reflection.

So I’ll hasten to add my non-reactions in the first 24 hours as well. First, it takes time to meaningfully reflect on huge reports. Our 24/7 news cycle is not fit for this. It gets Wallis and televangelist and a bishop to reflect on the report without having read it fully, and without time to process. Better forums include weeklies, journals, the academy. Sure, by releasing the report in such a form Pew Forum makes a big splash, but the water will evaporate after HRC’s next kitchen-sink campaign blunder.

Second, almost all blog entries I found on the report are just disseminating the basic findings without any significant reflection. The little reflection I found is just a rehashing of the blogger’s usual position. Perhaps the breadth of immediate dissemination is wide, but the depth of reflection is shallow.

So give me a week. I’ll think on these things, research a bit, pop my Scottish context into the mix and see if anything bubbles up. And if you find any solid reflections on the survey, let me know and I’ll post them in an update below.

Update:

• Again, a re-saying of his normal rhetoric, but a good one.  Brian McLaren reflects on the survey here.