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Buddhism by the Numbers

What the Pew Forum report reveals about the face of American Buddhism - and how the results can help sanghas change and grow.

Hoko Jan Karnegis

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WHEN YOU think of the words "American Buddhist," what do you see? Someone white, middle-aged, no kids? An adult convert from Protestantism? Someone with a graduate degree, living in the western United States?

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life's "2008 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey," released in late February, may provide some new clues about what American Buddhists are like. The Pew Forum conducted more than 35,000 telephone surveys with adult respondents, 0.7% of whom identified themselves as Buddhist.

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