New Yorkers More Spiritually Active Since 9/11

New York-area residents are more spiritually active since 9/11, a new survey shows, but the uptick in faith may be a matter of coincidence rather than a religious response to the terrorist attacks, Religion News Service reports. The Barna Group found that 46 percent of people living in or near New York City reported attending worship services in the previous week in 2010, up from 31 percent in 2000. However, the upward trend didn't kick in until after 2004, said David Kinnaman, Barna's president. "The research suggests that faith and religion took on new urgency for many New Yorkers after 9/11, but the impact was neither immediate nor long-lived," said Kinnaman. "While ... religion's importance did grow in the years after 9/11, church attendance and active faith measures did not really start increasing until after 2004." Researchers found that more New Yorkers are spending time reading the Bible on their own, up from 29 percent in 1997-98 to 35 percent in 2009-10. Nationwide, personal Bible reading has remained essentially unchanged in the last decade.