U.S. religion worth $1.2 trillion, says demographer

Religion is big bucks, contributing $1.2 trillion annually to the U.S. economy, according to the first comprehensive study to tabulate such a figure.

“In perspective, that would make religion the 15th largest national economy in the world, ahead of 180 other countries in terms of value,” said Brian Grim, the study’s author and a Georgetown University scholar. “That would also make American religion larger than the global revenues of the top ten tech companies, including Apple, Amazon, and Google. . . . It would also make it 50 percent larger than the six largest American oil companies’ revenue on an annual basis.”

It might seem folly to try to put a number on religion’s value to American society. Even Grim understands why the religious and nonreligious alike might look upon the exercise skeptically.