How does organized religion reflect the stratification system in our society?

To the extent
that organized religion reflects the stratified nature of our society, it does so because people
tend to go to church with others of the same general economic and social status.  While there is
some degree of diversity within any sect, religious groups in the United States do tend to be
somewhat different from one another in the socioeconomic status of their members.

In our society, there are sects that tend to be richer and those that tend to be
poorer.  The richer sects are the more mainline or formal churches.  These are churches like
the Methodist church and the Episcopalian church.  These churches are known for being more
formal and perhaps more staid in their worship.  By contrast, the smaller and more enthusiastic
sects tend to be populated by a larger number of poor people. Churches like the Baptist church,
the Church of God, and the Jehovahs Witnesses have members who tend to be much less affluent
than those of the more formal sects.

The question, then, is whether this
stratification is a cause or an effect of our stratified society.  I would argue that the latter
is true.  Our society tends to be stratified to a high degree and people of certain
socioeconomic statuses tend to socialize with their peers from the same class.  This tendency
extends to religion.  We can say that the economic segregation in our organized religion comes
about because of the general class segregation that exists in most areas of our
society. 

href="http://faculty.smcm.edu/ccraney/restricted/PDF/Religion_and_Stratification.pdf">http://faculty.smcm.edu/ccraney/restricted/PDF/Religion_a...