Most sociologists agree that religious stratification was a prominent feature of the religious landscape in the thirteen original colonies. Although most also acknowledge that some religious groups still rank higher than others in socioeconomic status, they argue that these differences are smaller than they used to be and are getting smaller all the time (Park and Reimer 2002; Wuthnow 1988).

To be sure, there are theoretical and conceptual differences between these writers. Some assume that past advantages based on one's religious background are being eliminated, resulting in a blurring of religious group status distinctions and a decline in the importance of denominational identity (Wuthnow 1988). Others stress the connections between educational and economic gains among conservative Protestants, sect-to-church transitions, and a weakening of social class differences among the major religious traditions (Park and Reimer 2002).

However, in broader terms, these claims are consistent with a status convergence account of modernization’s effects on social inequality. This account suggests that, as part of society’s march toward universalistic processes of social assignment, there has been a decline in ascriptive stratification; an erosion of status boundaries based on race, ethnicity, religion, and class; and a general trend toward convergence on all of these dimensions of stratification (Parsons 1951, 1971; Turner 1993). The gradual elimination of older practices of religious discrimination in educational and occupational spheres means that religious groups are increasingly on an equal footing in their pursuit of economic and social rewards. Society is seen as more open than closed to long-distance mobility, and the upper stratum is viewed as more inclusive than exclusive.